So, I did it. I had my first internet radio interview. I was an experience I will never forget. I was extremely nervous and not sure I made a whole lot of sense but at least it's done and over with ;o).
Debbie Alan, is a great host and I appreciate her having such a novice on the show. Though I prepared for the show for weeks, my nerves got the best of me. So when you listen to the broadcast understand that there are things I wish I could have said differently or not at all.
There are a few things I wish I had mentioned. I wish I had mentioned the co-authors of HerProBlog.COM because they are really a vital part of the site. I also wish I had elaborated more on the purpose of HerProBlog.COM. It's a great site and I don't think I did it justice by my explanation.
Overall, I think the interview was an experience I can learn from. I now have the opportunity to improve myself. Public speaking is definitely one of my weaknesses. The interview experience has motivated me to develop better public speaking skills.
A friend of mine, Stacy, gave me some advice on public speaking and interviewing before the show. If it were not for her things would have gone much differently in the interview. Stacy coached me and gave me a few mock interviews that were extremely helpful.

So what have I taken away from this experience?

1. Like with anything, there must be a first time. It's important to learn from your first experiences and improve yourself.
2. Think of mistakes as opportunities for improvement. No one becomes an expert overnight. Mistakes can teach us if we allow them to.

Update: The Internet Radio Show Guest That Never Showed Up.

I am very excited about being asked to be a guest on the On The Homestretch show with Debbie Alan.

On The HomeStretch is an internet radio show featuring issues that impact women over the age of 35. I was asked to talk on the show about the benefits of blogging. The show's host is Debbie Alan, not be be confused with Debbie Allen the 1989 "Fame" star.

Debbie Alan, the "radio show host" also hosted the internationally syndicated, "America's Dumbest Criminals" TV show and was also the original host of New Channel 5's "Talk of the Town" show in Nashville, Tennessee.

This is a new chapter in my online experience. This will be my very first radio interview. I am very honored to have been asked to be on the show.

The show is on August 20th @ 10:45 CT

HerProBlog.COM desires to help women create and maintain professional blogs. What better way to teach and inspire women bloggers than by being taught by professional women bloggers.

I am thrilled that our first interview with a pro blogging women is Elisa Camahort, co-founder of BlogHer. Elisa manages BlogHer events, marketing and corporate operations. Just last month BlogHer held their 2008 conference in San Fransisco. With over 1000 bloggers in attendance the event was a big success and plans for the 2009 conference are already in the planning stages.

So without further ado here is the interview with Elisa Camahort.

When did you get started blogging?

I started in 2003, purely as a personal endeavor. I got this free blogging application when I renewed my .Mac membership, so I thought i'd give it a try.

What was your first blog about?

My first blog, which is still my current personal blog is about a little bit of everything. I'll write about blogging, technology, politics, and I'll also review restaurants, theatre, books, movies...you name it. I also spend an unhealthy amount of time writing recaps of talent-based reality shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance and Project Runway.

How has blogging affected your life?

It has changed it completely. I never had a goal to work for myself or to start a company, but blogging provides you with this personal platform, a personal printing press, and can have a way of changing what you thought your personal plan was!

What is the strangest, funniest or most rude comment someone has
made about you being a blogger?

Um, I'm pretty sure someone compared me to a "Nazi Abortionist" a couple of weeks ago, although they were a little incoherent, so I'm not positive. I'm guessing it's because I'm openly pro-choice, although the post in question had nothing to do with that issue.

What are some of your favorite blogs authored by women?

Oh my, I hate questions like these...because it's hard to choose, honestly. So really I'll just pick a few that I think i've never given public props to before, just to spread the love.

I'm biased, but I think Kristy Sammis, who runs BlogHer's events, is brilliantly funny: She Just Walks Around with it

Also, two political bloggers I really admire are: Talk Left

and Digby: Hullabaloo by Digby - It's notable to mention that people assumed Digby was a male blogger for years before she finally 'came out" as a woman!

Do you ever get discouraged? What do you do in times of discouragement?

Well, I used to say that I pet my amazing geriatric kitty, Samantha, but since she died at 20 years old last December I can't say I've found a great replacement. Yelling at drivers in other cars doesn't really seem like the most mentally healthy answer, does it?

What are your hopes for the future of women bloggers?

