Dagmar Bleasdale is one of the bloggers that I really identify with.  Her passion for green and frugal living, breastfeeding, and attachment parenting makes for some great posts at her blog, Dagmar’s Momsense.  She also works from home running her own freelance proofreading and editing business, imPROOF.  Her tweets are friendly, funny, and uplifting, and I always enjoy seeing her smiling icon pop up on my TweetDeck. I’m really thrilled to be able to feature her in this space and hope you drop by her blog!

1. Which social media sites are you a part of?
After writing a blog post months ago about how I don’t “get” Facebook, I had to eat my words. I still don’t use it much but have become completely addicted to Twitter. I read Joel Comm’s Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time (aff. link) and learned a lot about the potential of social media to promote your business or blog. I now have 1600+ followers and have tweeted almost as many times. I have a LinkedIn account, but I haven’t really filled out all the information or taken advantage of it. I am also a member of the Mom Bloggers Club, Twitter Moms, Eco Moms, Mom Logic, and I’m on Role Mommy’s “The List.”

http://facebook.com/Dagmar.Bleasdale
http://Twitter.com/DagmarBleasdale
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dagmar-bleasdale/11/345/47a
http://www.rolemommy.com/the-ultimate-blogroll.php
http://www.mombloggersclub.com/profile/DagmarBleasdale
http://www.twittermoms.com/profile/DagmarBleasdale
http://ecomom.com/profile/DagmarBleasdale
http://community.momlogic.com/profile/DagmarBleasdale

2. How much have you seen your blog readership and interaction grow as a result of your membership on those sites?
Twitter is a great tool to promote your blog or product for free. It is invaluable when you are trying to let people know that you are out there. After linking my blog, DagmarBleasdale.com, with Facebook and Twitter, I can write a post and within seconds all my followers will be notified about my new article. That makes a big difference in readership. I would say half of the people who visit my blog were intrigued by one of my tweets and clicked on the link to one of my articles.

3. Can you tell us a bit about your freelance editing business, imPROOF Proofreading and Editing? Have you found any professional opportunities through social media?
I advertise my proofreading and editing business, imPROOF, on Craiglist sometimes and via EFA and my blog, and that has resulted in some jobs opportunities. So far I have made one potential contact via Twitter — another blogger would like me to help her with her book. We’ll see if that happens.

(Concerning my blog, because I am a member of Twitter Moms they just contacted me about wanting to advertise on my blog and now I have one of their ads running.)

4. Are there any freelance editing/proofreading online groups that you are a part of?
I belong to the Editorial Freelance Association (EFA). Here is the link to my EFA page:
http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=8091

5. Turning to the more personal aspects, can you tell us about some friendships you’ve made through Twitter, your blog, or other social networking sites?
I have made some amazing connections through Twitter. There are some wonderful (blogging) women on Twitter who are just as passionate about natural birth, breastfeeding, attachment parenting, and green and frugal living as I am. I stay in contact with about twenty of them regularly. I have connected with other people who left me comments on my blog and made some nice friends that way. I am looking forward to meet some of these blogging moms at next year’s BlogHer 2010 conference in New York City.

6. Has there been a time when you’ve been feeling down, or experiencing some turmoil, and your online friends helped you out?
I have to say I don’t feel down much, so no, that hasn’t happened yet. But when I have a question that needs answering right away, I now sometimes tweet about it instead of looking up the answer on Google. Besides promoting my blog and editing business, I share personal tweets on Twitter, but they are mostly humorous in nature. I like to have some fun with that and also enjoy reading and sharing funny tweets from other like-minded women. I have had some great back-and-forth banter on Twitter — often in the middle of the night because that is when we have time to be on the computer, after the kids and the husbands are in bed!

7. If someone out there is hesitating to jump into social media, what encouragement would you offer?
You have nothing to lose! Except some sleep – well, I have lost a lot of sleep while on Twitter. My suggestion: use social media, especially Twitter, for its potential to increase your business and to meet some neat people who have the same interests as you. Use it as much or as little as you like — most importantly, have fun with it.

Would you like to share your story and be Mom of the Week, or do you know someone who should be? Please tweet me or let me know through the Contact page!

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