Definitely... I have had problems in the past, before my site focus change and I have had to remove problematic commenters. I still wonder why they would just come to your site Jenn to cause trouble.... it ticks me off. These people have no idea how the law is now focusing on cyber bullying...which is what flamers are.

I would say, leave the comment moderation in effect. You will always have spammers. There is not one program or plugin out there that can prevent every spammer. It can be a daunting thought, but you should use your judgment on what should and should not be approved, and how your comment policy should be. If you choose a strict policy, some of your regular visitors might be annoyed. However, that is your decision.

The only difference is that they are not there in front of you. For me, I am comfortable in person or online meeting people. I agree with you. As for your personality being believable... it is more like... just be honest. Because even car salesmen try to be believable.

lol... I appreciate it. This one is a guest post by Stacey Cavanagh...however, she does share many of my own thoughts in this article.

I really do not think there is any harm for a business to take up learning how they can harness social networking. In fact, I would encourage it. The problem is that working with small business owners, they may not have the extra money to invest. BUT, if you educate them on how to put some of their social networking on auto-pilot while designating a little time each day (even 10 minutes will do!!!) then they could build a following online.

I am in the process of creating a Southern Illinois focused website as when people ask me "What is there to do in Southern Illinois?", it was like telling them to go farther into the boonies. When people think about locations in Illinios, they think about Springfield and Chicago. And as businesses are awakening to social media and social networking, they can find a place to help promote their presence. :)

I agree with your post and have blogged about these points, though I break them up. Actually the first person I heard was Liz Strauss at WordCamp Chicago 2009, and I was like, I am glad I am on the right track. It was something I felt was important and I am an old school blogger (more than 6+ years.)

If you have sat down in a convention and listened to any social media consultants, they will say the same thing. I actually have myself, but I really appreciate that Stacey took the time to write for my site and share her insight. I have said many times... it never hurts to hear something again, especially if it is the truth.

Posing a question is important and opens the door for further conversation, again as Stacey said... whether on your own site or commenting on the original article.

Definitely... the people seem friendly and eager. And it is also a good opportunity for those in any writing career to exercise their talent and possibly have something to add to their own resume.

lol. I chose the .net because the .com either were taken by domain squatters or are dead sites and I wanted a domain that fit me.

I have had .com for my domains in the past. In fact, I still have pixelled.com but I do not do much with it but host a free friends for free on subdomains. I get quite a few offers to buy, but they are low amounts and I even had one place ask me to give them the domain for nothing.

I really do not think in these times it it the .com that matters as much anymore, but what you do with the website now.

The first domain I got was in 2003. I have more than 20 just for myself. BTW, I actually webhost and support WordPress with even one-click install and cPanel for $25/yr (5GB diskspace and 25GB bandwidth.) I have been a web host since 2006.

Anyhow, it is good to invest in your own domain if you are going to become a serious blogger. A lot of times, I tell my web design clients to sign up for a free wordpress.com site and play around with creating pages and writing posts so when their design is ready, they can get started and be comfortable enough to run their site.

Blogging is not easy and for me, I have several blogs because Blondish.net use to be a site with everything about myself on it. The site still did well, but I got discouraged as I knew some people were looking more to my free graphics, and topics on social media, freelancing, technology, and blogging. The beginning of 2009 was my refocus. I shoved my WordPress tutorials and news to WPAddict.net, and my personal stuff to Mommy-Blogger.net. I doing so, I now have 2 out of my 3 main blogs successful. :)

As for mailing lists, it is not always important, and even thought I have not put one together yet, I have for clients and recommend MailChimp.
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