Blog World Expo:  helpful tips for bloggers

I promised I’d write an entry about the good stuff, so here ya go.

The convention was great for networking.  I’ve been trying to get a job with a new-ish Internet startup for the last couple of months, but they don’t want to hire me because I’d have to telecommute.  I was able to meet up with some employees of the company at Blog World, and I think I’ve got a 95% chance of getting a part-time job.  I don’t want to count my chickens, of course, but the folks I met all want to hire me, so it’s just up to them to convince the big boss.  I’m really excited about working for a company with really nice employees, and a really cool product (you’ll all want to use it), and I hope to have a definitive answer within the week.

I was also able to make connections with four different people who hire bloggers for corporate writing jobs.  That’s something I really want to do, so I gave my business card to all of them, and talked a bit about my experience.  All seemed thrilled that I was looking for more work, and at one of them talked to me about needing a blogger for a very, very large company, so I hope those meetings will also lead to good opportunities.  Flippy and I were supposed to go to a session called, “Building Relationships with Bloggers”, but at the last minute we switched to a session called, “Hiring Bloggers/Bloggers for Hire” (Tris Hussey and Jim Turner), and it ended up being a great decision.

Other sessions we attended were “Blogging & Profit Potential” with Jim Kukral, “How Online Conversations Change Markets” with Paul Gillin, “Maximizing the Benefits of Small Business Blogs” with Scott Allen, and “Using Social Media to Drive Traffic to your Blog” with Robyn Tippins and Larry Bailin.  We were supposed to go to a session on Friday morning, but it would have made our day last about 10 hours, and that’s just too long for us to leave the animals (specifically, the dogs), locked up.  One session we almost switched to was called “New Media Revenue Opportunities with YouTube, Second Life, Podcasting and more”, because I’m becoming intrigued by getting involved with more audio and video online.  I kind of miss being a radio news announcer, and figure I could set up a small at-home studio if there was any profit to it.  The instructor for the session, Leesa Barnes, was sick and didn’t show up, so the idea of switching was moot.

I don’t know if anyone who regularly reads here is interested in the concept of blogging for profit, or blogging as a profession.  I’m going to share a few tips I jotted down at the sessions we attended, and maybe they’ll be of interest to someone.  I’m happy to get into more detail about these sorts of things if you want to know more, so feel free to contact me by email if there’s anything about professional blogging you’d like to discuss.  It’s interesting, but not as gripping as pictures of newborn kittens smile

In bullet points, here are some tips I picked up from Blog World Expo:

  • The most successful blogs do one of two things: they entertain, or they provide answers.  If your blog isn’t around for entertainment purposes, then consider picking a niche topic and writing about it in an informative way (product reviews, tips, etc.).  An example which was given was “shoe repair” - there would be value in having the best blog about shoe repair.  It would be a blog that shoe owners could consult, and that other shoe professionals could read.

  • Read sites like ProBlogger.net on a regular basis, as it’s got a huge inventory of articles about blogging.

  • There are a number of different blog advertising networks, so you can use ads other than Google’s AdSense.  For profit purposes, your blog should contain at least six ads, but not so many that it ends up looking like Times Square.  You can also advertise by using ad programs which automatically hyperlink certain words in your blog, and there are now ways to monetize your RSS feeds (Google and Yahoo both have programs, but I think they’re in beta).  If you decide to put ads in your feed, make sure you have a full text feed, or you’ll just annoy people.

  • If you only want to have a little bit of advertising, the best place to put it is on your “permalink” pages, i.e., the pages which contain just a single blog entry.  Those pages are the ones which are generally served as a search engine result. 

  • There will soon be large amounts of money to be made on YouTube.  There are already lots of people earning their entire incomes from YouTube, but soon the little person, like me, will be able to make money as YouTube inserts ads into videos.  They’ll share ad revenue with the person who uploaded the video, so keep adding your good videos.  People love cute pet videos, of course, but they also love instructional stuff.  Consider making a video the next time you make a chocolate souffle, if that’s something you’re good at.  Your video will show up in Google, along with conventional sites, when people do searches for things like, “How to make a chocolate souffle”.

  • Try to have your blog on your own domain name, rather than using myblog.blogspot.com.  It’s important to brand yourself.

  • If you have a business, put up a blog about it!  If you make your blog entertaining and/or informative, people will link to it.  The stats given in one Blog World session said that a link to your company from a blog is worth more, in terms of publicity, than ten thousand emails to a mailing list.  Foster relationships with bloggers and give them a (positive) reason to talk about you.  If you have a business blog, make sure you allow comments, even if the comments are sometimes negative.  Make sure you respond to a selection of the comments, good and bad.  Customers like to know a company is listening to what they have to say.

