Many who commented on the gender gap post were surprised the ratio of male to female bloggers was so large (66.7% males vs 33.3% females). Some doubt the accuracy of the numbers as the survey was done by Technorati, a site that appears to be dominated by males.

But, that’s not the topic for today’s post.

Today we’re talking about female bloggers.

Today’s Lesson

When I started blogging in 2007, I didn’t find a lot of blogs authored by women. I don’t know if it was because of my search strings, the circles I hung around in or if there were less women blogging at that time.

But as we approach 2010, I see the landscape of blogosphere changing. I’m seeing more women starting, maintaining and writing fabulous blogs.

Women are talking about issues that were often only whispered amongst friends. They are writing about the emotionally charged subjects many of us have an opinion on but never voiced. And some women are revisiting their love of writing after putting it on the back burner for many years.

When a female blogger writes about the frustrations of parenting a teen, other mothers understand. If they write  how their BFF (best friend forever) upset them, others empathize. When they share a health scare, other bloggers rally around them.

Blogging for (some) women is a perfect sounding board. When those in their real life don’t seem interested in what they have to say, more than likely in blogosphere they’ll find someone who will listen (and comment), and they feel validated.

Blogs are giving women a chance to find themselves and to help others. A place to share lessons they’ve learned in life as well as a platform from which they can build or expand on their dream career.

Women bloggers are gaining in popularity and are now having their names listed along side popular male bloggers. Women bloggers are being listened to at blogging conventions, on TV (i.e. Heather B. Armstrong of Dooce.com) and in print journalism. Many are also authoring books.

I think women are adding a softer touch to blogosphere. With women sharing their knowledge, their hearts, and sometimes their soul, they are changing the internet forever.

As Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing.”

Today’s Assignment

Do you feel women (in general) blog differently than men?

If you’re a woman, how has blogging enriched or changed your life?

If you’re a guy, are you truly interested in reading and/or commenting on a blog written by a women who is discussing matters of the heart?

I don’t know about you, but I’m really looking forward to the comments on this one.

.

P.S. For all you girls (and guys, too) , here’s a video (and lyrics) by Martina McBride. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’s photostream

In fact, many people enjoy blogging as it is nondiscriminatory.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, rich or poor, old or young, educated or not; the door to blogging is open.

However, it appears more men walk through the door to blogging than women.

Today’s Lesson

Technorati recently released their “State of the Blogosphere 2009″ findings.

From a questionnaire to which 2900 bloggers responded, Technorati compiled an extremely comprehensive report which includes (but in not limited to) the following information with regard to bloggers and blogging:

1. • Two-thirds are male
   • 60% are 18-44
   • The majority are more affluent and educated than the general population
   ~ 75% have college degrees…
   ~ One in three has an annual household income of $75K+…
   • More than half are married
   • More than half are parents…

Listed below are other fascinating quotes from the report:

2. One in five bloggers report updating on a daily basis. The most common rate of updating is 2-3 times per week.

3. Bloggers use Twitter much more than does the general population.

4. Contrary to blogging’s image as a circular firing gallery, bloggers are most likely to describe themselves as “sincere” (75%). Just 16% describe themselves as snarky.

5. …Most bloggers who are making money from their blogs are generally doing so as entrepreneurs by hosting advertising on their own sites and by using their blogs to drive speaking engagements and traditional media assignments.

6. …Only 2% of all respondents say that they don’t know how their blog was built. And a healthy 13% say that they built their blogs themselves from scratch….

7. 63% of respondents say that blogging has led them to become more involved with things they’re passionate about as a result of blogging.

8. The key driver of decreased blogging is an increase of work and family commitments, which is reported as a factor by 64% of those who are blogging less….

Under “types of bloggers” those listed are:

9. Hobbyists. Representing 72% of the respondents to this survey, hobbyists say that they blog for fun. They don’t make any money from their blogging – and only some would like to do so. More than any other group, though, Hobbyists say they blog to express their “personal musings” (53%)…. Because 76% blog to speak their minds, their main success metric is personal satisfaction (76%).

