Category Archives: News & views

2012 Women’s lifestyle blog conferences & events

Written on January 20, 2012
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Attend them in real life, or follow them online – either way, you can get loads of blogging goodness from these 2012 women’s lifestyle blogging conferences and summits!

Below are links to many fashion, beauty and women’s blog conferences from around the world. But how can you get most of the information without leaving your desk if you can’t make it in person? Check out this post I put together: 12 ways to follow blog conferences online.

2012 Blog conferences

*Some dates and locations are still TBC [to be confirmed], so check with the event organisers for the most up-to-date info to ensure you don’t miss out! This post will be updated as informatoin becomes available.

January

What: Altitude Design Summit for design and lifestyle bloggers
When: January 18-21
Where: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Twitter info: @altsummit and #altsummit

February

What: IFB Evolving Influence Conference for fashion bloggers
When: February 8
Where: New York, New York, USA
Twitter info: @_ifb and #ifbcon

What: Blissdom for female bloggers
When:  February 23-25
Where:  Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Twitter info: @blissdom and #ifbcon

What: Design Bloggers Conference for design bloggers
When: February 26-28
Where: Los Angeles, California, USA
Twitter info: @designblogconf and #dbc2012

March

What: SXSW Interactive
When: March 9-13
Where: Austin, Texas, USA
Twitter info: @sxsw and #sxsw

What: Texas Style Council Blogger Conference for female bloggers and shop owners
When: March 9-11
Where: Austin, Texas, USA
Twitter info: @txstylecouncil and #txsc

What: Digital Parents Conference for parent bloggers
When: March 30
Where: Melbourne, Australia
Twitter info: @digiparentsaus and #dpcon12

April

What: Bloggy Boot Camp for mommy and women’s lifestyle bloggers
When: April 21
Where: St Louis, Missouri, USA
Twitter info: @sitsgirls, @bloggybootcamp and #2012bbc

What: SNAP! for DIY and craft bloggers
When: April 21-23
Where: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Twitter info: @snapconf

May

What: Bloggy Boot Camp for mommy and women’s lifestyle bloggers
When: May 19
Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Twitter info: @sitsgirls, @bloggybootcamp and #2012bbc

What: SheCon for women’s lifestyle bloggers
When: May 25
Where: Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
Twitter info: @sheconexpo and #shecon

What: iFabbo Educational Conference for fashion, beauty and style bloggers
When: May 26
Where: London
Twitter info: @ifabbo and #ifabboukcon

June

What:  BlogWorld East for all bloggers
When:  June 5-7
Where: New York, New York, USA
Twitter info: @blogworld, @blogworldexpo

What:  BlogHer Food for food bloggers
When:  June 8-9
Where: Seattle, WA, USA
Twitter info: @blogher and @blogherfood

What: Haven for DIY and home bloggers
When: June 21-22|
Where: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Twitter info: @haven2012

What: Nuffnang Blogopolis for all bloggers
When:  June*
Where: Sydney, Australia
Twitter info:  @nuffnangau
(*TBC)

August

What: BlogHer for female bloggers
When:  August 2-4
Where:  New York, New York, USA
Twitter info:  @blogher, #blogher12

What: 20SB Summit for bloggers in their twenties
When:  TBC*
Where:  USA*
Twitter info:  @20sb
(*Based on 2011 event)

September

What: Bloggy Boot Camp for mommy and women’s lifestyle bloggers
When:  September 15
Where:  Dallas, Texas, USA
Twitter info: @sitsgirls, @bloggybootcamp and #2012bbc

What: FitBloggin’ for fitness and wellness bloggers
When:  September 21-22
Where:  Baltimore, West Virginia, USA
Twitter info: @fitbloggin and #fitbloggin

What:  Bloggy Conference for family bloggers
When:  September 27-29
Where:  Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Twitter info: @bloggymoms and #bloggycon

What:  ShesConnected Conference for female bloggers
When:  TBC*
Where:  Canada*
Twitter info: @SCConference and @shesconnected
(*Based on 2011 event)

What: Lucky FABB for fashion and beauty bloggers
When:  TBC*
Where:  New York City, New York, USA*
Twitter info: @luckymagazine, @luckyblogconference and #luckyfabb
 (*Based on 2011 event)

What:  Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend for Australian beauty bloggers
When:  TBC* Sadly postponed until 2013.
Where:  Australia TBC*
Twitter info: @theabbw
(*Based on 2011 event)

What: Beauty Bloggers’ Utopia for beauty bloggers
When: TBC
Where: Australia
Twitter info: @themakeuputopia

October

What: Savvy Blogging Summit for all bloggers
When:  October 4-6
Where:  Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Twitter info: @savvyblogging and #sbsummit

