Press Pass:

My general rule of thumb when it comes to the naysayers is to let them “naysay” and refrain from jumping in the mud. But I couldn’t resist when I saw Beth Blecherman’s post on SVMoms.com about a story that was seriously “dugg” back in 2007 on Digg.com. This post had 2,612 Diggs and 91 comments when I came across it the other day. Sadly, times have not changed. But how much evolution can one really expect in two years?

The post, “Funniest Sexest Washing Machine Tag Ever,” is brimming with Gen X 13-year-old boyish comments.

We recently launched a new feature on our site that was covered by the WSJ Digits blog. We made it onto Digg and, last time I checked, had 116 Diggs and 14 comments. The comments posted there were equally nasty, if not nastier (browsers beware).

Maybe the boys plaguing Digg’s comment threads should figure out who their mama really is. She’s pretty tech savvy, controls more than 80 percent of household spending and isn’t very likely to marry a boy that wants her to do all his  bidding. And gasp, has more to say about life than “Come home dinner in 10 minutes.”

Kirtsy anyone?

The art of PR is to put a pretty face on what we do. Our businesses, our blunders, our blessings. But for a minute let’s not, and let’s be real. Let’s talk a bit about how life happens and how we still have businesses to run in spite of that fact.

So if we talk 08′, for me it’s a year that’s a roller coaster of the good and the bad. I’m pregnant (yay), I’m pregnant and steering my growing business while feeling nauseated, not sleeping well and now expanding by the day, having serious heartburn and preparing for the return of diapers (blah).

My younger sister was diagnosed with cancer in August and passed away in September. My grandpa followed her just this past weekend.

On the business front we have been growing and, as a consequence, hiring. We now employ eight people–might sound small but, my, it comes with lots of growing pains. And of course, you always have the things in business to attend to that frequently act as distractions to your core objectives. And that list can get long (longer than any of us can endure in this blog post).

But we are all in business because we are driven by something bigger: the need to create and change the world as we see it. Amid the dysfunction that life and business often throw at us, our businesses seem to provide a canvas to paint on. So when people ask how I do it with what has been on my plate this year, the answer is: As demanding as business may be at times, it still feeds me.

And on that note, I guess I’m ready to feed my blogs again.

I’ve committed the cardinal sin: neglected my blogs at every level. We hear it all the time, “If you have a business, you MUST blog!” And just for kicks and giggles, why not have three blogs and half a dozen social networks to maintain while you run your business? I obviously haven’t learned my lesson because I just committed to another network: Twitter.

Nevertheless I return with good tidings about business, public relations and all things entrepreneurial. At least I can say that I’ve been busy these past few months and have lots to talk about. Stay tuned for (I hope) good things!

Speaking of the Web 2.0 conference . . .

When I was in San Francisco for that conference I had the opportunity to meet lots of people, many from the Bay area. I ended up at dinner with a few people from Microsoft one evening. One of them was pregnant and due soon. She asked what I did and I filled her in on the basics of our regional reference guides, local websites and magazines. The Bay area just happens to be our next market; in June we’ll be launching seven editions of our books as well as a regional magazine. So at first she was very excited. Then came the question: Where are you based?

I gave my answer, and the conversation took a very different turn. It went something like this:

Her: Hmmm, here in the Bay Area we are a very different from a market like yours. The women here are very sharp, highly educated and tech savvy. I’d be interested to see if any of your content would be a good fit for this market.

Me: Interesting. Well, much of the content comes from moms in the Bay area as well as some national outlets (after this I didn’t have much else to say).

Her: Hmm (turns away).

Me: (I started to have a conversation with myself in my head about what she really should know about my business and the market we are based out of, but I kept figuring I was overreacting, so I kept it in my head).

This interaction is really not too big of a deal in the scheme of things. But in the broader world of business, I always get funny reactions about the city we are based out of. We are not in Silicon Valley or New York, but we are in a very entrepreneurial, very savvy market.

The others who were at dinner with me were flabbergasted by the interaction. When we left they expressed their awe at the comments made (which made me wish that I had snapped back with something sassier than I did). But I told them that I frequently get odd reactions when I tell people where we are based, especially because we are not a Silicon Valley startup.

My companions actually suggested to me that I set up a “faux” office in the Bay area so we can have a multi-headquartered feel about our company and get a boost in credibility by looking a little more “big city.” I laughed because the stubborn part of me wants to say, “Brace yourself, big world, and wait for the big things that come out of my hometown!”

Let’s see if you can guess where we are based:

• We have more plastic surgeons per capita than any other city in the U.S.;

• Voted number one vainest city by Forbes;

• More computers per household than any other U.S. city (at least that is the last stat I heard);

• Lots and lots of startups and tech companies are based here.

And my follow up question: How important is the city where you are based?

A few basic tools that every entrepreneur should utilize: Google Alerts and Technorati.

I sign up for Google Alerts to keep up on any time we are talked about on the World Wide Web, and I use Technorati to keep my eye on the blogosphere.

Google Alerts
It’s easy. For Google, just set up an account. Click on My Account, and this will bring you to My Services. Click on Alerts, and enter the search terms you’d like to track. I have alerts sent to me once a day. In addition to tracking my own info, I track competitors and industry keywords to keep up on any interesting trends.

For more on Google Alerts, click here.

Technorati
If you want to see what blogs are saying about you or you want to track your own blogs’ impact, simply type your name, business name, website and blog address in the search field on Technorati and check out your results. You can subscribe to other services, and setting up an account is free.

For more about Technorati, click here.