A strong finish for Blogworld Day 3

Blogworld went out with a bang. The last day was filled with informative and helpful sessions. I'm leaving Vegas  today with a full list of action items to implement when I get home. Here are some highlights from Day 3.

Morning Keynote: The 7 harsh realities of blogging for bucks - Darren Rowse,  Brian Clark, Sonia Simone

#1: Free is not a business model. The more information you give away for free, the more people will tend to buy. If you give away 90 percent free, they are more likely to pay for the final 10 percent.

#2: The push-button Internet Cash Machine is on the fritz. The Internet is capable of helping you make money, but only if you build things that are real and meaningful to people.

#3: You are not scaleable. Set boundaries for how you connect with people. Do connect and engage, but you don't have to sacrifice yourself to social media.

#4: No one actually wears that much authenticity. Don't share everything (for example, things that are boring or make people not want to do business with you). People who do it right maintain their authority.

#5: Social media hates selling. But you have to sell to have a business. The trick: People don't trust what people say about yourself, you have to find other people to market for you. Great content will eventually sell itself.

#6: A blog is not a business. If you want your blog to be a business, start thinking about your blog as a business today and make that your goal.

#7: No one is reading your blog. There are so many blogs out there on your topic and sub-topic. You don't have to attract every person on the Internet, just a small focused group of readers that are into what you write. Be entertaining and useful.

Being an effective community manager - Betsy Aoki, Betsy Weber

Forrester Influencer Model - ways to create mass-influencing advocates.

Minute-by-minute demands of social media come with the job, just part of the evolution of the role of a community manager.

Thick skin helps. Have the ability to laugh at yourself because people can be very rude to you online. Goes with the territory.

From Jobbies to businesses: Strategies for Irresistible Success - Carol Roth, Liz Strauss, Terry Starbucker

Three types of businesses: Jobbie (hobby disguised as a job or business); Job-Business (a business entirely dependent upon one or two people); Bona-Fide Business (a business not dependent upon any one person for its success and longevity).

To get from a job-business to a a bona-fide business, you have to build something sustainable.

Five behavior changes for success: 1) Know why you are in business. 2) Think big. If your goal is achievable, think bigger. 3) Value your time. Don't be a business slut (why by the cow if the milk's for free?). 4) Be irresistible. Offer something different/special to customers. 5) Stop doing everything yourself! Even if you are in business by yourself, have partners and service providers.

Wow, this has been a fantastic conference. I'll be making some changes for both Reina Communications and my Greater Good Life blog. As I make these changes, I'll share them with you on the blogs. I hope these tips from Blogworld help and inspire you as well.

A recap of Blogworld: Day 2

Second day at Blogworld, and I attended sessions to cover my social media PR/marketing and blogging interests. It was hard to pick between the tracks, but I walked away with some great info. Here's a small sampling:

Get Discovered - Chris Garrett, Darren Rowse

Side note: This is the third Problogger session I've attended, and I'm really digging their accents.

Set goals for your blog and make sure every post, tweet, YouTube video you share relates to the goals.

Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are just starting, don't quit your full-time job anytime soon.

Have a reputation for being helpful, offer fantastic content and build relationships through genuine, kind engagement. This create advocates and loyal readers.

Harnessing the power of numbers: creating a blog network - Cecilia Mecca, Bridgette DuPlantis, Wendy Piersall

Focus on who you want to be in the network, find them and start working together. Consider what motivates bloggers (e.g., money, Internet fame). E-mail them with your plan.

What grows blogs are the "back to the basics" ideas: links, content and networking.

Social media and ROI - David Alston, Don Bartholmew, Connie Bensen

Social media is an investment, not an expense.

Word-of-mouth marketing will decrease your PR and advertising spend.

ROI for social media is still a financial calculation that may result in generating money, saving money or cost avoidance. Do not confuse the notion of impact vs. ROI.

Social media marketing has to start with measurable objectives, communicating the timeframe and the change desired.

How to create mouthwatering content so your readers come back for more - Nathalie Lussier

Keep a log of your ideas and once a month/week, schedule and editorial calendar for your blog to ensure you post fresh, interesting content regularly.

Always end a post with a call to action. Tell the moral of the story, what the next step is or what you want the audience to do (e.g., share, retweet, offline action).

