BlogPaws - The Pet Social Media Resource

Share BlogPaws 2013 Conference Blog Posts Here

The BlogPaws 2013 Conference has come and gone (doesn't anyone else feel like they blinked and poof it was gone?) However, we're just getting started. BlogPaws is here to amplify members' voice; shaping social media excellence, influence and education one amazing pet parent at a time.

The BlogPaws Conference kicks off a year of earning, learning, sharing, networking, rescuing, and helping YOU grow.

Meantime, we're asking everyone and anyone who attended the BlogPaws Conference to share their blog posts with us about the conference. This works like a linky in that you just enter your blog post HTML link where it says to do so below.

Why Pet Bloggers Are the Voice of Authority

by: Carol Bryant

Divorces are up, birth rates are down, families are smaller, life expectancies in general are up and guess what this means? More and more people are seeking the companionship of animals.

As a society, we've become more insular - even though the first word in "social media" beckons otherwise. We've grown inward and the more we nest inside our abodes, we want someone to curl up and take shelter with. Enter Fido, Fluffy, Ferret, Flying Bird, Swimming Fish, etc.... Animals are a part of the family.

Recently, I took issue with why pets are family and the feedback was wonderful. I am truly not alone. There's a strong united solidarity-ish voice that seems all that much louder when expressed in unison and not alone. Thank you for the feedback. Pet blogging has only begun to touch the tip of the icebery when it comes to being the widely heard voice expressed in unison. Consider this:

National Cat Adoption Month Celebrations Continue

Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

We're heavily into our month of promoting the idea of adopting a cat or kitten from your local shelter. This time of year -- actually most times of the year -- shelters are overrun with adoptable pets (not just cats) and if your family is in contemplating adding to your family with a furry family member, we urge you to check out your local shelter and adopt a fur-baby from there. 

As part of our month long celebration of kittens and cats, we continue to offer prizes that have been generously donated by BlogPaws Community Members that have partnered with us to spread the word. This week we would like to highlight the following individuals and thank them for their generous donations:

• Darlene Arden, who was a speaker at BlogPaws 2013 is donating a copy of The Complete Cat's Meow
• Marjorie Dawson will donate one of her art pieces... perhaps it will be a cat brooch! -- from New Zealand
• Carole Stevens Bibisi is donating her book, An American Bronte
• Sandy Robins is donating a book, For the Love of Cats
• Dana Gillikin is donating a set of note cards and a "very cool" cat print
• Kate Benjamin is donating cat toys

BlogPaws is also hosting its first-ever Community-only photo contest in celebration of our theme. It's easy to enter and easy to win! Check back to our blog and in the Community for how you can enter to win the prizes! Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook. 

(photo note: Last week I featured my adopted kitty, Lucy. This week is a picture of two more of our adoptees -- Parker and Clyde the Kitten) Have you adopted a kitty? We'd love to hear about it! 

BlogPaws The Week That Was: A Recap

by: Carol Bryant

It’s recap time in the land of BlogPaws. BlogPaws posts great content both on the blog and in the community all week long. With the busy and multitasking lives we all lead, you might have missed some of our announcements, info, posts, and overall news of the week.

On weekends, we'll be recapping and reporting the best of BlogPaws and things you might have missed this week on the blog and in the community. Here we go:

Guiding Principles For Successful Blogging: Lessons Learned at BlogPaws 2013

Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

You started your pet blog hoping for... fame and glory? Recognition of your writing skills? To share the love of your particular pet? To earn money? Whatever your reason, you certainly had in mind that when you started blogging that you would be successful, right? While every pet blogger measures "success" in his or her own way, there are some steps you can take to propel your blog toward the level of success you seek.

This was the lesson imparted by Susan Getgood, author of Professional Blogging for Dummies and the vice president influencer marketing at BlogHer spoke to a crowded room at BlogPaws 2013 and imparted this information: 

How Pet Bloggers Can Use Instagram

by: Carol Bryant

Have you tried Instagram yet? With the plethora of social networking sites and services available, who has time for yet one more app/platform/program? This is one you might want to give a second look.

If you love taking photos, aren't always up for having to be witty or clever to summarize your thoughts in 140 characters (as much as we love Twitter, it can be, well, pressure filled BOL)...well Instagram just might be the instant answer to your prayers, or something close to it.

