I have a few blogs that I read regularly. No matter how busy I get - or how lazy - I always make sure I find time for them. Coincidentally, two of them are written by the same person. I have learned so much from both these blogs - and from my relationship with their author. I am talking, of course, about Heidi Caswell and her blogs WordPress 101 for Boomers and Connect Simply. She is the only person who authors more than one of my favorite blogs - which is why I decided to share them.Let me start by saying that I personally don't use WordPress. But I have clients that use it and so I need to know at least the basics. The first thing I did was turn to Heidi. She is a wealth of information on the subject. Her site, WordPress 101 for Boomers has information on everything from keeping spammers out of your contact form to uncluttering your sidebars. With the information available here, I am often able to help my clients solve their WordPress problems.
You can gain helpful information here even if you don't use WordPress. Recently she did a post about sneaky plugins. She described how one of her favorite plugins was adding spam links to her site. While her article was devoted strictly to WordPress plugins, I forwarded the link to my mailing list and it got some of my none WordPress clients thinking. They checked their sites and sure enough, some of them found plugins they used were doing the same thing.
In addition to being a WordPress whiz, Heidi has also served as a reminder of the value of staying connected. If you're anything like me, you have contact lists with more names than you can remember. And when was the last time you actually connected with any of them? Can't remember that either can you. Well Heidi is an expert at helping me "create a personal touch in a high tech world." Thanks to her inspiration, I can honestly say I do keep in touch with family, friends, and clients on a much more regular basis. You might want to take a lesson from her as well because since I have started following her advice, I have seen a definite increase in my business. Go to Connect Simply and read her blog and you too will become an ardent fan. Heidi hasn't been updating this blog as much lately as she explains in her last post. But the information on it is still current and I find myself still going back to reread something. You can find everything here - Face to Face Networking Tips, how to get bloggers to review your book, even a lesson in self-improvement.
I have recently discovered Heidi writes another blog - Home Grown Lifestyle. I found it when she posted a recipe for Pork Cabbage Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce on Pinterest. So far I have learned how to make my own laundry soap, that you can plant cabbage in February, and that it's never too early to start gardening. I'm still discovering all this blog has to offer, but I think I'm going to become a regular here as well.
Three great blogs - one great blogger. What else have you got to share with us, Heidi?