Collect your readers' e-mails so you have a way to get them back to your site. Send out a survey to find out their interests and what you should be blogging about.

Your story is what makes your blog unique. Include your life experience and how you learned what you are sharing in your posts.

I'm looking forward to Day 3 and awaiting the morning keynote right now. This has been an amazing conference so far. If I left today, I'd already be happy with what I've learned. It can only get better from here! Have anything to share from your Blogworld experience? Please, speak up in the comments. Also, find me on twitter if you're here and we'll meet up. Would love to meet you.

Rock'n Blogworld: Day 1

First impressions of Blogworld? Packed. Excitement. Relaxed. Variety. Twittery. Geeky. It was a busy first day, and I've walked away with a notebook full of tips (yes, I'm actually using paper, not sure why). I'm going to be posting the main takeaways from the sessions I attend each day. Not summaries, but just a few quick interesting tidbits. If you are here at Blogworld, please leave a comment with your own highlights.

Morning Keynote: Stand up, stand out, stand together - Scott Stratten

• Don't depend on RSS for your blog. Not everyone is using a reader.


• Offer e-mail subscriptions and other ways for people to read your content.


• "Viral" is not a verb. You can't make something go viral. Social media has to build over time.


• Build relationships by talking to each other. For example, 75 percent of Scott's tweets are @replies.

The art and science of scaling social media - Maggie Fox

• Use paid placement on Digg, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Outbrain for "smart scale" niche marketing.


• The magic formula is organic social media amplified by the paid placement.


• Share new content and start campaigns on weekends when there's more activity online.

Finding readers for your blog - Darren Rowse

• Know the readers you want before developing a strategy. Come up with a target reader profile.


• E-mail readers who leave a comment on your posts to build readership.


• Do not depend on RSS, drive readership through e-mail newsletters as well.

Like it or spike it: a hard look at social media case studies - Dave Peck, David Griner

• A great example of a successful campaign: The guy at home in his underwear. Check it out. Enough said.

Making money from your blog - Chris Garrett, Darren Rowse

• Build an advertising/media kit page to attract potential sponsors.


• Start with small advertisers, a few small sponsorships will add up.


• Know your metrics and your conversion rate to share with advertisers.


• Create your own products (e.g., e-books, webinars).

Lastly, I want to send some shout outs to the great people I met today:

Farnoosh Brock - A fellow North Carolinian who blogs at Prolific Living, a blog about living your best life. I especially like her yoga posts and book reviews.

Angela Moore - A fellow freelancer, based in L.A. One of her biggest clients is Habitat for Humanity.

Holly Hoffman - Holly runs an agency in Corpus Christi, Neovia Solutions. They provide regional businesses with social media marketing strategies using the POST method featured in the book Groundswell.

Let's meet at BlogWorld!

In just a week, fellow freelancer Amber Karnes and I will be heading to Vegas, baby. Vegas! It will be our first time attending BlogWorld, so we wanted to say hello and introduce ourselves with this video. Beware the social media snake oil salesman!



Amber and I have been working together for over five years. During that time, we've given many social media training sessions, got a Fortune 500 to believe in and embrace social media, and worked for a forward-thinking education professional development company, Powerful Learning Practice. What makes us different is we didn't just learn social media for the sake of selling it to our clients. First and foremost, we blog, tweet, post and share because we love it. We apply our personal experiences as users and content developers to consult our clients on how to genuinely communicate using social media.

I know there are more people like us out there, and I want to meet you. So here is who I'd like to connect with at Blogworld. If this is YOU, let's meet up!

• Cool people: PR practitioners, marketers, writers, freelancers...anyone who wants to toss around creative ideas. I live in a small beach town in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and work from home, so BlogWorld is one of my only opportunities to meet other people passionate about social media in person.


• Kind, green people: I recently launched a social good blog, Greater Good Life, where I share ideas about simple living, being green and giving. I would love to meet people interested in social good who could inspire me with ideas and creative direction. I want to write and do more freelance work for causes and green organizations. I'd also love to guest post on similar blogs and invite bloggers to guest post on Greater Good Life.


• Prospective clients and job opportunities: As a social media consultant, I hope to meet people from forward-thinking organizations who need help implementing all the social media ideas they walk away with at Blogworld.  (And I'm not selling snake oil!)

Does this sound like you? If so, let's get in touch! Also, please leave some feedback about our video. What did you think?