When:	Friday, August 5, 2011 4PM
Where:	Pinkberry Yogurt 209 Fifth Ave 0118A San Diego, CA
Why:	You can use a yogurt break with your FitBloggin’ friends.

Leave a comment and let us you if you’ll be stopping by.

Let’s keep the FitBloggin community going strong and connect with fellow Bloggers in your local community.

Our very first official FitBloggin’ Local date is July 9, 2011.

Meet and stay in touch with others who are interested in fitness, wellness, good food and a healthy lifestyle. We don’t have to do this alone or virtually! FitBloggin’ Local allows you to volunteer and run a mini-FitBloggin’ in your very own community!

Some ideas for your meetup… Organize a fun run at a local park, catch up at local cafe, go hiking, share blogging tips, hold an outdoor meeting, the possibilities are endless!

Click here to find a city near you or add one and volunteer to lead the very first FitBloggin’ Meetup in your community!

Cities added so far…

Click here for the webinar

This talk applies to WordPress, tumblr, blogger, etc.
Free blogging platforms offer your space  as a subdomain, such as YOUR-NAME.wordpress.com. Check to make sure your domain is available if moving to self hosting. It’s also a good idea to get your blog name on each platform, such as blogger, WordPress, Tumblr, etc. – even if you aren’t going to actively use them.
WIndows Live Writer is great for writing content offline. You can save links to things that you use a lot, which saves time.

Use Feedburner – it helps people follow you by making it easy.

Question: “What do I blog about?”

Answer: Blog about anything you want!  Blog about what you KNOW, What YOU love, what YOU enjoy.

You can also pick a niche (mommy blogging, Weight Watchers, Gluten Free recipes, Crafts, photography) or try life casting (day to day, Part/whole, daily changes, 3 things Thursday, flashback friday) or anything in-between.

Make sure you personalizing your blog with a bio and photo representation of yourself. You don’t have to use pictures of yourself, you can not use your name – but your blog should be consistent so your readers can identify with you.

Question: “How can I approach blogging about food/fitness when I am not a trained prodessional in either of those areas, yet love to talk about them?”

Answer: You don’t need to be an expert – most people aren’t and yet still offer advice on training, diet, etc. It’s okay to talk about your own experience – that’s what people are interested in. A disclaimer is a good idea stating that your blog is based on personal experience and that you aren’t a professional [trainer/doctor/dietician]. People want to see other real people.
Question: “How much to I share?”
Answer: Be mindful of how much you share. Monica shares a lot and doesn’t have a problem with it. Be ready for a potential backlash if you over-share – watch the photos you are posting (family & friends – make sure they don’t mind)  Make you subjects look good (no boogers hanging out of noses). Teachers should be careful, if not overly cautious.
Question: “How do you blog about controversial topics without fear & censoring yourself? How do you maintain your privacy while blogging?”
Answer: Monica doesn’t approach controversial topics much. Rather than censoring herself, Monica will avoid topics.
Monica isn’t so concerned about shielding her privacy. But, she’s not foolish, either. She won’t say exactly where she lives, for example.

Someone mentions that employers look at potential employees information with Google.  “Yes, it’s very important to know this stuff is out there.”  You’ don’t need to answer every question or address every comment and you need to set your own boundaries.

On Generating Content: Write down ideas, even if they don’t seem immediately useful or relevant. Keep notes! Someone mentioned they draw inspiration from Pinterest.com.

You can keep an editorial calendar.
Pay attention to what readers respond to. You can grow on these subjects

Always cite your sources.
Link Back when you mention someone.
Don’t copy and past posts or recipes and then casually mention them – give credit. Someone suggests just linking to original post for the recipe instead of posting it on your own blog.
Link to products and magazines – companies follow these and may reach out to you.

Get Better at Blogging
Update consistently
Include a picture or video
Make it interesting

Getting more readers
Be patient. It takes work and time.
Again, be consistent
Use Social Media to promote and participate. It builds friendships in addition to driven traffic.
Attend meet-ups or conferences.
Comment on other blogs
Seriously, be patient.

Question: “How do I make time for blogging? How much time do I need?”
Answer: Making time for blogging is just like making time for a gym or crochet or any other hobby. Just do it.

Question: Do you think its possible to be a successfully blogger if you keep your blog hidden from your friends and family?

Answer: It’s simpler if you don’ have to hide it. Your readership is probably (hopefully) more than your immediate friends and family.

Question: “When did you decide to tell people? Did it help your blog or make the process easier?”
Answer: “Monica didn’t hide it. It made it easier. She announced it to her co-workers. Most said “Um, ok.”

Some people get mad or hurt if they find out you have a blog & you didn’t tell them.  “You have this double life!”

Question: “I want to blog about how much my job sucks. Would  you just not post it?”

Answer: “I wouldn’t post anything that affects money or living conditions – roommates, work, etc.”

All slides from this presentation can be found at http://octavity.com/fit-analytics/

What was covered:

1. First Step
2. Set-up
3. Terms
4. Site searches, event tracking, goal tracking
5. Beyond Google Analytics

1. First step:

• Why are you fit blogging?

Reasons given by the audience included: Get support, accountability, networking, teach others, getting paid, for fun, motivation, help others, get recognized, and improve health and fitness. We want to track and get better at it by weighing in weekly, track running, food,  have goals, etc. Analytics are a bit like tracking our weight loss, exercise minutes, and food intake. Analytics are a way to track statistics in order to improve your site. Scott’s goal is to make these statistics not so overwhelming, and show how to pull out data that is actionable and useful.

• Define goals and determine how to measure them.

These goals can include downloads of PDFs, # of comments, # of contact us completed, number of page views, weight loss, posts published per month, affiliate clicks, ad clicks, tweets and likes, rss/email subscribers, engagement/visitor loyalty, incoming links, cost (time and money), and return on investment.

• Identify ways to measure success

2. set-up analytics.

There are many possible tools that can be used. The most common option is Google Analytics. It is free and possible but also can be overwhelming. Yahoo also offers this service as well. Other options that are more costly but can offer more include Onmiture, WebTrends, CoreMetrics, and Urchin. GetClicky, Woopra, Piwik, HaveAMint, LuckyOrange, and AWStats can give some more realtime statistics.

There are three ways to set up analytics on your site:

1. enter the code manually
2. use a plug-in
3. it may be included in your existing theme (Thesis) or service.

The plug-in is easier to install and has more functionality, but manual code is faster. Two recommended plug-ins are Google Analytics for WordPress by Joost de Valk (recommended) and Google Analyticator by Ronald Heft. On WordPress, you should avoid using plug-ins if you don’t have to, but the analytics plug-ins are helpful because they will do some things magically for you.

Set-Up Demo: see the slideshow at http://octavity.com/fit-analytics/ for step-by-step detail on manual and plugin setup of Google Analytics. Also, there is a new option for site speed tracking. Generally, the faster your page downloads, the better your Google search results will be. Pictures, Javascript, and Flash will slow it down.

If using the Google Analytics for WordPress plug-in, select the option to track outbound clicks and downloads. This statistic is very important to advertisers, because it shows how often the links you recommend are actually used. Also, select Show Advanced Settings in order to track by the year, tag, and category it was posted. If you see that certain categories are clicked more often, you can cater to readers by writing more on those topics. If you offer PDFs or E-books you’re selling or giving away, add the extension you’d like to track for download count. If you use Google AdSense, make sure to click the option to track that in order to see what posts generate the most money. Leave the defaults for everything else.

3.  Terms

• Hit: request for any term or file from your website and is an old term. This stat isn’t that important because one webpage can have 6000 hits by itself.
• Visit: a browser session. This is an important statistic, and will show how often someone comes back.
• Visitor: an absolute unique visitor. In analytics, you can change the code to determine the period of time one stays a returning visitor
• Time on site: how many minutes someone stays on the entire site. This shows how engaged a person is, but can also show that a person could be confused on how to move on, such as make a purchase
• Time on page: how long someone stays on a particular page
• Bounce Rate: the % of single-page visits. This shows how many people came right to your site and then go back to where they were before. It could be good because they saw exactly what they needed to and then moved on. Or, it can be bad because they couldn’t find what they were looking for quickly enough and left. In bounce rate, the exit page equals the landing page.
• Exit Rate: % of exit for the page and landing. If one page has a high exit rate, it may mean that there is a big problem with that particular page.
• Engagement: Interest in your site. This can be measured by page depth, time on site, returning visitors, surveys, click path analysis, and conversions.
• Conversion rate: does the visitor achieve the website’s goal? Goals can include leaving a comment, clicking a link, making a purchase, download an e-book, watching a video, clicking on an ad, subscribing to RSS, and more. Google Analytics has three ways of tracking goals: URL Destination (did I land on that page?), Time on Site, and # of Pages per Visit

Ways to use analytics (see the demo on Scott’s website for more detail and step-by-step detail on custom reporting):

1. What should I write about? Check out Traffic Sources-Keywords
2. What pages can I improve? Use Weighted Sort Bounce Rate
3. How engaged are our visitors? Visitors-Visitor Loyalty
4. Do you have fans? New vs. Returning Visitors
5. How is my link building, social media, or ad campaigns working? See Traffic Sources-Referring Site and URL Builder: Campaigns (ex: Twitter-see demo on website)
6. What time should I post? See Visitors-Map Overlay. Use the geographic report to see what part of the world your visitors are from. You can also set up a custom hourly report to see what time you get the most visitors.

GOOD TIP: Only check your Google Analytics once a week.

4. Site Searches, Event Tracking, Goal Tracking

• Site Search: track what users are searching for on your site. Use this in order to find hidden ideas for blog posts and to improve your site navigation. (see Site Search demo at http://octavity.com/fit-analytics/ for detail)
• Event tracking: Use for tracking PDF downloads, outbound links, and video usage. It will require some custom code or a plug-in and is limited to 500 tracked events per session (visit). (See Event Tracking demo at http://octavity.com/fit-analytics/)
• Goal Tracking: Used for tracking conversions. Once a goal is set up, it is recommended not to change it. Some possible tracking goals can include: contact us form, e-commerce, engagement, RSS subscriptions, blog comments, and event tracking-new analytics. (See goal tracking demo at http://octavity.com/fit-analytics/)

5. Beyond Google Analytics:

• RSS Tracking: Can use FeedBurner, PostRank, RapidFeeds, Feedity, FeedCat, FeedSqueezer
• Heat Maps: CrazyEgg, LuckyOrange. Heat Maps will let you see where a visitor is hovering and what people do on your page. LuckyOrange also will let you watch in real-time how the visitor is moving the mouse and using your site and costs $7 per month.
• Why are people at my site/why do they leave/did they find what they are looking for? You can use ClickTale, LuckyOrange, UserTesting.com or surveys such as 4surveys.com and LuckyOrange

BONUS TIME!

• Everyone should be set up with Feedburner. (see Feedburner demo at http://octavity.com/fit-analytics/) If you don’t have it, you wouldn’t know what particular posts are popular. You can also auto-post to Twitter through Feedburner. You can also filter results without Feedburner to see that followers do love you and actually visit.
• See the slideshow to find out more about In-page Analytics and the new Google Analytics version.

HOMEWORK:

1. Install an Analytics tool on your site (even if you don’t plan to use it)
2. Decide on YOUR goals and how to track
3. Set up goals, event tracking, and site search
4. Look at trends, segment, and tie it back to your own return on investment

SOURCES:

• http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
• http://cutroni.com
• Web Analytics 2.0 Book

This session was captured by Jodi of Just A Bit Wicked

From the satire of Jack Sh*t, the raw honesty of Operation Shrink Charlie’s Big Butt, or the snark of MrsFatass, each participant on this panel has their own way of using humor to share their story. This session will deal with keeping ideas fresh, finding inspiration, and allowing even the most serious of messages to come through with a laugh.

After a few introductory remarks by the panel, they responded to questions from the moderator and the audience.

Q: Are you funny in real life?

Charlie says she guesses so. Not a good Twitter person but is on Facebook.

Jack says he thinks he’s funny.

Q: When you started your blog, was it a choice to be funny? Did you set out to write a funny blog?

Charlie says she did.  She was depressed and needed the humor to make herself feel better. Her blog has evolved and not every post is funny.

Jack says his didn’t start off as a funny blog. He saw other people’s blogs and was mimicking what he was reading. But after an unexpected weight gain, he used he “real” voice and blogged with humor.

Sue said she uses humor as a protective mechanism.

Q: When you are a funny blogger, is it difficult to connect with readers?

Charlie says it’s hard when you’re a humorous blogger. Things you find funny in everyday life may not be appreciated by everyone.

Sue said she has offended people on Twitter and has unintentionally offended other people. Humor has helped her make connections with people, make people laugh and enable people to relate to her.

Q: What happens when you have a serious moment and need help?

Charlie says when she has a serious moment her support system comes out and surrounds her. She says the outpouring of the fitness community is amazing.

Jack said his readers are good about knowing when he’s being funny or serious. He says it’s all about support. He tries to keep his blog posts interesting for himself. He tries to keep it real on some level and keep engaged in what he’s doing.

Sue says she aims to be authentic and always tells the truth. She writes dialogue, not jokes, so she was surprised when people said she was funny.

Charlie gets jealous when people are funnier than she is. But she loves the banter from audiences.

Sue says she gets “out-funnied” in her own house.

Q: How to you balance writing about family and friends?

Sue says she doesn’t really have a filter but she does try to keep some anonymity for her family.

Charlie has started a blog with her son, to keep track of her son’s experiences. She doesn’t use real names or school names to protect her family from harm.

Jack keeps the spirit of what really happened but tries not to go into too much detail.

Q: Do you use humor to grow your following?

Jack says you have to be real. If you’re funny it will come out. He engages with lively blogs where he can really get a sense of the person. If you have humor in your bag, use it.

Charlie finds the greatest benefit  is when other people share her stories with their friends.  The key is getting people to laugh and share you, on Facebook and Twitter.  She said, “feel free to pimp me out to Facebook and Twitter.”
Q: How do you get your message across while being funny?

Jack said you don’t want to lose your message. You need to get your point across.

Sue said she likes to tell stories that are funny. She sketches out what she wants to touch on in her blog posts so she doesn’t lose her point.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration?

Charlie watches a lot of “Family Guy.” She said she tries hard to keep laughing at home, with her family. No matter what happens or what she writes about, she has a connection with her husband and she knows it’s ok to laugh about things.

Everything goes through the Jack Sh*t filter, which is how his brain works – seeing normal things in a skewed way.

Sue  is always watching and listening, and filing things away for later. She’s writing a screenplay and takes extra time to listen and observe.  She gets inspiration from all of the people around her.

Q: Where do you draw the line between fact and fiction? Is there an integrity issue?

Jack tries to pull from real life. He said a lot of blogs have the same information, but told in different ways. He loses interest and wants to see things from a different angle. He’s very serious about what he does, and about weight loss and health.

Sue stays true to the spirit of a conversation, but may change the order of things to make it more interesting. She said she’s not a reporter, she’s a storyteller.

Q: What are some of the blogs that you find funny?

Sue: Dooce. Her honesty stood out.

Jack: There’s a lot of blogs that have funny days.

Charlie: Results Not Typical Girl. (Kirsten)  RNTGirl on Twitter.

Q: Editing Process and Filtering

Jack spends a lot of time on shortening his posts.

Sue said her humor comes from a place of honesty.

Charlie reminds us to think about people who are reading your blog. Be aware of that. It’s time-consuming but worth it.

Q: Did you ever have a funny blog post that fell flat?

Jack: A parody of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.”  Posted on a Saturday so he didn’t get many comments. He was devastated by the lack of interest.

Sue started blogging 7 days a week. Made mistakes of posting on weekends.

Charlie – lost a few followers on a post that she thought was hysterical – about a female-related issue. She likes to blog about things that women don’t like to talk about.

Question about strategy

Charlie and Jack – post every day around the same time

Sue does strategize. If something needs to be seen she posts it on big hit days. She tries to post at least 5 days a week to continue to build a following. She posts at the same time every morning to be consistent.

Jack may set up his posts a few weeks ahead of time. Sometimes he writes a bunch of posts in the same night.

Question: Do you edit – for possible working with brands

Charlie doesn’t edit. She will not compromise for a brand.

Sue doesn’t affiliate with any companies. She had a few giveaways but only for things that spoke to her. She’s very protective of her space.

Question: What’s on the horizon for the panel members?

Charlie is working on a *personal* project.  ; )

Jack doesn’t have a grand master plan. He enjoys doing what he’s doing.  He sees opportunity on the horizon and said  it’s interesting to make this journey, and share it, with like-minded individuals.

Sue is writing a screenplay – bringing Mrs. Fatass to the big screen!

This session was captured by Vicki of GetHealthyFromtheInside,Out!

How do you create community and facilitate a following?

Who am I?

I am @benjamteal on twitter (for fitness) and also @carib_amphib (the fun Caribbean side).

Write to One Person

In social media you have to write to one person.

I write to a:

• 34 year old man who is married

• 2 young kids that he loves playing with

• LOVES LOVES the Caribbean and Jimmy Buffett

• Wants to feel “island like” even when not in the Caribbean

Create a “culture” your followers can be passionate about.

Do You?

Be yourself online!

Figure out who you are and write to that.

I am who I write to…I am that guy (bullets above).  I write the site to someone who is just like me.  You want to hang out with people who are like you, so you want the people who follow you to be those people.

Be Interesting…

You have to be interesting.  Well, what is interesting?

It’s pretty easy, actually…

..be interested!

Have you ever know that person who only talks about “me, me, me, me”?

Those people build a community of-1.  That person usually has a very small community, often only consisting of themselves.

People with large followings are usually either famous or are interested in what other people have to say.

People who interact with me, I want to interact with them.

How can you do that?

1. engage

Follow people on Twitter!!  If you are following someone they will follow you.  I like to build my following, so I search Jimmy Buffett followers and then I tweet them.  In return, they follow me.

2. ask open ended questions

Tweet an open ended question and wait for responses.  Then you start a conversation with those who reply.  I spend time everyday to respond to tweets.  I then take 4-5 interesting responses from that day and have a genuine conversation with those people.

Get out there and meet these people and your following will grow.  You have to be interested in other people for them to be interested in you.  The best conversationalist are the ones who shut up and listen.

Remember the Rule of Thirds

People will either love you, hate you, or not care about you.

Lets talk about Howard Stern:

You either like him, hate him, or just don’t care.  Social media is the same.  You start out wanting everyone to love you.  If you Facebook, tweet, and/or blog to everyone you get boring.

Howard Stern has an opinion.  Peole who love him LOVE him.  People who hate him, HATE him.  There is a fine line between love and hate, both are passionate feelings.  You want peole to be passionate.  Either way, people are listening to him regardless of their feelings.

Don’t be discouraged by the haters because you can have a great time with haters.  They will tell people about you.  Then those people will search for you to find out why you are hated.  This builds a community of passionate followers.

Main point: Put yourself out there.

Be Credible

You have to be credible.

-You have to be consistent.

You can’t be on twitter for a week tweeting and then disappear.  If someone tweets you, you need to respond.  You don’t want to be thought of as a shmuck.

- Be Visable

I could comment on more blogs.  Blog comments take longer then tweets.  Most of the bloggers I follow are women so I don’t comment on mosts of them becuase they are looking for a women’s opinion, but I am still visible to them.

I am visible on Twitter and Facebook.  If peole see you being engaged they engage with you

-Participate

Most importantly

You have to help people.  Even if you don’t know the answer you point them in the right direction.  My biggest pet peeve is getting an email from people wanting an day-to-day exercise plan.  I redirect them to friends who do this.  It i okay to say that you don’t know.

It goes full circle….Be interested!

When you are yourself, you attract peole who are like you.  When you get to the core of who you are, you attract people who have the same core.

You don’t have to have the biggest community, you have to have the best.  You want to like your followers.

Q:  How do you find the time to tweet as much as you do?

A:  I spend about 20 min before work.  I thank those who re-tweeted me .  If someone asks me questions, I answer in 140 characters.  If I need to answer in more, I send an email.  Then I think about an open ended question to throw out there.  You have to set aside some time.  I have missed people, but if you have built a base they will know to just re-tweet you because it is unlike you to not respond.

Q:  How many tweets do you get?

A:  Probably 20-30.  A lot of them are yes/no answers.

How do I find content?

I use Google Reader

On the Social tab I find all kinds of content.  Tons of widgets to add to iGoogle to give you ideas.

Things I don’t comment on:  Politics…I don’t want to start a war.

When looking for ideas, I may post a link to someone else’s blog posts.

There are easy ways to find content.

Q: How did you get so many followers

A:  I follow everybody back.  I found that if you don’t follow people first, they won’t follow you.  My philosophy is that if they follow me, it is only common courtesy to follow them.

Q: Most people follow you first?

A:  On the fitness site yes.  On the Caribbean one, I am still growing it,  so I actively follow people first to build my own following.

Q:  How many of your followers are true followers?

A:  I don’t know.  If someone doesn’t engage me back, I know.  I have a list of people I tweet who don’t tweet me back.

Q:  Is there any advice you can give to brands to better work with you?

A:  I usually don’t get responses from brands unless I am pissed off.  Let people know that there is a person behind the tweets and not just a brand.  Remember that 1/3 of the people are going to hate you.  So re-tweet to those who love you.  It give you some credibility, because you are sharing to the world what others are thinking about you.  People want to interact with a person.

Q:  From a brand:  We are talking about starting Facebook fan pages, but how do we deal with negative comments?

A:  I have just set up two new experimental fan pages.  If you open up to let anyone leave comments, you have to be prepared for spamming and negativity.  My other fan pages, I keep them interactive.  Ask a question, if you have built your community right, and someone leaves a negative comment, your community will support you.  You can block them if they continue to come back.

You don’t need everything to be positive.  Build a community, games and contests help.

Comment:  If you don’t build that fan page, someone else will and you will not have control over it.

Get out there build your fan page.  Keep your finger on what people are saying and then you can control it.

Q:  Your subtitle is It’s a Jungle Out there…what does that mean?

A:  It is a jungle out there..how do you build your community of lions, without getting monkeys.  If you talk to the whole jungle you will get all the animals.  I have my two accounts and, for the most part, they are separate.

Q:  Do you link your twitter and Facebook accounts.

A:  NO, I feel like twitter is an open society.   Facebook it is very closed…you can’t just go out and follow everyone.

Q:  What tools to you use?

A:  Seesmic

You can set it up so you only see the app replies.  This helps me find the interesting replies that I want to engage in that day.

Q:  Have you used tools that you pay for?

A:  No, for what you are paying for you can find the sites that are freeand are easier to use.

I like doing things the old fashion way.  I haven’t seen anything good that makes me comfortable that puts a tool between me and the user.

Q:  Having the two twitter accounts, do you post the same content on each?

Sometimes my accounts overlap.  If I am doing someone thing exciting, I can’t not post on both accounts.  I do tie it to the site.  If I am going to a Jimmy Buffett concert, everyone will know, but on my fitness site I may say something like “going to the jimmy buffett concert, tomororw is a cheat day”.  On my Carbbean site it would be more like “going to the Jimmy Buffett concert, who’s going?”

You can tweet anonomously, but you have to be yourself.

What I want you to take away…I really lke helping people.  You can contact me anywhere and I will get back to you.  Starting a blog about how I get paid, wearing flip flops and have a full time job.  Be part of my community and I will be part of yours….I follow back!

This session was captured by Erin of Enjoying The Chaos

But once you start getting all that traffic, the question becomes “What do you do with it?” This session covers that too.

Thanks for Matt of NoMeatAthlete.com for a great session.

Click here for Matt’s Slides

Why focus on search engine optimization (SEO)?

• Steady, no-cost traffic
• Unique visitors who are brand new to your site…will get those viewers even on days you don’t post
• Ranking high signals authority
• Ranking high is self-reinforcing…as you start ranking better in Google, people will link back to you, thereby upping your page rank more
• Faster than spending time commenting on blogs hoping to attract attention back to your site
• Remember: most people don’t read blogs

How Google Works

• Google wants to provide searchers with the most useful webpages
• They are constantly changing and improving their algorithm
• How do they decide?
  • Relevance (keywords, tags)
  • Authority and Trust (links, age of domain)
    • The longer you’ve been around, the more legitimate and trusted you seem to be

Google is changing

• Google doesn’t want to be ‘gamed’
  • Keyword stuffing
  • Content farms
    • Livestrong.com (Demand studios) just got hit earlier this year for having lots of freelance writers generating lots of low-quality content
  • Paid links
• SEO ‘ninja’ tactics are starting to become less effective as Google evolves
• Google has said they now value social media links
  • Haven’t in the past cared about tweets, facebook shares

THE NEW SEO

Links, links, links: Nothing is more important for SEO than quality links from trusted sites

• Cumulative effect.  If 3 blogs link to blog A, who then links to blog B along with 2 other blogs … better ranking than if 4 blogs link to blog B

Not all links are created equal

• Anchor text is extremely important… link to the keywords, not words like “post” or “click here”
• Keywords = phrase typed into Google
• “nofollowed” links don’t count (ex: blog comments on another site are generally ‘nofollow’… so won’t drive traffic to you just because you commented on a ton of other blogs)
• When you link out to another blog, use good anchor text…we can help each other more out in that way!

How to get links?

• Number 1 best way: Guest Posting
  • Many benefits beyond SEO
    • Relationships with ‘popular’ bloggers
    • Direct traffic and trust
    • Often easier than getting a big blogger to link to you on his/her own
    • Content links are ideal
    • You control the anchor text
  • Trick: write your own bio/byline for your guest posts
    • Instead of using your blog name as anchor text, use keywords
      • ex: highlight “vegetarian running” rather than “Matt Frazier”
    • Bonus: to increase clickthroughs, link to something useful in your bio
    • Use Google’s Keyword tool

Relationships lead to links

• Guest blogging opportunities come from relationships
• What else can you do with relationships?
  • Have a circle of friends you can ask for links, shares or tweets
  • Nurture your social media followings
  • People who use social media are people with the ability to link
• Social media and SEO are becoming two sides of the same coin.

CONTENT

The Power of Headlines

• Write strong headlines (post titles) to explode traffic
• People will often retweet or share without even reading the post!
• Visit copyblogger.com for their headline tutorial
• Cosmopolitan trick
  • Look at the cover of a Cosmo and steal their headlines and replace words with your terms
    • example: 78 Ways to Turn Him On –> 78 Ways to Stretch After a Run
    • example: Bump-Proof Your Bikini Line –> Cheat-Proof Your Diet
• Don’t over do it….readers will get sick of it

Writing Linkable Content

• Starting with the headline leads to posts that get links
• Starting with headline can help you generate post ideas
  • What kind of stuff do you want to read?
• Other ideas to shake things up
  • Lists
  • How-to’s
  • Resource posts (“the Ultimate Guide to ____ “)
  • Interviews
  • Compilations involving popular bloggers… helps build relationships with those bloggers, and they will likely link to it/repost it
• Stick to one topic with each post …. too much fluff around the  list or topic (putting your meals before the list, etc) = people are less likely to link to it
• Try this stuff once every few posts if you’re worried about how your readers will react

Other SEO Tricks

• Google has stated that they value brands
• When people type your blog name into Google, it signals that you are a trusted brand
• As you strengthen your domain’s brand, you strengthen the ranking of all your posts

How can you get people to search for your blog?

• Highly-visible offline presence
• Advertising
• YouTube …if it happens to go viral and you have your blog name in there (but not the URL), people will type it into search engines to find you
• Purposely failing to link to your site… people may search for your blog name if they see it and want to read more but can’t click on the link … don’t do this too often
• Inventing a phrase
• Anything that builds buzz

TECHNICAL SEO BASICS (or: How to Write for Robots)

Is Your Code Clean?

• Without clean code, Google robots won’t know where your content is
• Look for “SEO-friendly” themes
• Premium themes
  • Genesis, Headway, Thesis
• Clean code is a minimum requirement

Custom Tags

• You must be able to edit the title and description of your posts that Google sees
• Often your post title is not the ideal one for Google because it doesn’t contain keywords that people use to search
• Plugins and premium themes allow you to easily edit these tags
  • WordPress SEO, All-in-One SEO Pack
  • So you can change the permalinks/tags to include your keywords rather than your creative headlines, but readers will still see creative headlines
    • <title> tags, <meta> descriptions, <meta> keywords … if you don’t put in your own description, it will be automatically generated and won’t rank as high in search engines
      • Google “SEO title tags,” “SEO meta descriptions,” etc for more
      • Put too many keywords in and you could get penalized because a lot of people abused it in the past = less trusted than description/title tags

Link Juice

• What happens when you link out to other blogs
• your blog is a big bucket.  Every link out is a little hole in your bucket
  • Some leaking out is good.  If you don’t do it, it won’t look good to Google.
  • BUT, too many links gives away all your “link juice,” especially if on your home page

Linking Practices

• Internal links matter, but not as much as links from other sites
  • Linkwithin v. nRelate
  • Linkwithin not recommended because it redirects all links through their site and generates hits for them, but doesn’t benefit you
• Place a link every 75 words or so, on average
• Links near the beginning of your content matter the most
• Remember to use good anchor text for all content links
• Sidebar and navigation links don’t matter much
  • Because Google has noticed that is a way people try to “cheat”
  • Don’t overdo them
  • Don’t worry about anchor text for these

Content practices

• Don’t keyword stuff!
  • Don’t write for robots, write for people
  • Choose primary keyword phrase ad use it in the title and first paragraph, and then only as needed
• Stick to one topic in your post
• Please the recipe search engines: use hRecipe
• Again, make your content awesome, so people share it and link to it
• Rule of thumb: write for humans, tweak for robots

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THAT TRAFFIC

• Ad networks may not be the most beneficial… you’re only getting a few cents per thousands of unique visitors who probably won’t be back
  • That’s not the people the ad networks are targeting, and you’re losing that potential audience

Search traffic is easy to monetize!

• When you write a popular search post, you can target readers’ interests specifically
  • If you’re worried about selling to your readers (and their reaction), you can go back and add the affiliate links, etc after it is no longer on the front page… try it on an old post
• Compare to Foodbuzz or other ads
• Searchers are often trying to solve a problem, so sell them a solution!
• Great if you’re worried about selling to your everyday readers

Alternative to Ads

• