Vegan Momma

Well not too many new things going on in Vegan Momma world. I’m back after being away for the holidays so I’ll be catching up with my comments, blog visits, and giving out rewards I’ve received. I’m well behind in giving those out, but I truly appreciate each and everyone I’ve received. Thank you so much.

The Raw & The Cooked - Syndicated

Before I left for vacation last week my vegan cooking/raw vegan website The Raw & The Cooked was contacted about syndication. I’ve had a chance to review the website and will be following up with them later this week. I view it as an opportunity to connect with more people. If I accept some of my posts would be syndicated I would also have a bio page on the website.

Healing Yourself Naturally ~ Increase in RSS Readers

Healing Yourself Naturally has received an increase in readers about a week ago it was six I now have 31 readers subscribed via RSS Feed. I’m trying to gain exposure with my niche websites which means I’m posting under those URLS a lot more. I enjoy my niche websites and like the fact that the focus on a specific topic. Healing Yourself Naturally has also received an offer from an advertiser. I didn’t go through a service. They contacted me directly.

The Mac Diva

The Mac Diva has been contacted to do a product review. Yes, that’s one of the perks of having a tech website you might get free software. I haven’t made up my mind if I’ll accept, but again it’s nice to be recognized. I’m surprised that I was contacted because my audience there is small.

Hey Apple, anytime you need a review on your new line of MacBooks, PowerMac’s, Final Cut Studio, etc., drop me a line, alright?
I’m applying for an online position if I receive the position I’ll be writing articles for a Mac related website. I see this as an opportunity to spread my wings and maybe receive criticism from other Mac users. It will show me the areas where I need to improve.

Niche Websites

Occasionally I hear negative things about niche website. What else is new, right? People will always have something negative to say about something. C’est la vie. Automatically lumping every website that happens to be a niche into the same category is no different than labelling someone based on a group they are affilated with.

Niche websites can provide a great service if you are effective with it, and I know mine have based on the feedback I’ve received from a few of them. I’m enjoying that immensely.

My niche websites give me a chance to focus exclusively on one subject matter. When I’m looking for specific information I rarely go to a site that has information on everything under the sun I usually go to the websites that are niche websites. Why do some people put bloggers in a separate category and feel that they should not do that. I don’t see the difference. ;-)

Effectively Branding Myself

As I’ve mentioned before I’m not dependent on search engines for my traffic which is why when the big G decides to play dirty I my virtual world does not end. I’ve prepared myself ,accordingly. With Vegan Momma I’m contacted by an advertiser/online publisher on a weekly basis.

So why did I include Jimmy Lee by Aretha Franklin? Well I’ve loved this song since the first time I heard it in the 80’s. I searched for the video for a years and I finally found it early this spring. Anyway besides being one of my favorite artists she had the knack of making any song she sings “hers”. I try to do that with my blogs. Although my writing style varies depending on where I’m writing I still try to make sure that my personality shines through. I’m a positive person and try to convey that within my posts. I try make people feel welcome at my virtual home. I might not always agree with my readers, and occasionally I’ll question why they think a certain way, but I’ll always give you respect and it’s ok if we don’t think alike. Life would be boring if everyone thought the way I do. I truly appreciate my readers.

[tags]Healing Yourself Naturally, The Raw & The Cooked, vegan cuisine, The Mac Diva, niche websites[/tags]

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Aiyana and her cousins

I included this picture because these were some of my daughter’s hang out partners while we were in South Carolina. They are sisters and live with their parents in Atlanta, Georgia. The majority of the relatives that were in South Carolina this Thanksgiving holiday were from out of town. Many of my aunts and uncles are from Florida. These are my mothers relatives. There are sixteen brothers and sisters total and fifteen of them are alive. One of the triplets died a few weeks after he was born.

Our holiday ended with a bang last evening. My uncle’s birthday was celebrated. He’s a great man and will gives himself unconditionally to his loved ones. It was a large turnout and lasted well into the evening. We left early since we would headed out this morning 2:00 a.m. Thirteen of my aunts and uncles were able to attend the event. Of course many of their children and grandchildren were in attendance also. It was a huge turnout.

Many that normally would not have been able to attend did so because this Thanksgiving was special. We were honoring a great man. I respect him because he lives by my motto which is Think of Others First. It’s a motto I try to live by every second of my days. Imagine if everyone thought of others first. The world would be a better place, wouldn’t it?

Shabba Ranks /Patra: Family AffairI’m including this video Family Affair with Shabba Ranks and Patra.The song is included at the end of the presentation the video (when the credits start rolling) that I’m currently working on for my family. I did a “quick & dirty” version while I was there it was about ten minutes of footage my relatives liked it and wanted me to do more so I taped last evenings event. One of my relatives wants me to edit a few of her videos and she will pay me. I thought that was very cool.The video I showed was completed in iMovie which is part of the iLife software package. It’s made by Apple.My skills improved soon after I purchased iLife and I found I needed more so iMovie and use Final Cut Express HD almost exclusively. I purchased mine directly from the Apple Store since I’m able to take advantage of their student discount. I’m back in college working on my Masters in Traditional Naturopathy. I’m still maintaining my A+ average by the way.

I used iMovie to showcase the video simply because a lot of my family members uses Mac’s. I wanted them to see how easy it is to create a movie using iMovie. A few of them bought the software application after seeing my video. My daughter Aiyana mainly uses iMovie now. She’s four years old. She’s amazing on the computer. If you want something easy and still want to wow your family/friends iMovie has enough cool features to do that.

The main computer I use is a 17″ MacBook Pro. Final Cut Express HD gives me a lot more freedom and with the exception of a few features I can do everything that Apple Final Cut Studio offers for a lot less. The music I use comes directly from iTunes. I have a lot of songs in iTunes about 2,000 total most of them I didn’t purchase from the Apple Store although I did spend around $90 via iTunes. I love music.

Thus far Final Cut Express HD is the best video editing software I’ve worked with and I’ve worked with a few. Anyway, As the end credits roll Family Affair is playing in the background. The intro will feature the song Tomorrow by the Winans. I chose that video because of the way our family gathering started out. Anyway this video should be finished by this weekend at that time I’ll be burning a lot of DVD’s and sending it off to my family.

I’m putting everything that I taped last week on this video. I use a High Definition camcorder. I’ll be breaking up the video by including chapters in doing so you will be able to access where you want to go directly from the main menu. This way you can easily skip past the parts that don’t interest you. A few of my relatives are quite long winded on the video. Can you imagine what that was like taping the entire thing? ;-) Yes there will even be credits at the end. In all the dvd will be about two hours.

I enjoyed being away and taking a much needed break from the computer I’m also happy to be back online and of course I’ve missed my blogging buddies/readers

Question: Did you take photos or video of your Thanksgiving.

[tags]family, bonding, thanksgiving holiday, family affair[/tags]

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