I've already seen one hope realized, because I think people don't really ask "where are the women bloggers?" anymore. BlogHer conducted a benchmark study in March 2008 that showed how mainstream blogging has really become among women...over 50% of U.S. women online participate in the blogosphere weekly! So, I think the media and the business worlds are both well-aware now where the women bloggers are: Everywhere, and blogging about everything under the sun.

My ongoing hope for the future is that blogging, and particularly women blogging, will continue to help break down barriers, cross boundaries...and smash stereotypes.

One of BlogHer's editors is a woman in her 60s who told me she enjoyed the Internet because no one could see she was an "older woman" and therefore she felt she could be taken more seriously as a technologist. But I feel like if everyone stood up and trumpeted their identity we could no longer make assumptions about identity.

Bring on the hardcore political bloggers like Digby
Bring on the senior citizen geeks like Virgina DeBolt
Bring on the parenting bloggers...who also include dads, not just moms
Bring on every bit of your identity: race, gender, age, nationality, sexual orientation, status of uterus, ideology, religion...you name it.

The blogosphere presents a tremendous opportunity to realize that our similarities are more compelling than our differences. I guess what I'm saying is that someday the wildest hope of all would be that BlogHer has to change our mission (http://www.blogher.com/node/925), because we will all have more opportunities than we know what to do with.

If you could offer one piece of advice to a brand new blogger, what
would it be?

Follow your passion and consuming interests. Blogging is best when it's from the heart and when it's something you can imagine doing for a long time...and often. Sure, I know people who have started blogs purely to make money or purely because they think blogs lead magically to some other kind of success metric they have in their head. But really, most of us, from the teeny tiny (and believe me, my own blogs get almost no traffic at all!) to the very highly-trafficked stick with it because we love it. We love the freedom of expression, we love the platform it provides, we love the community that seems to evolve naturally, and we love seeing how bloggers can really impact the world around them!

Thank you Elisa for sharing your story and advice.

Have you noticed? There has been more and more talk of women bloggers lately. Could it be because the public is finally realizing how much influence women bloggers actually have within the Blogosphere?

I think we can all agree that there has never been a lack of women bloggers on the internet. I think most women take to blogging naturally because we love to communicate. The recent awareness of women bloggers has more to do with women reaching "influencer" status.

Most top bloggers lists are based on Alexa and Technorati rankings. An influencer is usually define by how popular the site is in general and how many people are being reached. Though the way a person is gauged as a influencer can be a bit inaccurate, there a few ways you can discover the true popularity of a blogger.

I not going to get into what I believe is the best way to gauge someone's influence today but I will say this. One person may see a celebrity but another person has never heard of them. That is to say, gauging someones influence is not all together accurate in any way, shape or form because each person is "influenced" in different ways.

That being said, there are a number of lists floating around the Blogosphere that where created by people who found a way to gauge influence as best they could.

I have compiled a list of 13 "Top" lists. Some of these lists are a few years old others are only a few days old.

1. The 100 Australian Women's Blogs
2. Top 10 Women Entrepreneur Blogs
3. Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers - 2007 Edition
4. The Magical List of Outstanding Women Bloggers
5. My Top 10 Best Women Bloggers with Influence - Part 1 & Part 2
6. The W List: Oustanding Women Bloggers
7. 10 Most Powerful Women in Blogging
8. 100 Awesome Webmaster Blogs by and for Women - I'm on this list! # 64
9. Top 100 Personal Finance Blogs. How Do Women Rank?
10. Top 100 Female Bloggers - Updated July 7th, 2008
11. BlogHer: Who Are Your Favorite Women Bloggers
12. NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers- Posted July 18th, 2008
13. 5 Top Influential Women Bloggers - Part l & Part ll

In 2006 cnet News came up with their own top 100 blogs lists. At the time only eight of bloggers on the list were women.  I think if cnet decided to compile a list today (check but couldn't find an updated list)  the count of women bloggers would be much higher.

Lists such as these are fun to read and exciting to be apart of but let's not forget what influence really is. Each blogger has the potential to become an influencer with in their own blogging community. Your influencing reach might not be as far as others but your influence still has a reach.

Women Blog. Women Influence. Women Earn! (Respect, Income and --you fill in the blank--)

I thought I would offer you some reasons to subscribe to HerProBlog.COM. This being a brand new site you probably are not aware of plans to come. Our primary goal is to help women bloggers succeed. We will find as many ways as we can to accomplish this goal.