What: ProBlogger Event for all bloggers
When:  October 12-13
Where:  Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Twitter info: @problogger and @probloggerevent

What: Bloggy Boot Camp for mommy and women’s lifestyle bloggers
When:  October 13
Where:  Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Twitter info: @sitsgirls, @bloggybootcamp and #2012bbc

What: Blissdom Canada for female bloggers
When:  TBC*
Where:  Canada
Twitter info:  @blissdom and #blissdomcanada
(*Based on 2011 event)

What:  BlogWorld West for all bloggers
When: TBC*
Where: Los Angeles, California, USA*
Twitter info: @blogworld, @blogworldexpo
(*To be confirmed)

Know of any fashion blog conferences I haven’t listed? Beauty blog conferences I should include? Or any other blog conferences for women that readers should know about? Be sure to mention them in the comments!

Which ones do you plan on attending IRL or virtually?

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How to create a Google+ Page for your blog

Written on November 8, 2011
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Ahhh… another social-network profile to create for your blog. Just what you needed, right?! Never fear, the new Google+ Page is ridiculously easy to make (though maintaining it might be a whole other story :) ). Here’s how to put it together it in a few simple steps.

Step 1: Visit The “Create A Page” Page

You’ll find it here. It looks like this if you haven’t already joined Google+:

The Google+ sign-up page

And this if you have:

Already have a Google+ profile? You'll see this

You’ll need to create a Google+ profile before you can create a page. I’ll sit here and wait for you to do this. Promise :)

Step 2: Choose A Category & Fill In The Details

Pretty self-explanatory, right? Below is what you’ll see if you choose “other”. Fill in your blog’s name, URL and select who the content is appropriate for (eg: 18+ etc). And tick the “I agree to the Pages terms and I am authorised to create this page” after you’ve read it (becuase everyone reads terms and conditions, don’t they? ;) ). Click “create”.

[UPDATE: Under Arts, Entertainment or Sports there is a "blog" category.]

Type in your blog's name and URL

 

Step 3. Customise your new Google+ blog page profile

Also easy-as-pie. Just type in your tagline and add an image. After you’ve done this you’ll be given the option to share your new page with anyone who’s already in your “circles” (friends list) of your personal Google+ profile. This is optional.

Customising your profile

4. That’s It!

Ta-dah! You’re done. You’ll now have a Google+ page for your blog. You can switch between using it and your personal profile, just like you can do with your blog’s Facebook page. Hope to see you on Googe+. Find The Blog Stylist’s page here.

How easy was that?!

A few things to note:

  • Google+ Pages may not be available to all Google+ users straightaway.
  • There isn’t a custom URL option available yet, however, as with Google+ Profiles, there is a workaround available at gplus.to (I’ve found this to be AOK, but as it’s not an official Google site, I suggest you use at your own risk).
  • A Google+ badge (a bit like Twitter’s “Follow” and Facebook’s “Like”) is in the works. In the meantime, you can get a static icon here.

Think you’ll create a page for your blog? What kinda stuff will you be posting to it?

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What I learned from bloggers who attended #pbevent

Written on October 26, 2011
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What was last Friday? Well, the calendar officially calls it October 21, 2011. However, it is known to me as the day I went to the ProBlogger Event, the day after I met the famous Mrs Woog, and the day I didn’t meet Tim Ferriss.

Left to right: Danimezza's blog buttons; Nikki from Styling You, Carly from Smaggle and myself at the pre-#pbevent drinks; Darren Rowse's "Blog From The Heart" graphic

In case it hasn’t been made obvious, I love blog conferences! In the past I have taken notes and even live blogged events, but this time was different. I didn’t just learn from the amazing speakers (including Darren Rowse, Chris Garrett, Sonia Simone and more), but the bloggers who had come to learn too. Here are just a few examples…

