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Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?
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We are an Indian family who came to the US to pursue higher studies and then stayed back. My two sons have lived their entire lives in America, so we straddle two worlds (the Indian and the American) in our daily lives. We have brought up our sons, Big A and Little a, to be independent, inquisitive and fun-loving, and we got that, in addition to impertinent, brash and clownish!
My blog, ‘Big A and Little a’, is about our day-to-day lives and our thoughts with regard to our boys’ upbringing in a multicultural environment. You can learn more about us at my blog’s About us (http://momofbigalittlea.blogspot.com/p/about.html) section.
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Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?
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I have another job and I have a house and kids so, no! Not a full-time blogger even though I make an effort to post about 3-4 times a week. My kids supply the material! :P
I have always been an avid reader of blogs. Earlier, I felt I could not make the time commitment needed for blogging, but now that my kids are older, I felt the need to have a record for all the little details of their life that would make interesting reading, at least to my husband and me, later!
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If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?
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I am still a relatively new blogger since I just started this year. However, there are a few things that I learned and I would be happy to share.
First, if you do not enjoy writing, there is no point starting a blog. It should be a pleasure; not an effort!
Second of all, the topmost grouse that most readers have is reading a post full of spelling and grammatical mistakes, and I agree! I understand the concept of writing from the heart and all that, but it does not take much effort to write in an MS Word document that will do the editing for you.
Third, it is good for your readers that you blog consistently, so that they know when to expect the next post.
It is worth reiterating, like some of your other interviewees have, that plagiarizing or writing negative/hateful content will definitely backfire on you, and I think serious bloggers know that already!
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How do you build a community around a blog and social media?
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Be as interactive as possible. Do not just use social media to promote yourself. Comment on others’ posts, re-tweet the tweets that you liked, ‘like’ people’s Facebook and Google posts etc.As in any relationship, it takes time to develop and it’s a give and take situation.
I do a weekly post on Fridays highlighting all the good posts that I have read that week. I wanted to share with others all the posts that interested me, and that has really been appreciated by all my readers.
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What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?
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It really is very difficult to select just three blogs. As I mentioned earlier, I have been reading blogs for a long time, and ever since I started blogging, I got to know more and more blogs, all of which I find to be amazing reading!
If I really have to choose three, I would select from my old favorites (just to be faithful! Lol!!)
Any Mommy Out There (http://anymommyoutthere.com/) who writes straight from the heart; so poignant and so beautiful.
Motherhood in NYC (http://www.motherhoodinnyc.com/). I love her amazing humor!
My Dream Canvas (http://mydreamcanvas.blogspot.com/), which is a home décor blog by Anu, who has amazing style!
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Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?
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Social media buttons, for sure. If you want readers, you should make it easy for them to connect with you one or way or another.
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