Hobbyists are followed by part time bloggers, self employed and then the pros.

Ten percent of the self employed stated they blog 40 hours a week (or more), whereas the

Pros. The smallest cohort, representing just 4% of respondents, pros say they “blog full-time for a company or organization” — though actually very few of them actually report spending a full 40 hours per week blogging.

This is just a sampling of what can be found in this great report. Not only does Technorati list more detailed information on the above topics, it goes on to discuss subjects such as average page views per month, how bloggers are changing the way they blog, how much money bloggers are earning, the future of blogging and much, much more.

Today’s Assignment

Based on the above data, how do you rank?

Did you see anything surprising in the data?

Do you suspect women may soon be closing the gap?

Raise you hand and let’s talk blogging.

.

P.S. The complete State of the Blogosphere survey can be viewed at Technorati. Included in the survey are numerous other facts and figures plus interviews with well known bloggers such as Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, and Seth Godin

Special thanks to Technorati and authors Jennifer McLean and Matt Sussman for compiling this thorough and valuable report.

It was an experiment to find out if it is our name, our avatar or the name of our blog which helps to brand us in blogosphere. From the comments received on the post, it appears our avatars may hold the most weight.

I’ve also read for proper online branding, we should use the same photo or avatar on all sites we frequent, such as blogs, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook, etc.

Since everyone had so much fun with that experiment, I’ve decided to repeat it; this time with a set of different bloggers.

The goal is to match author with their blog name and their avatar.

Just as I did in the previous post, I’ve listed random blog authors, the name of their blog, and their avatars.

I then mixed up each category.

Take time to study each list.

Let’s get started.

Today’s Assignment

How did you do?

How do you recognize a fellow blogger? By their name? The name of their blog? Or their avatar?

Did you find any bloggers you haven’t visited?

P.S. For those of you who haven’t added an avatar/gravatar to your profile yet, it’s very easy. Refer to my post titled, “How To Get and/or Add A Gravatar to Your Post Comments”. If you have any questions of need help setting up your avatar, please feel free to ask.

Note: Although it’s recommended, it is not necessary to use a personal photo as an avatar. For the first 18 months of blogging I used this avatar (see right) to build my brand.

.

P.S.S. Not sure who all of these bloggers are? Just click on the blog link or the avatar to check out their awesome blogs.

Maybe it will be a book deal.

Maybe it’s the fact money can be made with a blog.

For some, just being able to share their knowledge is enough

For others, success is measured differently.

Some won’t quit until they see their name “in lights”, whereas others wait until their blog propels them into a business and/or leads to financial freedom.

But, what happens when what we read can happen, isn’t happening?

How long do we wait?

Today’s Lesson

Before I started blogging, I analyzed what the “big boys/girls” were doing and how long it took them and their blogs to begin to make a (big) difference.

Two years seemed to be the “magic” number.

In fact, when I interviewed Darren Rowse of Problogger, he verified that by saying,

It’s all about looking for signs of growth and engagement – not just traffic. You should start to see these (even if they are just very small signs) from the first few months.

For a blog to reach its potential though, you need to give it considerable time. It takes a couple of years to get to its potential.

Depending on how we look at it, two years can seem like a long time. That’s 730 days, 17,520 hours, over a million minutes…..

Is it worth the wait?

Or is it time to say, “Enough!”

What say you?

Today’s Assignment

How long have you been blogging?

Thus far, are you happy with where your blog has taken you?

What would make you quit?

If quitting isn’t in your thoughts, what keeps you going?

.

We agree that to be authentic means to be genuine, open, unpretentious, honest and forthright. We also agree that authenticity is good for us. But we tend to disagree on how to get there, especially when it comes to our life’s work.

With blogging, many of us hope our efforts will lead to some sort of business, book deal or profession which will align with our true calling , however like Tom said, “We tend to disagree how to get there”.

For this reason, I’ve asked Tom to join us and discuss how he found his true life calling and overcame obstacles to become the successful true calling coach and business person that he is.

Welcome Tom,

In recent weeks we’ve been discussing finding our passion and even what the our blogs and/or creations may be worth. Some bloggers don’t know where their blog will take them, but others, like Nadia of Happy Lotus are finding themselves at a crossroad.

