Life with Dylan

Category: Blog

  • Simple SEO helped me create more awareness

    People blog for various reasons and we all want to share what we write with others. I blog to share my passion about the environment, wildlife, and conservation. As I have said before, conservation begins with awareness. The more people who are aware, the more people who will make a difference. I don’t get paid to blog, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want hundreds of people to see my blog.

    Social media – I love it.
    Facebook – an old friend.
    Twitter – it’s fun.
    SEO – a foreign language.

    I will be honest with you, SEO scared the heck out of me for a long time. Why? Because I didn’t understand it. Then my friend told me about a great e-book from Stef Calvert at Hearts and Laserbeams. An easy to download e-book that could help me increase the traffic on my blog.

    Again, I’m not getting paid anything for my blog. Increasing traffic and page views on my blog serves one purpose – creating more awareness.

    If I can make one person aware about an endangered animal or one person aware about the impacts of recycling on the environment, then I have done what I set out to do. That one person may share a post on Facebook or Twitter, which makes one more person aware.

    Some of the things in Easy S.E.O. for Bloggers I was already doing and some I was only doing part of. As I read through it I thought, ah-ha I knew there was something I was missing. Sometimes it’s as simple as using a hyphen instead of a comma. Other times it’s utilizing an option of my settings that I just skipped over – simply because I didn’t know what the option did.

    Sure, adding SEO to a blog post takes me a little more time, but isn’t it worth it? Since using the tools and tips from Easy S.E.O. for Bloggers, I have increased the pages views and overall traffic to my blog. What does this mean? It means that more people are reading my blog – more people are learning about conservation – more people are aware.

    So whatever your cause may be, I am sure you want more people to be aware of what your cause is. If you are not already using SEO, or even if you are and want to learn some simple ways to make it better, I recommend buying this e-book from Hearts and Laserbeams. You won’t be sorry.

  • Changing for the better

    As I mentioned the other day, there will be some changes happening here on the blog. You’ve probably already noticed a slight design change – including the color scheme and a new header. Don’t worry, you are in the right place.

    Life with Dylan (my son, not the blog) brings a smile to my face every day. The way this kid teaches me about animals, shows me the world through his eyes, and inspires me to see the world a little differently than I did before will never cease to amaze me. I’m excited to be sharing more of these inspirations with you and hope that you will continue to follow Life with Dylan as we transition to the new blog design.

    A few more subtle changes will occur over the next few days and I hope you will like the new blog as much as I do.

  • Life with Dylan has a new look!

    You may have noticed that the blog looks a little different – well, that’s because I gave it a minor makeover. I have a new outlook on life and I wanted that to reflect on the blog. So I added some instagrams, more vibrant colors and created a new header. Doing it all one smile at a time.

    Wondering when I had the time to do all this? Well, that’s where my new outlook on life comes in.
    I have embraced the concept of saying no to other people and yes to myself. I now have time to do the things I want to do.

    Working on the new blog design and changing the Facebook pages for Life with Dylan and Beautyisms over to the new timeline format is something I have been wanting to do. I might make some more adjustments this weekend to the timeline cover photos, but for now I’m good.

  • I Am Who I Am ..

    Day turns to night and the months pass by. Seasons change and the years seem to go by faster as I get older. I change. I evolve. I am not the person I was 5 years ago, nor am I the writer I was 5 years ago. I have changed.

    However, one thing remains constant in my life. My son. My life has evolved, but for the past 8 years one person has remained by my side giving me the support and love I could not find anyplace else. My son – Dylan.

    Although I am a me, Michelle, and I have a life of my own as a grown woman, my life would not be the same without him. That is why this blog is called Life with Dylan … not because my life has no meaning without him, or because I want to continually talk about my child, but because this is what I choose.

    I am many things …

    I have been a Beach Baby since I was old enough to walk. Therefore, my twitter handle is @bchbby
    I am a makeup artist. Maybe not in the business sense anymore, but I will always be a makeup artist.
    I am a Mom. Some may say I am a Mommy Blogger.
    I am a college graduate who made sacrifices for 2 1/2 years to get my BS in Psychology.
    I am a writer who loves to tell stories.

