Halil: Send me a few notes on your background: name, age, where you`re from, etc....

ponnsabra: Ponn M. Sabra, MPH (Masters in Public Health). 34 year old, married mother of three daughters (ages 7, 6 and 4 years old). Presently, reside in Toledo, OH. Born and raised in Meriden, CT.

BS. Biology. Providence College. 1995
MPH. University of Connecticut. 1998


Halil: Please describe your blog with 3-5 sentenses

ponnsabra: EmpowerWomenNow.com is an International Women Entrepreneurs' Online Resource Center, where W.E. (women entrepreneurs) Learn, Share, and Succeed Together. W.E. offer free help, tips, tools, resources, mentoring, networking and much more. Presently, readership is  from over 59 countries.


Halil: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

ponnsabra: Feb. 6, 2005. Blogging was a branding and marketing tool for my "Empowering Women to Power Network" debut book. Upon its release date on August 11, 2005, it became an instant amazon.com best-seller ;-)


Halil:  Would you like to share your first post with us? URL please.

ponnsabra: The Meaning of "Ponn". First post here . 

Thanks Halil. This was a fun exercise! I enjoyed reading my very first post, and glad to see I still that I'm the same "Ponn" sharing the same "Empowering Women" message ;-)

 
Halil:  What kind of people read your blog and who should read it?

ponnsabra: Primarily, online entrepreneurs. While I haven't tracked gender visitor statistics, my RSS subscribers are approximately 80 percent female, while my ezine subscribers are approximately 60 percent females. The active community on my blog, via comments and trackbacks are basically split 50-50.

 
Halil: How are their reactions?

ponnsabra: I  recently moved my generic blogger theme to a customized-Word Press template on March 15, 2007. Today's date is April 27, 2007. My comments are extremely positive. Many people enjoy and are attracted to my humor, tough-love, extremely personal, and straight-forward, easy-to-understand business tips and recommendations.

              
Halil: Is there anything you ever wanted to post but didn´t post for some reason.

ponnsabra: No. This past week alone, I posted two rather strong arguments anticipating some controversy and debate. One was overlooked, yet I didn't lose any readers. The second one, people thought I was hysterical, and it generated some laughs and support of my points.

These two experiences convinced me to continue sharing my thoughts and opinions whenever I feel its necessary.


Halil: Are there any topics you wouldn´t write about?

ponnsabra: I'm a family-friendly, home based business resource site, so I will always adhere to these subjects.


Halil: What do you like most on blogging? Communication, participation on different projects, ...

ponnsabra: Blogging is a powerful networking tool, traffic generator, and an opportunity to capitalize on real-time consumer/audience feedback for product development and research. The key to a successful  business is knowing your market's needs and desires, and offering them the products and services to fill the void. Blogging allows the dialogue to stay present.


Halil: How many blogs do you have currently in your reader?

ponnsabra: Less than one dozen.


Halil: What do you think is the difference between bloggers and journalists?

ponnsabra: I believe, journalists report news and tries to persuade readers as to what is important to them (the media outlets). On the other hand, bloggers report news, trends, and experience based on personal and/or professional opinion and/or research, and give readers the opportunity to form their own opinion as to what is the "news" based on their personal involvement. The readers are in charge of what is news-worthy, rather than being dictated what it should be. Quality bloggers last forever, because they generate followers who appreciate the dialogue that is generated in creating the "news", whereas poor bloggers fall off the blogosphere because they have no readers at all.

    
Halil: If you could choose one blogger who writes about you who would it be?

ponnsabra: Darren Rowse of Problogger .


Halil: Do you use any toolbars? Which ones and why?

ponnsabra: Yes. Google Toolbar. StumbledUpon Toolbar. And, SearchStatus 1.18. Available at
http://www.quirkbiz/searchstatus for Google PageRank, Alexa ranking, Highlighting NoFollow links, and numerous keyword and SEO ranking tools.
Very cool! I highly-recommend it for all online entrepreneurs.


Halil: Do you want to say something to other blogger?

ponnsabra: I'd love to welcome all women entrepreneurs across the world to contribute  to our growing community. Most if not all of our resources are free, and our ultimate goal is to create open source women entrepreneurs' business mentoring, networking resource center. So, come now, participate in its development, and join in the laughter!

 

 

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