Here are some of the ways we plan to help you as a blogger.

1. Provide articles useful to newbies as well as more advanced bloggers.
2. Provide a place for community and networking with other women bloggers with the same goals. Visit our Chat and Women Bloggers Group.
3. Provide access to "pro" knowledge through interviews, training sessions and Q&A opportunities.
4. Offer you support and encouragement.
5. Offer you discovery of the women authored blogosphere through reviews and interviews. We also offer you the chance to learn how to improve your blog through reviews.

Now is the time for you to take the steps necessary in becoming a professional blogger. Subcribe Now!

We also won't overwhelm you with too many articles in one day. If you subscribe for email updates you will be sent one email a day with 2-3 articles included.

Many of you know me as monawea but my real name is Mona Weathers. I am a wife of almost 17 years (2008), a mother of a teenager, a preteen and a toddler. I homeschool the two oldest and chase the toddler around and clean up after her. I love being a wife and a mother. Most importantly I am a servant of God and a follower of Jesus Christ.

I am also a horse crazed gal and have been an equestrian for 23 years. Our family owns two horses that are a part of our backyard view. We also have a number of other critters-dogs, cats, chickens and a goat. I am what you might call a city-raised girl but a country-bumpkin at heart. As a child I dreamed about living in the country and I am very blessed to be living my dream.

I started my online work way back in the 1900’s. Well, the very late 1900’s- somewhere around 1996. My first online venture was building a website to sell my craft patterns. At that time it was important to be moderately html savvy. Though I did learn a lot about building simple websites I didn’t earn any money. So I took a break from my online income earning venture. I tried my hand at a number of other work at home income opportunities. I was a Mary Kay consultant, a Nest videos distributor and sold sewing and crocheted products at craft fairs and on Ebay. I also had many other business ides that came and went.

About three years ago I decided to try the online income earning thing again. I started out by building a website to help and encourage work at home moms and those seeking work at home opportunities. Moms Opportunity Network. I also created a work at home community forum that had a decent amount of traffic at it’s peak. Though I loved offering useful information to moms looking to work from home, the site wasn’t making any money and I was not able to work as much as I did for no pay.

Then I discovered blogs and how easy it was to build them. I also discovered that income could be earned through blogging. I did a lot of paid blogging/sponsored reviews within my first year of blogging and made a decent amount of money doing so. The more I immersed myself into the blogging world the more I discovered that there was more to blogging than I had originally thought. Though I made as much as $3,000 dollars within 3 months, my "paid blogging focussed" blogs lacked pride of ownership. I did not feel I was contributing to the blogopshere as best I could. My goal at that time was just to make money. Though I did my best to offer useful information I had no sense of pride in the content of my blog. My blogs seem to own me instead of the other way around.

After months of researching and reading quality blogs I decided to start again. I created four blogs that had to do with my life and things I was interested in. My personal finance blog deals with my family’s journey toward financial freedom, my horse blog and community allows me to share my passion for horses with other horse people, my web tech blog offers me an outlet for the techie side of me, and my personal blog takes care of all of my mommy issues. Not all of my blogs earn a lot of money but they did earn me a place of respect within the blogosphere .

I have learned much in the past three years. There has been a lot of trial and error and learning what works and what doesn't. I have learned a great deal of information on low budget/zero budget online marketing, social networking, building and customizing blogs, niche blogging, monetizing, and much more.

So, why did I start HerProBlog.COM? I find great satisfaction in helping other people. There are millions of blogs online today and most are getting lost in the masses, and unfortunately many great women authored blogs are not getting the attention and recognition they deserve. The goal of HerProBlog.COM is to teach, inspire, and encourage women bloggers. We will be accessing knowledge from top probloggers through interviews and training sessions. Our desire is to help our readers, male and female, learn how to become professional bloggers.By professional blogger we mean, creating and maintaining professional quality blogs that either earn a full-time income through the blog and/or because of it.

There is much more to be said about the goals of HerProBlog.COM and you can read more about this site here.

You can follow me on Twitter - monawea. Follow HerProBlog.COM on Twitter while you’re at it.

Mona Weathers (monawea)
Founder of HerProBlog.COM