Blogger Interview # 20: Carol

1. *Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?*

My name is Carol and I am a wife,homeschooling mom of one and an Administrative Support Consultant (http://www.carolda.com).

I have a personal blog called Simple Catholic Living (http://www.simplecatholicliving.com/)that is updated 4-5 days a week and my business blog (http://www.carolda.com/blog) that is updated once a week.

2. *Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?*

I am not a full time blogger. I started blogging as a marketing tool for my business a few years ago, but wasn't very consistent about posting until recently. I started my personal blog a little less than a year ago.

3. *If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?*

Blog about something you love. If you post with any regularity, posting about something you love will make it easier for you to come up with topics to write about and blogging will be a more enjoyable experience.

4. *How do you build a community around a blog and social media?*

I think building a community should be done organically. As you meet and interact with others, you will naturally attract others with the same mindset, interests, and a community will grow on it's own. Of course, you can help things along by taking the time to visit and comment on other blogs, automatically sending your blog posts to Twitter and Facebook,participating in various memes and "blog hops", and responding to comments left on your own blog. :)

5. *What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs  special?*

Gosh, that's hard to answer. I have a variety of blogs that I read for different reasons; and, since I am subscribed to over 100 blogs in my RSS reader, there's no way I can pick just three!

6. *Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?*

That's tough to answer since different people use different blogging platforms. I use Wordpress.org and there are tons of free plug-ins that are fantastic.

Akismet comes pre-installed and essential for weeding out spam. "Thank Me Later" and Commentluv" are great for encouraging comments and interaction (and building community). Login lockdown helps prevent hackers from

hijacking into your WP dashboard. There are many others.