I know you’ve been there, too. Chasing what you thought was your passion, your true life calling, only to get distracted or to start doubting yourself. With that said,

What method(s) did you use to find your “life’s work”, your authentic true life calling?

I began setting high work fulfillment standards in 1992 and I’ve kept at it, adjusting and evolving along the way. That’s key. One must get started and persist, even if your first attempt feels like only a guess.

A strong belief in the gift of unique individuality that every being is blessed with has centered my work on expressing my uniqueness.

Shortly after I began coaching in 1998 I developed a process of completing the nine components of right livelihood shown here. My clients are comfortable completing the puzzle by choosing to fill in the pieces that are most unknown to them. After establishing a baseline of these components it becomes easier to continue to tweak and clarify as you go. But it’s important to note that each individual’s process needs to be aligned with how they like to work.

Once we reach the realization we may have found our “life’s work”, fears may arise. How did you conquer your fears?

Fears are simply thoughts that have run amok. They become more gripping and powerful through our imaginations. Thus it’s obvious that fearful thoughts need to be replaced with thoughts about what you want not what you don’t want. What I used is a complete awareness process that’s most effective when using all four realms of our power.

1). Spiritually determine the deep meaning behind what you want and made sure that your thoughts are purpose-driven.

2). Intellectually become a careful observer of what you are thinking and saying and when the fears arise switch out the thought and spoken words.

3). Emotionally used EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) developed by Gary Craig.

4). Physically only take actions aligned with what you want.

Many of the readers of this blog hope to utilize their blogs and/or online presence to move closer to their dream. Knowing that, what process do you suggest they follow?

Bloggers have a built-in advantage because they can leverage their blogs as marketing vehicles. Yet I see many bloggers who write without a pre-determined purpose or with too broad of a focus. So I’d recommend the following process.

1). Use my True Calling Guidebook (free at “Big Link Rally”.com) [or click on the book] to discover your true calling. Get close and even guess if you must but decide on your strongest possibility and ride it.

2). Design and begin operating a business that honors the movement (greater community purpose) behind your calling.

3). Serve that movement by writing about your business and the movement. Remain focused on that one main concept and see what opportunities and openings develop.

4). Seize those opportunities then tweak, adjust and continue to evolve your calling as you build your business. Don’t make it more complicated than this. Retire your over-analytical mind and get into authentic play.

Tom, you are now beginning a new endeavor called the “Big Link Rally”. Can you tell us a little more about that, how it works and what you hope the outcome will be for all who participate?

It’s my theory that had we been raised with unconditional acceptance, loving recognition and affirming celebration of who we are, we would have naturally developed our gifts into prosperous and fulfilling, true calling professions and businesses.

But instead, well meaning but primarily fearful and cautious caregivers, who modeled conformity at the expense of authenticity, raised most of us.

So our natural link between authenticity and abundance did not develop because we chose culturally acceptable livelihoods lacking in fulfillment and or prosperity.

Big Link Rallies were developed on my observations working with hundreds of one-on-one career coaching clients since 1998. I’ve come to the conclusion that we can accelerate the true calling process by gathering together in authentically supportive environments designed to reconnect this life enhancing links between authenticity and abundance.

The first one will be held in Pittsburgh on January 2, 2010. The second will be a virtual event in the spring [of 2010].

I’d be willing to bet that every one of your readers is somewhat aware of at least the possibility of her or his true calling. I’d love to answer questions and guide you onto a more direct path to greater fulfillment and prosperity.

That’s the mission of my movement, so please seize this opportunity to present your greatest challenge in the form of a question.

Tom’s clients pay for his advice. Today he’s generously helping all of us at no cost.

Today’s Assignment

Do you have a question for Tom? Please feel free to leave it in the comment section.

If you don’t have a question for Tom, do you feel you’re closer to finding your true calling? Your “life’s work”? Your passion?

If so, how has the process of blogging helped?

.

Disclaimer: The Big Link Rally links will take you to a site for which I am an affiliate.