Social Media is all a-buzz and one sizzling hot pet group generating lots of enthusiasm is BlogPaws (www.blogpaws.com). It’s no wonder with it being the only online community for pet writers that is focused on helping members monetize their hard work online. They’re also the only online community boasting of a tremendously successful national social media conference and growing ad network as was seen at their recent conference in Salt Lake City.

In an email interview, BlogPaws Co-founder Yvonne DiVita pointed out while there are a number of online pet writing communities, BlogPaws is the only one focused on helping members get paid for blogging. And many of us bloggers know that some financial remuneration helps pay the bills and keep us writing about subjects (some happy and some tragic) that pet people want and need to know about.

DiVita added, “The excitement is part of being in the pet community. We’re a big group of excitable folks! LOL (Lots of Love). In reality BlogPaws exists

“To answer questions on how to turn your hard work into a paying gig or a full business, because we work with so many fantastic experts, and because we offer ways to make money (blogger programs, Twitter programs, and our ad network), people get excited about us.”

“In all honesty, we’re excited about them – all the people who talk us up and bring their positive focus on sharing to our community. We, the BlogPaws Executive Team, can’t do anything, or achieve anything, without the pet bloggers. It’s not about us, it’s about them. It always will be.”

The Ning community is at 1,514 registered members, and growing. BlogPaws

accepts anyone with an interest in the health and welfare of pets, including chickens, fish, reptiles, lizards, ferrets, etc. “If you consider it a pet and you want to talk about it, we’re open to hearing your story in our pet community,” DiVita said. Not surprisingly BlogPaws has a presence on Twitter: @blogpaws, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BlogPaws and Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/blogpaws

Anyone interested in sharing, teaching, talking, and caring about pets should join BlogPaws. DiVita explains, “Tapping into BlogPaws allows you to:

• Connect with like-minded folks with a focus on animals and pets.
• Meet major brands and new, up and coming brands.
• Join the community, and participate in groups and conversations.
• Ask questions, and answer questions.
• And participate. Visit every day to see what’s new. Write to us and tell us what you think should be part of the community, the conference, and our focus on ads and programs.
• Be a voice for your passion.
• And remember – you’re a valuable resource to the brands you buy. Don’t sell yourself short.

How did BlogPaws (www.blogpaws.com) get started? DiVita explains, “The back story is that Caroline Golon, Tom Collins and Yvonne DiVita were connected through their pet blogs – Scratchings & Sniffings (Tom and Yvonne) and Romeo the Cat (Caroline). They met up face to face at BlogHer 2009, where a small number of pet bloggers were in attendance.”

“Talk of having a “BlogHer” kind of conference for the pet bloggers came up at lunch one day… and when we all returned to our homes, we (Caroline, Tom and myself) decided to do it – create a conference for our community to teach them the best practices of blogging, with a view on how they could monetize their hard work online. BlogPaws was born in the fall of 2009. We held our first conference in Columbus, Ohio in April of 2010. None of us had ever done anything like this – we just ran with it because we believed in helping our fellow pet bloggers succeed. That is still our primary goal today.”

The annual conference grows every year, she said. “With upwards of 400 attendees, dozens of brands and brand reps, and a ton of pets, this is the go-to conference for bloggers and microbloggers that care about animals (pets). Each year we try to up the ante – by bringing expert social media professionals, outstanding keynotes, and having smaller fun, interactive events during the downtime, between sessions. For more information on the conference and what happens at BlogPaws in-between, visit http://www.blogpaws.com/2012/07/what-you-dont-know-about-blogpaws.html

BlogPaws has many plans for the future, but first and foremost, is the goal of continuing to support their bloggers. Additional plans include helping brands understand the value of working with BlogPaws bloggers, and teaching bloggers that accepting free product actually limits their ability to get paid gigs –though, DiVita says, bloggers should not stop accepting free stuff, just be selective and careful about it.

Continuing, DiVita said, “We consider our bloggers Rock Stars! They should get paid for their time – product reviews take time, folks. It’s not about being paid for an “opinion”… if that were true; would anyone ever read the NY Times book reviews? Truth is – by creating a respectable place for brands to reach talented and professional bloggers, BlogPaws is able to pay bloggers for many programs and take that worry off of their plates. There are times when free product IS the payment. We’d like to be the voice for our bloggers so they don’t have to negotiate this new ground.”

As if that isn’t enough to look forward to, BlogPaws is also in the process of putting together a BlogPaws 101 where members can become better informed as to how to maximize the site for online networking. It’ll also be addressing BlogHops, #BlogPawty events on Twitter, and much, much more. Their also may be a potential for more online guest posts. But DiVita cautions, BlogPaws is about social media, not just pet stories.

There’s no doubt BlogPaws is creating a buzz in the world of social media, and is becoming the place to be for us pet bloggers. At Paws for Reflection, I am so glad I wrote this post because it gives me a much better understanding of BlogPaws, something that I’ve been spinning around for a bit. Keep checking back to keep up-to-date with these new and exciting changes.

Are you familiar with BlogPaws? Have you attended one of the Annual Conferences or Twitter Pawties? Please take a moment to share your experiences with Paws for Reflection.