Instagram is an online photo sharing service that allows you to upload photos, apply effects or filters, then share them to a variety of other places. It's easy, it's fun, and I've been playing around with it for a few months now. I am gaining new followers and fans to my magazine dog blog thanks to Instagram. Are your ears perked now? Here's a cheat sheet and jump start if you'd like to immerse paws first into Instagram:

BlogPaws Wordless Wednesday: Dental Care for Cats

Dental care is important for pets as well as people. Often times, when we read blog posts about oral care for pets, it focuses on dogs, but cats need proper oral care, too. In celebration of National Adopt-a-Cat Month, BlogPaws continues with our committment to all pets, including felines.

One of our Facebook fans, Maria Romano, shared with us, "My cat, Willow not only had to have her teeth cleaned recently but she had to have four teeth pulled. This never would have happened if my sister hadn't kept bugging me to get Willow a dental checkup and if I went to a more experienced veterinary practice."

We are proud of pet parents like Maria and encourage you to have your pet get regular dental care checkups, along with making dental care a regular part of your pet's daily healthcare routine.

Inthe meantime, it is also time for Wordless Wednesday with the BlogPaws blog hop. BlogPaws offers year-round interaction, activity, community and more to learn, earn, and connect. Plus we have the weekly tradition of the Wordless Wednesday BlogPaws Blog Hop! All pictures posted in the free BlogPaws Community are eligible to appear on this post each week.

Visit and leave comments on other blogs to make some new buddies and maybe some new followers. You can add the BlogPaws Blog Hop button to your post and/or to your blog sidebar, either by cutting and pasting the image or using the HTML code below.

Need help? Here it is: How to Join a Blog Hop - BlogPaws Tutorial




<a href="http://www.blogpaws.com" _mce_href="http://www.blogpaws.com"><img src="http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad127/cokiethecat/BlogPawsWedButton.jpg" _mce_src="http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad127/cokiethecat/BlogPawsWedButton.jpg" /></a>


Want to see your pet featured? Join our free BlogPaws Community and share your photos! We select our BlogPaws Wordless Wednesday pet from the photos in the community each week.

Do You Consider Pets Family Members?

by Carol Bryant, BlogPaws PR & Marketing Manager

If there is one certainty we hold true and observe time and again as the team of BlogPaws it is this: many people who share their lives with a pet are passionate about doing so. The many we encounter do things like blog about them, share their lives with them, foster and rescue, go without so their pets can have, and make sacrifices in the name of dog, cat, ferret, gerbil, rabbit, bird, fish, snake, etc., time and time again.

And we here at BlogPaws embrace the term "pet parent." After all, I am a dog mom. I love it when folks call me a dog mom; I never grimace, furrow a brow, or correct them. In fact, a sense of pride swells in me.  I buy cotton swabs, I use baby wipes on my dog after a muddied walk or rainy day, and I could probably circumnavigate the globe twice with the amount of paper towels I’ve used in a lifetime of what some would call dog ownership. I like to call it pet parenting.

And there are those who have a problem with that. But why?

BlogPaws Celebrates National Adopt a Cat/Adopt A Shelter Cat Month

Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

We, here at BlogPaws, are like James Herriot and love "all creatures great and small," but this month we are loving on cats just a smidge more as they are our spotlight pet. Because June is National Adopt a Cat/Adopt a Shelter Cat Month we are hosting themed chats in our Community, Twitter Pawty chats, writing blog posts and giving away cat-themed prizes that have been generously donated by cat-loving community members that have partnered up with BlogPaws for this month long event. 

Every Monday for the rest of June we will be featuring a set of individuals that have offered prizes "all for the love of cats." Check the Community and our Facebook page as well as the blog to find out dates and times of upcoming events. 

Here are some of the great prizes that will be available:

Wrapping Up A Week In Blog Posts At BlogPaws

By Robbi Hess, BlogPaws Blog Manager 

As we continue our weekend wrap up of all of the good stuff that was brought to you on the BlogPaws website this week we also continue our month-long theme of National Adopt A Cat Month/Adopt A Shelter Cat Month. 

Once again our blog was overflowing with great information. In case you missed any of our posts, our Community announcements or haven't registered for BlogPaws 2014, now is the time to kick back, relax and catch up with our weekend round up. 

Should pet bloggers work for free? It depends on ...

By Tom Collins

I don't know about your pets, but Chester, Emily, Olive, and Molly like to eat. Heck, Yvonne and I like to eat.

And a few free servings of dog or cat food, or a new bag of litter, or some kind of pet-focused book or video just don't provide enough nutritional value for all of us to survive on. Or keep us warm, cool, dry ... or pay for the electricity and internet, so we can keep blogging. You get the idea.

So my usual answer when bloggers ask about doing product reviews for nothing more than a sample of the product is, repeat after me: "STOP … WORKING … for FREE!"