The Blog Connect Conference



About two weeks ago was the first official Blog Connect Conference here in Philadelphia! It was great to be around so many inspiring people for an entire day filled with blogging talk and activities. The conference was hosted at the Saxby's Headquarters which meant free coffee all day! First, there was breakfast hosted by Saxby's and Shmear It - which is one of my favorite food trucks in the city. I highly recomend their lox spread on an everything bagel. Timothy Becker took photos of the event, including the one directly above.
We also got our headshots done by Mountain Gap Photography (the photo directly below) which was a great way to start the conference. Throughout the day there were talks and workshops where we learned a lot about blogging and building your business. We got the opportunity to hang out and talk to other Philly bloggers during a lunch brought to us by Snap Kitchen and happy hour at the end of the conference sponsored by the Philadelphia Brewing company. Below are a few things I took from the day....

1. Content organization is super important when it comes to blogging. It's better to have fewer, more accurate tags than to over-tag your post. Thanks Melissa and Sarah for this info!

2. Make lists. During one of the blogging activities Lisa had us create lists of things that we have done in the last 6 months and the last year and what we have learned and what we want to learn. Creating content for our blogs can come directly from these lists!

3. When it comes to monetizing your blog, don't go overboard. It's best to pick 3 revenues of how you want to monetize, whether it's through ads, affiliate links, sponsorships, etc. It's also helpful to create a media kit and to create a dream list of sponsors that you would love to work with one day. Thanks Bekah for all of this info that I knew very little about.

4. Putting your personality into your blog is one of the most genuine, authentic ways to build your "brand".

5. Networking is super important. Thanks Kate and Jess from Philly PR Girl on the inspiring talk of how to build your blog into a business!
Everyone who spoke was incredibly inspiring and motivating. There were too many inspiring people who took part in the conference to count. Thanks Chrystina, Sarah and Melissa for making the conference happen! Are you also a Philly blogger? Be sure to check out the PHLBloggers group!