Rachel MacDonald

I’m back after two info-packed days at the Problogger Event in Melbourne!

Like last year (2011 event recaps here and here), I’ve come home with my head spinning and full of ideas that I can’t wait to implement over the coming months.

The event was brilliant. On the networking front (although I prefer “connecting” or, let’s face it, chatting up a storm) I had a ball catching up with the women I met last year, as well as meeting some of my beautiful readers in person – and let’s not forget the B-School babes. There were fabulous ladies at every turn.

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Big shout outs to: 

Steph (Lipstick & Cake); Christina (Hair Romance); Serena (Pretty Fluffy); Cara (Ultra Inspired); Celeste (As Seen In); Rose (Stylisa Mama); Chantelle (Fat Mum Slim); Kesh (The Bold and the Blunt); Denise (Denise Duffield-Thomas); Kylie (The Tall Poppy Project); Victoria (FB Ad Queen); Melissa (Soul Wellness); Kerry (Awaken Kinesiology); Lesh (The Mindful Foodie) and I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty of others, so hi hi hi to you too!

Other highlights of the weekend were having a good ol’ chat to Sarah Wilson at the post-event drinks on Friday night (yes, she is beyond amazing) and Chris Guillebeau, who has to be one of the nicest and most humble souls on the planet.

Both Sarah and Chris are huge inspirations to me for the way they show up in the world and it was a joy to be in their presence. When it comes to following your passion and living life on your own terms, these two have got it nailed.

{Clearly loving the Smilebooth}

And now to the recap. I’ll post my conference wrap up over a few different posts so your brain doesn’t explode with all the blogging info I’ll be serving up over the next few weeks (including my ‘build a blog’ series, that is).

Let’s launch in with a summary of two of the sessions from Day 1, shall we?

The first session was an introductory keynote from Mr Problogger himself, Darren Rowse. He eloquently made the point that we all start out small (and that small can be bigger than you think) and that growth comes as a result of taking consistent action.

Look for sparks.

 

When you’re thinking about ways to grow and monetise your blog, train yourself to look for sparks of energy that you can turn into something incredible.

+ Think about what it is that gives you energy – what posts flow easily, what topics do you love writing about?

+ What are your readers gathering around? Align what you’re excited about with what your readers are excited about and already responding positively to.

+ What are potential collaborators responding to?

+ Where is momentum growing? Darren identified iPhone photography was on the rise, so he created an instructional eBook to meet the need for information on the topic. Easy win.

Be active. 

 

Do you take daily action to monetise your blog? Consistent small actions have a big impact, so ask yourself What action will I take today that will grow my blog?

Darren issued a 15 Minutes a Day Challenge, which is as simple as adding 15 minutes every day to your workflow to focus on the activities that will make you money including:

1 // Writing an eBook or book

2 // Contacting potential advertisers

3 // Writing affiliate reviews

4 // Creating videos for a course

5 // Developing a media kit

6 // Building a coaching service

7 // Organising an event

8 // Evaluating what other blogs in your niche are doing to monetise their blogs

* 15 minutes a day helped Darren create a book that has now earned him $250,000. 

Nikki Parkinson, Styling You (pic source); Eden Riley, Edenland; Lorraine Murphy, The Remarkables Group (blog agency); Mrs Woog, Woogsworld

Next up was a panel discussion with the wonderful women above, who shared their experiences working with brands, and in Lorraine’s case, being the facilitator of the blogger-brand relationship.

If you’re looking to explore sponsored posts, giveaways and everything in between, it’s important to get your head around the below:

Ensure you’re tracking your stats. 

 

Brands will want information on the traffic coming to your website, so ensure you have Google Analytics installed and you’re tracking two key stats: Unique Visitors and Page Views.

Lorraine mentioned that brands are also interested in the return visitor percentage (to show how loyal your readers are) and that when she’s working with a blogger, she’ll take the average of their last three months of traffic because one month may be an inaccurate representation of real traffic to the site (EG: if a blog is linked to by a big blog the traffic may spike that month).

Know the difference between PR and marketing. 

 

PR: The aim of PR is to garner free editorial coverage for a brand or organisation. Most PR’s do not have (much of) a budget for sponsored posts.

Marketing: Large brands will generally have an allocated budget for marketing, which can include paying bloggers to promote a product. Bloggers with reasonable traffic (5000 uniques a month is a good start) can be paid on a scale ranging from $100 – $200 (for a sponsored post or email newsletter inclusion, for example) through to $15,000 for a print advertising campaign.

Get your blog noticed. 

 

Start a conversation with brands and PR’s on Twitter and Facebook. A good shortcut is to approach brands that are already working with bloggers as they’ll generally be more receptive. Ensure you love/ can relate to the product/ brand to keep the whole process authentic.

Attend events hosted by brands.

Monitor Source Bottle, an online site that connects journalists with credible sources for their stories. Coverage in mainstream media does get you noticed.

Enter blog competitions/ awards, which are judged on your writing.

Pitch your blog.

 

Approach a pitch as you would a job application (tailor the message and keep it professional).

Attach your media kit to a short and sweet emailing telling the brand manager who you are, what your blog is about and what you’re looking for.

Create a media kit. 

 

Posted on: 15 October, 2012 | Filed under Blogging // Business | 17 Comments | ADD YOURS
Tags: blogging, problogger event 2012