  • Blog cards are great to hand out, but if you really want to be different, do as Danimezza did: hand them out with something attached. Danielle made awesome little badges (pictured top left) with things such as “I’m so going to blog about this” written on them. Many of us were “oohing” and “ahhing” over her cleverness!
  • You don’t have to have a blog to attend a blog conference. I met two lovely bloggers-to-be who will definitely be getting their blogs off to a good start with their newfound knowledge!
  • If travelling to attend a conference, make the most of the opportunity and meet up with bloggers who live in the town you’re going to – even if they’re not going to the event. Annabel from Successful Blogging organised a blogger meetup and kindly invited me along. It was great as I met four more very nice bloggers I wouldn’t have met otherwise! One of them, Torre, has just published her first book – Swept, a true story – which I’m loving!
  • A picture post highlighting the events of the day is a quick and easy way to get conference-related content up very fast! Nikki from Styling You was super-speedy at uploading her collection of Instagram pics, leaving me with a big case of “Wish I’d thought to do that…“
  • Be a leader and make yourself known before you arrive. John Young created a Twitter list of attendees in the weeks before the event. This is a great way to get to “meet” people before the day, and perhaps score some new Twitter followers too.
  • And finally, I learned from MYSELF that you should never leave a conference for even a short amount of time (like I did), because Tim Ferriss may turn up and you will miss him. For those who may not have heard of Tim, he’s a blogger/author (The Four Hour Workweek)/entrepreneur/motivational speaker with some very practical advice. I was told (BECAUSE I WASN’T THERE TO HEAR IT MYSELF!) that people gasped when they discovered he was sitting in the audience. Yep, he’s a big deal in the blogging world.

Of course, I learned from the speakers as well! There have been lots of posts recapping the highlights of the day (see a list of them here at ProBlogger). But for me, these are the points that really stood out:

  • If you want your blog to become your business, you  have to treat it as one
  • When you are passionate about your blog, you will attract passionate readers
  • Be personal. Make a personal connection
  • Know your goals. Dream big
  • Every couple of months ask, “Where are my potential readers gathering? And how can I participate in those places?”
  • Experiement. Test. Tweak
  • Have “cookie content”. That is, the type of content that’s fun and makes life better
  • Advertising on your blog is fine, but clutter isn’t
  • Make content appealing to the eye and easy to consume (headings, bullet points etc)
  • If you’re asking your readers for time and attention, you’re asking for more than if you’re asking for money
  • You have two ears, one  mouth. Listen (to your readers) twice as much as you talk
  • Listen to the language people use in forums, social networks etc. This is like “human keyword research”
  • Your blog is to attract new people. Your newsletter is to engage the people you have
  • Let people know the real you when you blog. The weird you. The dorky you. Think about how you can convey the “youness” that’s different from others in your niche

What have you learned from bloggers at blog conferences? And what is the best tip you’ve taken away from a blog conference?

PS: A big thanks to Trevor Young who helped me with venue suggestions for the pre #pbevent drinks. Cheers, Trevor!

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Style Bloggers’ News #9: 15 must-click links

Written on September 8, 2011
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In this week’s Style Blogger’s News… Lucky FABB and IFB conference info galore, the rules of using Facebook to run blog comps, and the Diane von Furstenberg bag I’m practically tripping over in my heels to get to…

Missed the previous issues of Style Bloggers’ News? Check them all out here.

1. DVF’s advice for bloggers

Diane von Furstenberg not only shared her tips for bloggers on blogging authentically at the Lucky Fabb conference yesterday, but showed her Harper Connect bag (pictured). It’s got a zippered side panel to hold your iPad. I know. I want one too! Check out the full video of her tips (and bag in action!) at SassyBella.

2. Get ready to Spreecast

I was treated to a preview of this new broadcasting tool bloggers can use, along with the rest of the iFabbo (International Fashion, Beauty & Style Bloggers’ Organization) crew! Inside sources tell me iFabbo members will also get to see it in action. Haven’t signed up to iFabbo yet? Do so here.

3. Daily dose of gratitude

Writing a daily list of things of things I’m grateful for has become one of my favourite things to do. Sure, I could simply write it in a book, but with my iPad now almost fused to my left hand, I’m loving mighty grateful for the Happy Tapper Gratitude Journal app.

4. The Bloggers’ Guide To Online Marketing

Words can’t describe my excitement when I was offered a preview copy of Darren Rowse’s (ProBlogger’s) new product, created in conjunction with The Web Marketing Ninja. It’s not just an e-book, it’s a whole package – 22 files in total! Check out The Blogger’s Guide To Online Marketing.

5. Top travel packing tips

I like to think when it comes to travelling, I’ve got the packing side of things down pat. Heaven knows I’ve spent enough time in cars and on planes over the last 10 years – I can pack for Europe one hour before I leave! So when Imogen Lamport from Inside Out Style asked me to share my tips on her blog, I delightfully agreed.

6. Aussie bloggers at New York Fashion Week

Australian fashion bloggers Tuula and Bonnie Friday both won trips to New York Fashion Week. iBlogFashion & Beauty has the full story. Hope they’re having fun!

7. YouTube – the second most-popular search engine

Did you know YouTube is the second most-popular search engine (behind Google, of course)? And not only that, YouTube can be an incredible source of  blog traffic. No wonder everyone’s rushing to film their fashion haul.

8. Running a Facebook comp? Read this

Running a competition on your blog where you encourage people to “like” your page, can sound like a rather enticing way to increase your number of Facebook likers, but break the Facebook rules, and you can lose your page. It’s as simple as that. Search Engine Journal has this article: Facebook Competitions – 5 Things You Should Know Before You Start One. Worth a read.

9. Top 5 blogging & web tools

Looking for some great tools and websites to learn the techie basics? Kellie from 74 Lime Lane has five to try (even I didn’t know of two of these!), along with a shout-out to Bloggers’ Domain. Cheers Kellie!

10. Women in tech

I heart stories about women in tech. Nothing makes me feel more geeky proud to be a woman who likes the interwebs than to find another woman who knows the words Open Source, PHP and JavaScript. So imagine my delight when I learned the co-founder of SkimLinks (Alicia Navarro) is not only an Aussie, but a woman! SkimLinks is technology that identifies which of your outgoing links could be automattically turned into affiliate links, saving you buckets of time! Think: Potential earnings with minimal effort. Ker-ching!

11. Giving credit where it’s due

The debate over using images found on the web is a popular one. Should you use them? How should you credit them? Is “borrowing” ever OK? Sandy from Ampersand Design has posted on the topic, explaining the great lengths she goes to, to make sure her blog pics are credited correctly. Seriously admirable.

12. 8 ways to spice up your blog

Looking for free, relatively-simple ways to give your blog a visual boost? I guest-posted about this recently on Tessa Needham’s blog. Here’s what I suggest! (Warning: you may find this fun and distracting. Attempt at the risk of damaging your Friday-afternoon productivity!)

13. Challengers, ready!

The Challenge is a free online marketing course I did last year. It’s just returned for 2011, and has a serious wealth of information on everything from social-networking to SEO and beyond. Do it at your own pace (and chuckle at the videos!)

14. IFB Conference

If you’re a fashion blogger, you no doubt know about the Independant Fashion Bloggers’ conference: Evolving Influence. It was on today / yesterday (depending on your part of the world). Missed it? Grit & Glamor has the full schedule with links to all of the bloggers involved. When I come across a good round-up of the event, I’ll add a link here!

15. My interest in Pinterest continues

Remember my post on the Ultimate Guide to Pinterest? And how I said that if used wisely it could be a great traffic-driver? Well, I included a “How to add the ‘Pin It’ button to your blog” image at the bottom of the post. And, yep, you guessed it: that image got submitted to Pinterest. It now sends me up to 100 new visitors per day (and up to 100 more from Google search). See? Stick with me and I’ll tell you what you need to know ;)

Photo of DVF bag from DVF.com

What links caught your attention this week? Share them with me!

 

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The ULTIMATE resource for bloggers

Written on August 29, 2011
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My name’s Bree. And I like to write lists.

It started when I was eight years’ old.

I had a Dinky Diary. Remember those? (Or maybe I’m seriously showing my age?!) They were small, rectangular, hard-covered, spiral-bound diaries with skinny metal-cased pens that’d last two sentences if you were lucky.

In it were my deepest darkest secrets lists. I wrote lists on everything. Who my friends were. Who my friends weren’t (ha!). Which pen pals I’d written to. Which pen pals were yet to reply (hey, Emma from Scotland: I’m still waiting!). And the outfits I was going to copy from DJ Tanner on Full House (scrunched boots, with hot pink socks and a vest, anyone?).

Fast forward quite a few years and I’m still writing lists! But this time, it’s not in a Dinky Diary, and it’s not about the wardrobes of sitcom stars. It’s about blogging. Behold, my biggest list to date: Bloggers’ Domain: The A-Z Of Blog Tools & Resources!

So what is Bloggers’ Domain? A HUGE (and hopefully ridiculously helpful!) site for bloggers. Check it out and you’ll see what I mean!

The short version of its creation is that I actually started working on it about two-and-a-half years ago spending 20 minutes on it here, and 20 minutes on it there, adding to it whenerver I could. It was fuelled not only by my love of lists, but because I found myself answering the same recommendation-type questions to bloggers and website owners over and over again. “Here’s a list of WordPress themes you could try…” and “Here are some WordPress hosting options…“. Repeating the info became rather monotinous, and I figured I may as well turn my answers into a website. So I did. :)

The soft launch was about six months ago but, due to various reasons, it promptly got swept to the side to hang out by itself in cyber space.

It’s not intended to be the kind of website you visit every day. Rather, it’s the site you bookmark and check out when you find yourself asking… “How do I add a poll to my blog?” or, “I wonder if there’s a blog conference coming up I could attend…“.

The whole site is actually very low-maitenance (thank goodness!) and will grow over time with the help from blogging friends and family. My plan is to hopefully (!) have the blog section written by guest-posters. So if you’re also a list-making addict who likes to write about blogging, follow Bloggers’ Domain on Twitter or Facebook and I’ll keep you posted on opportunities.

I’m totally open to feedback on the site, so feel free to let me know your thoughts! And of course, if you think it’s the most spectacular thing you’ve ever seen (hopefully this will be the opinion of someone other than my mother!) then I’d be eternally grateful for you helping me spread the word (check out the sharing buttons on the home page), and will send you good-blogging Karma from now until the end of time. It’s a promise. ;)

What’s your feedback on Bloggers’ Domain? And… what did you write in your Dinky Diary?!

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56 Fun blogging activities (that don’t require writing posts)

Written on August 28, 2011
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Sometimes, you just don’t feel like writing. Other times, you may be suffering blog-writer’s block. Either way you know you should be doing something productive with your blog. But what? I’ve got 56 ideas to make you feel like you’re improving your site, yet having fun at the same time…

  1. Create your dream blog layout using a wireframe tool
  2. Play with some CSS tools
  3. Make a favicon for your blog with a favicon generator
  4. Browse music for your next vlog.
  5. Discover your social-media influence
  6. Add your blog to Technorati
  7. Join a blogging group or organization
  8. Do some keyword research for your next post
  9. Find a blogger outreach program that’s suitable for you
  10. Submit your favorite posts to StumbleUpon
  11. Give some of the blogging tools offering free trials a run
  12. Look for a slideshow you can embed in an upcoming post
  13. Create a gravatar (the images that appears next to blog comments)
  14. Create a mini network with fellow bloggers. Communicate via Google Groups
  15. Replace your email address with a blog contact form
  16. Add a logo to your blog’s Feedburner account
  17. No one likes a slow-loading blog. Find out how fast yours loads with Stella
  18. Quickly check your home page for spelling mistakes. Just copy and paste its URL
  19. Blog down? And is it down for everyone or just you? Find out with Down For Everyone Or Just Me
  20. Create a branded Visibli bar for outgoing links and tweets
  21. Brush up on your typing skills
  22. Find out who’s been linking to your blog via Twitter in seconds with BackTweets
  23. Run your blog through Securi‘s malware and blacklisting scan
  24. Test for broken links with Online Broken Link Checker
  25. Has someone stolen your content? This site claims to check for you
  26. Get your blog organised with a to-do list
  27. Take the time to suss out affilate programs and blog ad networks
  28. Browse stock image libraries for cool pictures
  29. Set up a blog newsletter for your most loyal readers
  30. Read the ultimate beginner’s guide to SEO
  31. Browse Google Web Fonts for new fonts to spice up your blog
  32. See how much other people sell blog advertising space for
  33. Create a blog poll, blog quiz, or blog survey
  34. Check your username availabilities across networks and websites
  35. Mock up an e-book cover (for that e-book you keep meaning to write…)
  36. Nominate yourself for a blog award
  37. Learn how to back-up your blog
  38. Browse the WordPress plugin library
  39. Make and tweet a short screencast
  40. Browse design competition entries (and get inspiration) on LogoMyWay or 99Designs
  41. Watch screen casts of people using your blog. (See it to believe it.)
  42. Find a blog conference to attend
  43. Discover what your blog SOUNDS like. Really
  44. View your blog with different fonts (without touching code)
  45. Create an e-mail signature incorporating your RSS feed and social-network profiles
  46. See what your blog looks like in different browsers
  47. Find a blog carnival to participate in
  48. Create a blog survey
  49. Create a new color scheme for your blog
  50. Detect the technologies used by your favorite blogs and websites
  51. Search for new WordPress themes and consider updating your blog
  52. Turn your blog-post content into a book
  53. Add a toolbar to your blog
  54. Browse blogs for sale
  55. Create your own set of blog business cards
  56. Create a group for bloggers in your niche on Facebook or LinkedIn

This post originally appeared on Blogger’s Domain which is now part of The Blog Stylist. Check it out here.

Got a suggestion? Share it in the comments!

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Style Bloggers’ News: 15 must-click links (issue 8)

Written on August 12, 2011
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Have you been wondering if Style Blogger’s News was ever going to return? I was! So it’s with much happiness that I can proudly bring you “issue 8″! Cue applause. In this post: some cool WordPress plugins, blog ad rates, and my skincare must-have…

Missed the previous issues of Style Bloggers’ News? Check them all out here.

Sodashi

Skincare goodies from sodashi.com

1. Smush it. Smush it real good

Smush.it is a tool from Yahoo! that removes unnecessary bytes from images. In English: your pictures will load faster. I learned about it – and 52 other blogging resources – recently.

