What I learnt at Tots100 Blog Summit Bristol 2013
Tots100 Blog Summit Bristol 2013
One for the bloggy readers today! Things I learnt in no particular order:
- The best time to tweet your posts is between 2pm and 4pm.
- Post titles - don't be scared of long titles. Think search engines, can they find your post? Does it relate to what you have written? I know my posts sometimes have anecdotal titles, nice for readers, bad for search engines.
- If you have children, make sure you list their ages in your About Me page, and if you don't have one set one up. This helps companies who may be interested in you working with them and their products assess whether your family is suitable. (I also think it helps to know their genders too even if it may be obvious from photos as lots of bloggers use code words or funny anecdotes instead of their real names.)
- If you don't use Pinterest you should! I wrote a post a while ago here which may help. Have a board just for your blog and keep it at the top of your boards page. Then repin to others that are suitable so you are the original source.
- Keep your photos for Pinterest Portrait style and use text on the image to let people know what they are viewing, no matter how obvious it may seem. They are far more likely to be viewed this way as they are easier to navigate on someone's mobile phone feed.
- Use Pingraphy to auto post your pins to Pinterest. The majority of users are in America and view their news feeds when we are asleep. Pin what is topical even if it's from a long time ago. Now is the time to repin those Easter ideas!
- Fritha is someone I want to be best friends with.
- Annie is not in the least bit intimidating. Considering her profile in the blogging community I thought it would be impossible to say hello, I couldn't have been more wrong.
- Jess has the most beautiful eyes. Like stop you in the street beautiful.
- Give your Facebook readers more than just your post links. Lots of Facebook users don't use Twitter and don't have a blog. Ask short simple questions to encourage group discussion so your page is somewhere more than just a blog post list.
- Post a large photo to Facebook rather than just the link to the post which will only include a small excerpt picture. Make sure in the photo description and first comment you link to the post url address.
- Alex has a textbook round bump and was head to toe in stripes, I knew we would hit it off.
- Tom, Becky's husband is an excellent presenter and not in the least overwhelmed by a room full of women like I'm sure some men would be.
- Don't be shy. Everyone no matter how many readers or followers you have is in the same boat. I sat at the front with Emily and Jo and even if I came across as a little keen I didn't care! Introduce yourself! You only have about 3 minutes to chat to anyone anyway in the breaks, so what terrible thing could you possibly say in that time?!
- Watermark your photos. This is something I don't do, but I might come up with a smaller logo rather than a long text line.
- White balance. Use the features either your camera or your editing program gives you. Take your orangey evening photos to daylight wonders.
- Give feedback. The only way these events are well attended, respected and get better is by giving constructive feedback. I was disappointed so many bloggers didn't turn up on the day. I see lots of tweets about bloggers who cannot afford to go to the paid ticketed events so take advantage of the free ones!
- The informal yet formal style of presentations with everyone encouraged to chip in with questions worked really well to relax the atmosphere and create discussion and debate.
- My tip - don't forget anything you write on the internet can be seen, by anyone. If you are hoping to work with positive parenting brands be positive!
- Follow or no follow links. To be perfectly honest at the end of the session I still was thinking of saying "Erm sorry I don't follow" even though the presenter spoke very eloquently. Find the Tots100 guide here.
- My tip - be yourself. Smile and clap, loudly. It shows your appreciation!
Blog Summit Bristol 2013
Blog Summit Bristol 2013
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Don't forget you only have until the 26th March to vote in the MAD Blog Awards,
(psst I'm in Best Craft and Best Photography).