#BLOGHER2019 - DAY 2

Alright, so now it’s time to get to the good stuff. Day 2.

I got to the venue a little late (on purpose) so I only caught the tail-end of the 3rd panel entitled “The Pitch” which was female entrepreneurs pitching their brands and hearing mentor feedback in real time. After that one, “Women of Influence” commenced with top influencers Hannah Bronfman, Michaela Podolsky and Grace Atwood. They dropped gems like remembering to poll your audience constantly to ensure that you’re always in tune with the type of content they’re looking for and thinking about what people normally come to you for in order to figure out your niche — are you the go-to girl for restaurant recos, do you know where the hottest hotspots are, etc. Make that your focal point and work from there. Think: Purpose —> Platform —> Profit. When the conversation changed to compensation, the moderator mentioned something that really stood out. She said “your rate should be your rent.” Basically, once you get to a certain point of influence, and especially if social media/content creation is your career and not just your hobby, you should be charging enough to pay your rent for one sponsored post. That way, you’re not completely struggling because you were too afraid to ask for the amount you deserve.

Later, I joined a workshop entitled “Next Level Digital Marketing: Using Social, Google, Email and MORE”. This rich and fruitful discussion spanned the gamut of blog optimization, building an email subscription list that could help boost your following, owning your intellectual property in the midst of challenging Instagram algorithms and everchanging social media platforms, seaching yourself online and so much more. Since this was such a content heavy panel, I took lots of notes that I’ve included for your reading pleasure below.

Blog Notes:

-How do people find you online? Paid search, organic search, business listings, social/review listings

-Add metadata to each page of your blog — use tags so people can find your posts 

-Think about tags that might not be super specific to your business and the post to cast a wider net

Action Items:

-Search for your business and see what it says about you

-Search for generic terms 

-Make a list of results and make the necessary adjustments 

*Unsplash - great free photography 

Email marketing:

-Don’t write a newsletter — it’s too long and cumbersome. You want people to read a few points and then click out to your website. The email should be engaging, quick read. 

-Consider an Automated Welcome Series — email #1: Welcome email, email #2: Invitation to connect (go like, follow, etc), email #3 and beyond: plan ahead 

-Click segmentation: based on what people are clicking on so you can assume what they’re interested in and then automate the specific emails that you send them 

IG Tips:

-Join Engagement Groups - you need comments on the post right away to get it seen 

-Use Linktree or a service like it to link several things (your Youtube, your blog, etc.) in your profile bio 

SEO:

Keywords - use them in the Page URL, the HTML title tag, Meta description, Image, Alt attribute, website content 

Example of meta description: “Hungry and looking for places to eat in Penn Station? Here’s a list of 5 vegan restaurants I love.”

*Edit your slug (make it concise and descriptive) 

*Image optimization - make the alt text clear and concise 

Revenue Optimization Tips:

-Sidebar optimization 

-Make sure your blog is accessible via mobile

-Increase your font size in mobile one size 

-Video strategy - drive engagement metrics, keep them on the page 

-Write more content - 2-3 pairs a week is a good starting goal

-Consider font size and break up lots of text

Content Strategies:

-Refreshing old blog posts is one of the most successful strategies for bloggers 

-Update the date and include a line that says it’s been updated, do some refreshing, don’t just repost with nothing added 

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And here are my notes from a few other panels throughout the day.

*Building a Media Company of One*

-Make your mistakes on someone else’s dime. Learn what you can at your 9-5 since you’re not paying for it there.

-Make and keep contact, you never know who can help you or who you can help 

*Beyond Inspiration: Pinterest Overview*

-Convert your account to business  

-Link your social and website to your Pinterest 

-An average pin gets 50x more distribution to non-followers than followers 

-Think about events and things that people are planning for ahead of time — right now, people are thinking about Halloween and winter vacations, winter weddings, holiday decorations, etc. so pin accordingly

-Your content should be forward thinking

-Don’t worry about time of day to post or certain days. Just be consistent and post consistently — not just a sporadic content dump.

-97% of searches on Pinterest are unbranded — things like “fall outfits” not “Forever21 looks”

-Put search terms in the pin/board headline — “no bake cheesecake” (people are always looking for no bake/easy desserts)

-Use a few hashtags in the description that people are searching for (things like “budget-friendly”, “travel tips”, “NY events”) 

-Pro tip: try out a search yourself to find out what results show with up with certain keywords (use these for your posts or develop content based on this stuff since it’s highly searched by Pinners)

-Check out your Audience Insights with your business page (analytics.pinterest.com)

-Think about your board titles — should be helpful for people — you can have up to 500 boards 

-Focus on your own content first, instead of always posting other people’s stuff 

Whew! Didn’t I tell you there were some things to be learned!? Some knowledge to be had?! I felt like I went to school after leaving on Day 2. I also met some awesome people and exchanged contact info with several women in the industry. Tbh, I was really proud of myself for finally stepping out on faith and just going for it in terms of networking and promoting myself. It’s a very odd feeling to walk around different places and spaces telling people what you do and asking them to follow your journey and/or work with you. Self-promotion is a skill and something you have to constantly work at. But, #Blogher was a step in the right direction for me.

If you’re still reading (thank you!), I should also talk a little about the lewk for the day. I wore an old cropped bomber jacket, crop top and camel boots (Nine West) paired with a new mixed animal print satin skirt from Boohoo. Omg I love this skirt and want to wear it over and over again. I loved the way this outfit came together and was so disappointed when I wasn’t able to get any good pics of it. So, I decided to go shoot it the next day and got a few good shots to share with you. ;)

Hope you enjoyed this (very) detailed recount of the conference and all of the amazing tips I gained along the way. Feel free to utilize these tips as you create and brand yourself in whatever it is that you’re offering the world. As always, I want to thank you for reading. Love ya, mean it. xoxoxoxo - Ash