  • Of all the social media sites out there, StumbleUpon.com was repeatedly mentioned as the place where you can build up longterm traffic.  Someone else said that if you’re an expert on a particular topic, join a Yahoo Group on that topic.  If you’re a “star” in the Yahoo Group, you’ll build a lot of traffic back to your blog.  I’d imagine that would only work with a popular topic, and in a group with lots of members.

  • When you label things, whether it be a blog entry or a video, give it a title which corresponds to how the average person would search for the subject.  For example, when Dante had a lump on his ear, I titled the entry “canine cutaneous histiocytoma”, and that entry gets tons of traffic.  I also could have labeled it, “Our dog has a large pink lump in his ear” (I obviously get the searchers after they’ve come home from seeing the vet!).  If you want search engine traffic, or just to help others with advice, don’t call your entry, “Oh no, not again” or “How much is this going to cost?” I know I’m guilty of doing those things on occasion, but I’d might as well not give those entries titles if I’m going to make them so uninformative.

  • Regarding social media, MySpace is still the most highly-trafficked site, but Facebook seems to have a higher percentage of adults and/or consumers.  Businesses doing social media should make sure they’re represented on both sites.

  • If you have a podcast on your blog, try to call it something other than a podcast.  Or, make sure the title is informative so that people who don’t know what a podcast is can still find it. 

  • Make your blog, or website, easy to navigate.  Make sure it’s logical and not overcrowded.  I know I’m verging on the latter, and wish I could make more space on the page.  It might be time for me to kill my Flickr button, or to put my “About Me” on a separate page.

  • Finally, you will be judged by the company that you keep, so remember that items on your blogroll can reflect back on you.  Not a big deal on a personal blog, but it could be an issue if you use your blog when looking for work. 

One interesting concept which Scott Allen raised was “blog tipping”.  On the first day of each month, pick three blogs and list three things you like, and one area where you’d like to see improvement.  It’s appreciated by the blogs you link to, and it’s a nice way to build relationships.  The “criticism” doesn’t have to be anything horrible—you could say that you’d like the blogger to write more often, or you’d like to see more photos, or that you’d like to see more blog entries about a specific topic.

I’ve got pages and pages more about writing business/corporate blogs, so if that topic interests you, let me know and I’ll write more about it in an email.  I came home really enthused about my work with IFAW, VertexHost, et al, because I’ve got a lot of new ideas and I’m anxious to try them out.

I’ll write one more Blog World Expo post, about the companies who had exhibit booths.  There were some new companies with products you might want to use, so I’ll make a list of them with descriptions and post it in the next day or two.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/13 at 01:41 AM

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  1. I’m interested in reading about the blog world stuff because I’ve been following it from my other favorite bloggers.  I’m trying to live vicariously through you :p

    Tris Hussey is fun.  I “inherited” one of his blogs, Pimp Your Work (http://www.pimpyourwork.com) so I got to communicate with him a bit.

    Thanks for passing on the stuff you’ve learned smile

    Posted by Celine  on  11/13  at  02:37 AM

  2. Oh, adopted child of mine, please get your oddmother a job with Tris Hussey.  It shows how the circle has turned… I’m now asking you for employment smile

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  11/13  at  03:41 AM

  3. Actually, I wasn’t sick. Nor did I forget wink I had an urgent business matter that popped up the day before I was to fly to Las Vegas. I shared with Dave over the phone what was going on and he totally understood.

    Jason Van Orden, author of Promoting Your Podcast, filled in for me and led the New Media Revenue Opps session. So, you wouldn’t have been disappointed as Jason really knows his stuff and is an excellent presenter.

    Thanks for the summary of the Expo.

    Posted by Leesa Barnes  on  11/13  at  08:57 AM

  4. Ah, I shouldn’t listen to all those grapevine rumours!  I’m sorry I didn’t attend the New Media Revenue session, although I still had a great time at all the sessions I did get to.  And, I’ve got your book about podcasting in my Amazon shopping cart, so I’ll get to hear from you eventually!

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  11/13  at  09:10 AM

  5. It was great talking with you and I was just looking over my cards about the people I need to contact and email.  It has been crazy since getting home.  4 kids all having the flu and colds.  I should have stayed!  Definitely going to be in touch soon as I can get my act together.  I appreciate the kind words about our presentation, we hope we can lead us all into the next generation of professional bloggers!

    Posted by Jim Turner  on  11/13  at  10:26 AM

  6. Glad you liked my session on blog profitability. I enjoyed giving it. Hope it helped you in some way!

    Posted by Jim Kukral  on  11/15  at  02:43 PM
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