2. The Business Of Cards

Not sure what blog cards are? What to put on them? Who to give them too? Here’s my post on Blog Cards: What You Need To Know.

3. Colour Me Happy

Jo from August Empress looks at six gorgeous blog colour-schemes. LOVE THEM ALL!

4. Grit, Glamour & Gucci

Vahni from Grit & Glamour’s got the goods on the Gucci app. (Say that ten times fast!). Here’s why it matters.

5. Digg This

Looking for a great sharing plugin for WordPress? I recently added Digg Digg (see the four buttons to the top right). I love how it looks, and most importantly it’s being used!

6. Still On Plugins…

Check out Beautifully Invisible’s post on 10 WordPress Plugins I can’t live without. I do love a good plugin discovery and shall be adopting her #2 recommendation!

7. I Like, You Like

I often get asked which blogging tools and resources I like the most, so I’ve compiled 52 to of them into this handy list. Let me know what you think?

8. Visibli Is V Good

Visibli creates a branded toolbar to sit across outgoing links from your blog, or those that you Tweet. Also available as a WordPress plugin.

9. Blog Ad Rates

Thinking of offering advertising opportunities on your blog? But don’t know what to charge? Blog Coaching Boost has this post on what to consider when setting your rates.

10. Hair Romance

Did you know blogger Christina met her husband and hairdresser on the same street? No?! Here’s what else she told me about her blog.

11. Adding the Pinterest “Pin It” button

Here’s the lowdown on adding the Pinterest “Pin It” button to your blog.

12. Icon Crazy

Looking for the perfect RSS icon? How about a nice looking Twitter icon? Well, the icon search is over! Check out Icon Finder for everything you need. And more!

13. Top 10

Here I share my top 10 blogging tips. What are yours? Let me know in the comments!

14. Time tweets with Timely

Heard of Timely? It’s a Twitter tool that analyses your last 100 tweets, working out when the best time for you to tweet is, so that you can get the highest engagement from your audience. Worth a look at!

15. Super Skin With Sodashi

When the lovely people from Sodashi – one of my favourite natural skincare brands I discovered during my beauty ed days – told me they were sending me a gift, I was super excited. But to open the parcel and find they’d sent me THREE products? Well, that called for a happy dance! I heart their Balancing Skin Boost. Try it and thank me later!

What’s your best link discovery this week? Share it in the comments!

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How Live Blogging Can Get You An Extra 2000 Visits

Written on August 4, 2011
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If you slept through last Saturday, you would have missed my eleventy-hundred tweets about the Nuffnang Blogopolis conference. Basically, I attended a one-day blogging event and “live blogged” the whole thing.

What is live blogging?

By live blogging, I mean I typed the key points of each of the speakers as they spoke, publishing the posts as soon as they’d finished.

Why live blog?

After a three-month blogging hiatus, I knew I needed to do something to get my traffic going again. I looked at the Blogopolis event from the perspective that I was going to be there taking notes on my computer anyway (I have the WORST and SLOWEST handwriting in the world, so I much prefer to type everything), so why not just publish my notes as I went?

How can it help your blog?

Here’s a quick rundown of the numbers in the five days since the event (this doesn’t include my regular traffic):

  • 5000 extra page views
  • 3104 Stumbles
  • 2000 extra visits
  • 1600 extra visitors
  • 200 new Twitter followers
  • 200 Tweets
  • 50 new Facebook likers
  • 30 new inbound links (that I know of)
  • 25 Facebook likes
  • 20 new RSS subscribers
  • 20-point increase in my Klout score
  • 10 new Google Friend Connect members
  • 4 Google +1s

These numbers are approximates. I should have noted the exact “before” numbers, but didn’t think about doing so. If you do something like this, know your stats beforehand so you can accurately measure your success.

What can you learn?

You can get so much more out of these things than just a traffic increase. This is a highly valuable opportunity to learn more about your blog and your audience, so make the most of it!

These figures have taught me a few things, namely that I should probably move my Facebook “Like” box up higher and that I should make more of a song and dance about subscribing to my RSS feed. And, clearly, it’s still too soon to expect much Google +1 action from my audience.

How do you live blog?

I’ve outlined the basics here, but let me reiterate what I did with a little extra detail.

