The Girl Behind BZ
My name is Allison Boyer and I’ve been blogging since the late 1990s, back when LiveJournal was all the rage and making money online as a writer was just a dream. I began blogging professionally in 2006 and haven’t looked back since.
Today, I’m Online Education Coordinator, Blog Features Writer, and “Unofficial VP of Shenanigans” for New Media Expo (NMX – formerly BlogWorld Expo). I also run a very successful anonymous blog under a pen name, as well as The PinterTest Kitchen, a food blog featuring recipes from my family.
I don’t have massive traffic. I don’t have a massive social media following. I’m not an expert or ninja or guru. But bank accounts don’t lie – I am successful online, and so I started Blog Zombies to share my opinions, techniques, and tips to help you be successful too. I think some of the a-listers out there give great advice, but you can take a different path and also be successful. I’m living proof of that.
You can find me on Twitter @allison_boyer and if you’re looking for info about the awesome chickas who did the design work for Blog Zombies, follow my sister @jess_boyer. I’m also a Pinterest fiend, and you can find me there under the same screen name – allison_boyer.
———————————————————————————-
Want the full story? You got it! You’ve been warned that this is a long one!
Let me start by saying that I am, first and foremost, a writer. I don’t remember not being a writer. Before I could actually spell words, I can remember telling stories to my dolls and coming up with fantastic “let’s pretend” stories to play out with my friends. I used to make “books” from construction paper when I was in elementary school, to give as gifts, and I was reading chapter books by the time I hit first grade. So, I’m Allison Boyer, and I’m a writer. That’s my identity before anything else.
Writing is also my job. More specifically, blogging is my job.
After graduating with a degree in Professional Writing from Elizabethtown College in 2006, I decided to work full time as a freelance writer instead of getting a “real job” as my dad says. I found that blogging was my true passion, though I’ve also written copy for ebooks, press releases, sales pages, newsletters, and more.
As I built my writing empire, I started hiring other freelancers to help with the growing workload. Soon, I was running a very successful freelancing company…but I missed blogging. So I started taking on more blogging work myself, including taking a job blogging about college football for b5media.
I blogged with b5media for several years, and eventually took over their freelance writing blog as well as continuing to blog about football. All the while, I also continued blogging for other clients on a freelance basis and building blogs of my own in niches like dating, video games, and career advice. I eventually left b5media, as they decided to structure the company, but I continued blogging (and doing other writing work) for clients.
In 2010, I got a very random, very exciting email from someone named Nikki who worked for BlogWorld & New Media Expo, the biggest conference in the industry. She wanted to know if I would be interested in a blogging job with the company. How did she get my name? Well, it turns out that Nikki used to work at b5 as well, and when she started the search for new bloggers for the BWE blog, she asked her contacts at b5 for recommendations. Well over a year after leaving, my b5 manager remembered me and recommended me for the job! It just goes to show that working hard and going above and beyond really does pay off in the end!
Since then I’ve been working with BWE (now called NMX). I became the features writer in late 2010 and moved into a full time position as Community Outreach Coordinator in April 2012. I moved into my current role as Online Education Coordinator as of September 2012 and I couldn’t be happier.
I’ve had the unique opportunity to meet and work with some amazing people throughout my career and I can’t wait to see what the future brings. Contact me today if you’re interested in working together. I’d love to hear from you!