     … and right beside me through these sacrifices, triumphs, challenges, and life is Dylan.

    We have a bond that cannot be explained. There is no Dad in the picture here. We are together 24/7 with the exception of school and work of course … and I always find time for me because I know that is important for both of us. I am going through a lot of changes in my life right now. My career is changing and who knows, maybe one day I will change the name of this blog … but for now this is one thing that will not change.

  • Big Changes + momAgenda = Happiness

    So you may have noticed that the web address has changed. We can now be found at LifewithDylan.com and that’s just the first step. There are some exciting things in the works, but we can’t say just yet.

    Besides taking this mom blog to a whole new level, I am up to my eyeballs with Shel Cosmetics. Don’t get me wrong, I love staying busy and the business is doing great. Busy Mom means the company is successful! Needless to say, I am spending more time on the computer than I did when I was in school.

    So along with scheduling appointments, vacations, shipping out orders, getting Dylan to and from summer day camps, and preparing for the Fall marketing campaigns I am glad that there is one thing that can keep me sane.

    My beloved momAgenda

    I have always used the Personal Portfolio with a spiral refill and love the soft leather with pockets and snap closure to make sure all my papers stay inside, but I might change things up this year. The new Faux Crocodile momAgenda Desktop in Teal Blue seems to be calling my name every time I see it.

    image from momAgenda.com

    For those of you who are not familiar with momAgenda, this amazing product was created by a mom … for moms! Every detail and every event you can possibly imagine is part of this organizational system. Vacations, gift guides, favorite places, holidays, mom-friendly web address listings, just about anything is here at your fingertips! And they makes it so simple for you …

    image from momAgenda.com

    Thank you momAgenda for making my crazy, chaotic life a happy one!

  • We Won!

    Dylan is so excited that we won this Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Giveaway from Disney and Glitterful Felt Stories. What a great way to end the week!

    Be sure to check out the Glitterful Felt Stories site for some amazing giveaways and excellent articles on healthy eating, kid friendly crafts, and so much more!

  • Something Had To Give …

    There come a point in time when you have many so many things going on, deadlines to meet, papers to write, laundry to wash, and as hard as you try to keep all the balls in the air sometimes something has to give. Unfortunately, the ball that I just couldn’t keep in the air was our blog. So, finally someone told me that they have been checking our blog and it still shows Dylan’s birthday from July 2010.

    Once again, I will do a quick recap and try my best to keep up. I promise once school is done in May I will have more time. At least I hope so! In a nutshell, here is what we have been doing:
    DYLAN – excelling at school (2nd grade now), advanced to Wolf Cub Scout, started after-school tennis and science classes, loves reading and of course playing his video games!
    MICHELLE – still working for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, still attending University of Phoenix (BS in Psychology), running a successful business (Shel Cosmetics), single handedly keeping Starbucks in business so I can stay awake on a mere 4 1/2 hours sleep, and of course raising the most wonderful child on God’s planet!

    OK, now for the pictures to get you all caught up …

    Dylan caught a fish!
    Just another summer day at Disneyland …
    First day of school, not a happy camper to get up at 6:30am after sleeping til 9 all summer

    The cutest Anakin Skywalker for Halloween
    Mommy and Dylan self-portrait after Aunt Stephie’s Engagement Party!
    2nd Grade School Picture

  • Back to Work and School!

    Well, as the alarm went off at 6 am the reality set in that Christmas vacation was over. Gone are the days of staying up til 1am and sleeping til 9 or 10 am. It was sure fun while it lasted and as I told Dylan, only 6 short weeks and then we have another mini vacation for Presidents Week or what we all like to call Ski Week. It will take us a few days to get back into the swing of things, but we will manage.

    Over the break, I started a new blog Michelle’s Sweet Factory and have really enjoyed sharing my baking with the blog world. I am still debating if I should change the name so to include all types of food and not just sweets, although cupcakes are my specialty.  Maybe Michelle’s Kitchen or something like that … who knows it is all new still.