  1. Find something your audience will be interested in reading about – an event, conference or seminar. Make sure it has a hashtag – this was CRUCIAL to my content being shared.
  2. Look at the schedule for the day. Is it arranged in a way that you’ll be able to cover it?
  3. Prepare your posts in advance. Obviously you can’t prepare the actual content in advance (unless you’re a psychic blogger? :) ) but you can have the headlines and introductions written and in draft ready to go. Also prepare a “landing” page (or “index” page) so that as soon as the conference starts there is somewhere people can visit to know what’s coming up. For me, that was this page.
  4. In the name of keeping thigs easy, I edited the URLs of each post to be “/blogopolis-1/”, ”/blogopolis-2/” and so on. The numbers related to the order of the “classes” covered. This made it easy to…
  5. … Edit the index page with the link to each post once it went live. Rather than copy and pasting a long URL (eg: theblogstylist.com/the-state-of-the-australian-blogosphere) I simply updated it with /blogopolis-7/. (Make sense? Let me know in the comments if it doesn’t.)
  6. Knowing the URLs in advance also meant that I could create shortened links and pre-write the tweets for each session. I had a document of tweets ready to go (three per post) that I could simply copy, paste and tweet in a matter of seconds. When writing the tweets I included the hashtags and Twitter handles of the speakers as I knew there wasn’t going to be time to go looking for them once people started speaking.
  7. Have follow-up content ready so you can strike while the iron’s hot. I had a post in mind, but ended up going with the 51 Blog Tools & Resources Mentioned At Nuffnang Blogopolis. This is because when I started to go back through the live posts, adding the URLs I didn’t include on the day (I can type fast, but not that fast), I realised that I could turn these links into a whole new post. That is, extra content without the extra work (it took a whole 10 minutes). Win-win.

Tools and resources to use?

  • WordPress. I honestly couldn’t imagine having done this kind of thing without it. If you’re thinking of moving from Blogger to WordPress, read this.
  • An Acer Netbook. It’s very small and light, yet has a decent-sized keyboard.
  • Your own internet connection. The Wi-Fi the event orgnaises provided was awesome, so I only had to rely on this once for about 10 minutes.
  • Su.pr to shorten the tweets in advance. This meant the tweets were being sent out with the StumbleUpon toolbar attached (which can also drive traffic)
  • Google Chrome. A fast and minimalistc browser.
  • Silver Bird. A Google Chrome extension that meant I could tweet straight from the browser – no clicking in and out of applications or other tabs.
  • Power board. In case there aren’t enough power points to go around.
  • Extension coard. In case the closest power point isn’t close enough.
  • Pen and paper. Just in case your computer crashes (as mine did – I lost about 10 minutes, and was able to jot down notes the old fashioned way and add them in later).
  • Panadol and water. Oi, did I get a headache at one point…

What I should have done differently…

  • Found a seat with a better view/temporarily moved for the panel discussions (I didn’t always know who was talking).
  • Stayed closer to the conference and got more sleep beforehand! I was already feeling completely run down, and an early start made things harder.

Can anyone live blog?

To quote one of the speakers, Nikki from Styling You, “TOTES!”. A few people have kindly said they were impressed with my “skill”, but really, the only skills involved were planning, and typing. Planning is easy (see my bullet points above).

Typing, understandably, will be the trickiest part for most, but it basically comes down to practice. Also – and most importantly – I didn’t write word-for-word. I just noted the key pieces of information being said.

Someone on Twitter compared my bullet-point notes to “tweets” which is so very true – I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Conference notes update

Many of the speakers have since added notes and slides about their presentations to their blogs. I suggest you check them out – they provided some truly awesome information. (In order of appearance.)

Also, Trevor from BlogHUB has a video snapshot from the day and will be adding more video coverage soon.

What are your thoughts on live blogging? Is it something you’ll try?

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53 Blog Tools & Resources Mentioned at Nuffnang Blogopolis #nnb2011

Written on August 1, 2011
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Here’s a round-up of the blog tools and resources mentioned at the Nuffnang Blogopolis Conference 2011. They’re all featured on my individual posts for each of the classes, but I thought it’d be nice to have one single list as well. I’m  going to contact the speakers and kindly ask them to view the list and see if I’ve left anything out, so check back for possible updates and watch the number in the title change :) .

Also, here are a couple of extra links from The Blog Stylist you might like…

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Nuffnang Blogopolis Key Points – Class 7: The Australian Blogosphere

Written on July 30, 2011
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This post will be covering – LIVE! – the key points made at the Nuffnang Blogopolist Conference during Class 7: The Australian Blogopshere. For all the key points made during each of the seven classes, check out the Blogopolis schedule.

 

Class 7: The Australian Blogosphere

Speakers: Candice Deville of Super Kawaii Mama, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, Eden Riely of Edenland, and Helen Yee of Grab Your Fork. Moderated by Nicole Avery of Planning With Kids.

Tips and points made by myself will be indicated with [Bree].

