What is the name of your Blog?Adventures of a Wine Noob
What is your name?
Rebecca Lehmann
Where are you from? (include country, state and/or city)
Littleton, CO
What is your current age or age range?
33
What makes me think I can write about wine?
I'm chronicling my adventures as I explore the wine industry and educate myself. I'm not an expert. I don't want to do reviews or shill for a winery. Its about making wine into an accessible subject, and about telling stories.
Describe the main purpose of your blogging, what are you trying to accomplish?
I'm about a year away from graduating with an MBA, and I'd like to be working in the wine industry when I'm done. I've started this up partly to amuse myself, but more importantly in an attempt to build some presence and credibility.
What blogging platform do you do and why?
Blogger. The SEO answer is that I use it because it's a Google property, and thus Google clearly has reason to favor it when determining pagerank. Otherwise, it's an easy platform - easy to update, to manage multiple blogs, to customize, and, eventually, to incorporate into an external website.
What do you blog the most about?
My adventures as I stumble through the wine industry, learning everything I can from my caustic mentor, Dave, who is an industry guy.
What kind of blogs make you angry?
The ones that are shilling products. I want to see blogs with real people behind them with whom I can feel some kind of connection.
Give five of your best blogging tips.
1. Be real. 2. Be honest. 3. Play nice. 4. Post pictures when you can. 5. Make it interesting.
What are some things you would NEVER blog about?
I try to keep things positive, light and entertaining. Vitriol has no place on my blog.
Did you start blogging for the purpose of making money and if so, are you making enough money?
No, though I hope to eventually get a job out of it.
How long have you been blogging?
In various forms for nine years.
About how many hours per day do you spend blogging?
It's not a daily thing, but when I sit down to write, it usually takes about an hour.
Do you track RSS feeds and if so, how many do you usually track daily?
Only for work, and I'd guess I follow about 50 industry blogs.
Do you use Digg, and why or why not?
Occasionally. I'm usually pressed for time.
Do you use Stumbleupon, and why or why not?
No, because when I want to find something, I look for it specifically. I'm not generally a fan of surfing for surfing's sake.
What promotional techniques work best for you and why?
I've got a pretty good network on Facebook and Twitter.
If you could post a blog on any blog in the world, which one would it be and why?
I have no idea! I'm also a photographer, so it would probably be a one of my photos on some famous photo blog.
What mistakes have you made that you could warn others about?
Choose your blog name carefully. Your URL and title are your best SEO.
What are your top five blogging site picks and why?
1. Blogger - Google makes it easy 2. Wordpress - I know a lot of people who are fans, though I've never used it myself 3. Facebook - easy to connect with people. You know your audience. 4. Twitter - quick connect, great networking and conversation 5. LiveJournal - just out of nostalgia since it's where my blogging started.
Have you met anyone offline as a result of your blog?
Not this one in particular, but when I first moved to Colorado, I met all of my friends through LiveJournal.
Are you a crazy cat lady?
Yes, yes I am...
What is the url of your blog?
Adventures of a Wine Noob
