I was granted access to the community and the conference this year for the purposes of review. The speakers have been friendly, dynamic and very informative. Each evening I’ve been left with so much food for thought I feel my head might just explode. The thing I’ve most come to realize is that blogging is really a serious business and should be treated as such. As our moderator & coordinator DaVinci has said this is our chance to turn from bloggers to bloggerpreneurs.
Trends are shifting in advertising because of the advent of “mommy” bloggers and extensive use of social media. It is incumbent upon us as bloggers to learn to use our blogs and social channels wisely to make the most impact, share the most influence and build community. Our goal isn’t just to dump information out to the masses. We want a loyal audience that returns day after day, week after week reading our little tidbits, entering our contests and sharing the content that we work so hard to produce.
As bloggers we need to be conscious of our visual appeal, our writing tone, and what we want our readers to get used to. Consistency is key. I know that I have not been very good about that over the last 7 years. There have been long pauses in my writing and changes in idea without notice, but no more. If brands are to take me seriously and believe that my audience is worth pitching to I have to develop MY brand as well.
There are a few items that I’ll be working on based on what I learned from The Blog Workshop:
- Get organized – create an editorial calendar
- De-clutter your blog – get rid of anything that is taking up valuable real estate
- Keep on top of FTC regulations for disclosure of sponsored content
- Get my blog finances organized and separate from my personal finances
- Focus on building my community
- Don’t let my blog control me
These are just a few of the hundreds of tidbits I’ve learned from DaVinci,
Laura Summers (@NakedBloggers)
Deborah Anderson (@SocialWebCafe)
Dan Morris (@DanRMorris)
Lindsay Lee (@BlackBlondeOne)
Kelly Whalen (@CentsibleLife)
Jeneba J. Ghatt (@JenebaSpeaks)
Robert Mooney (@DjMooney)
Ryan Schram (@RyanSchram)
Holly Hamann (@HollyHamann)
Deborah Anderson (@SocialWebCafe)
Dee Dee Cocheta (@DeeDeeCocheta)
Really looking forward to tonight’s concluding speakers. This is my first blog conference and TBW’s first online blog conference so this has been an exciting experience. DaVinci and TBW are already working on plans for next years online blog conference and have all kinds of opportunities available for you to attend. There are payment plans, possible sponsorships, scholarships and a monthly subscription to The Blog Workshop community that gets automatically applied to your next years conference cost! If you are serious about blogging, just getting started or just want to know where to go next but don’t have the time or funds to make a huge trip to a blog conference in a far away city then get connected with The Blog Workshop.
Disclosure: The Blog Workshop granted me complimentary access to this year’s conference for the purposes of review. This post contains affiliate links which may result in compensation for this blog if clicked.
Firstly, I’m a mom and wife. Professionally, IT consulting is my job and blogging is the outlet for my passions. I write about things that affect the everyday life of a stay-at-home parent or any parent for that matter such as parenting, relationships, discipline, the media, product reviews, giveaways, social media, food, cooking, gardening and anything else that might come my way.