*** Note: I’m not 100% certain I’m attributing the points to the right speakers… I’m not in a great position to see them! Please accept my apologies. I’m going by sound for this one. Points are not word-for-word. :)

[UPDATE: For a full list of tools & resources mentioned - with URLs - see here]

Key Points…

  • When you started blogging what did the blogosphere look like?
  • CD: I was unware there was a market. I started my blog as a virtual wardrobe. It was a surprise to discover people were interested in me.
  • ER: In 2007 Googled “IVF” and haven’t watched TV since!
  • HY: The whole food movement (Masterchef) has really taken everyone’s interest.
  • DR: 2002 – started on Blogger. To have comments on your blog you had to add a script. If you tried to make money back then you were seen as the anti christ! There was no self organisation. Think Australian bloggers have self organised a lot slower. In the US there are lots of services/organisations for bloggers. When I travel, I get “gee you’ve got a lot of great bloggers”. Australians while a bit behind, also at the cutting edge.
  • How did restaurants feel towards food blogs back then?
  • HY: Had to explain it was a food website. There is still some hesitation. There is some resistance from restaurants and chefs, and that’s understandable. But they understand that you can create a buzz or create a profile, but also that there can be inacuracies.
  • When you first started, were people searching?
  • HY: A lot of people are using food blogs as inspiration.
  • Thoughts on state of Blogosphere in Australia?
  • DR: Very gushy about it. I love it, so many bloggers getting recognition and book deals. I think the Aussie voice is interesting, we’re pretty laid back and there’s a real opportunity to promote ourselves. I encourage you to think about producing a blog that’s read beyond our shores.
  • How are you seeing the Aus Fashion blogging market?
  • CD: It’s changed a  lot… It was a closed community. Within fashion blogs, it’s developed into different streams… reporting, personal style. A lot of multi layers of talent in there. What has developed a lot is the influence of blogs. It’s not just the trend forecast and designers that are coming up with the ideas.
  • How do you see the state of Blogosphere within realm of personal blogging?
  • ER: Last week I was interviewed about rise of mum blogging in Australia. Out of all the genres, Mum bloggers are in an advertising rich niche. We’re women and we share a lot. I learnt from a young blogging age to blog universally. There is a huge rise of public consciousness and awareness around blogging.
  • Is there such a thing as an Aussie flavour for blogging? Australian foodies are different?
  • HY: We’re not afraid to try new things. Australians know what good food is.
  • How does the fashion seasons impact blogging?
  • CD: Unless you’re doing runway reports it doesn’t really come into it. When I first started it was always for an international and predominately audience. But it is very much a universal language. It’s less about the trends that people want to know. Rather, “What can I wear even though I have a wardrobe full of clothes?”
  • ER: So excited about talking at BlogHer… it’s like I’m an Olympian, representing my country. I love that blogging can be whatever you want it to be. Aussie bloggers really are cool.
  • Mindfields of blogging today…
  • ER: I find it hard. I started blogging to connect with people, and now all this other stuff is happening.
  • Candice, you’ve started to tweak your blog. How have you done that?
  • CD: It has been an organic process. You need to constantly experiment and tweak. But everything comes back to me and what I love. If my readers have an affinity for what I’m writing about it’s because it was coming from my heart.
  • What’s the future for our blogs?
  • DR: One of the transitions I’ve seen US bloggers make is to go from targeting a niche topic to targeting a niche demographic. But one of the dangers of widening, you can dilute your audience.
  • HY: Food blogs – new ones everyday. It’s interesting that there have been some court cases involving food blogs.
  • Do think blogs will ever be considered as valuable as papers or mags?
  • HY: They will be complimentary. Bloggers are not always looked upon favourably. Obviously people are reading food blogs, they’re not going to go away.
  • ER: Personal blogs… Mum bloggers – I’d love us to be together and not fall into the cliques and competitiveness.
  • CD: We need to consider we have a growing responsibility to our readers. Also consider the impact of what we say to our audience. You can forget how important and influential our voice is.
  • What can we do as a group to promote and sustain our authority?
  • CD: Write some guidelines for ourselves. Eg: If I wouldn’t say that to my nanna, would I put that out there to my audience? And when you do get troll comments, how do you deal with that?
  • Is there a roll for us to promote bloggers as a source of authority?
  • DR: A lot of problems I see are to do with anonymity. Great that bloggers are promoting each other to go on current affair shows. [ENDS]

>> View Class 6: Blog Branding & Marketing
>> View Class 5: Editorial vs Advertorial
>> View Class 4: Working With Brands
>> View Class 3: Improving Blog Content
>> View Class 2: Blog Photography
>> View Class 1: Tools Of The Trade
>> Back to the Nuffnang Blogopolis conference schedule

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