By Sara Urquhart. Photography of Alt NYC, Rooftop party.

 Hosting an in-person event can have serious advantages for your business, and you’ll be most successful if the first thing you do is answer a simple—but often overlooked—question: What is your purpose in creating the event?

Do you want to:

• design a space where people can network?
• provide an opportunity for bloggers to discuss best business practices?
• allow people to create collaborations? – provide exposure for one of your sponsors?
• or be seen as an expert who can host great events?

That goal or purpose defines every other aspect of your event. Every decision you make about the event has to pass the litmus test: how does this help me accomplish my goal?

By Jenny Batt and guest contributor Brittni Mehlhoff. Photography by Elle Moss.

The first, and probably most important, rule of being a good contributor is simple: don’t be afraid to give away the good stuff. It’s natural to want to hoard your best articles and projects for your own blog, but if you only have a handful of readers coming to your personal blog, it makes sense to reach out to the larger audience. It will get you seen by more people, and you’re gaining blogger street-cred and name recognition as someone readers should know about.

More tips for contributor success:

1. Create amazing content. Always!

2. Be consistent. Make sure that the style in which you write melds nicely with the other content written for the site you are contributing to.

By guest contributor Tori Bowman.

Getting your profile picture just right can be a frustrating and time-consuming process. You don’t want to look like a model, but you also want it to look a little better than your personal Facebook profile picture. You want it to show your readers who you are, to have a bit of personality, but to be professional enough that you’re also comfortable showing it to clients and sponsors. This can be a little tricky.

Here are a few ladies who have got the art of profile picture picking figured out, and a few tips on how you can master the elusive skill as well.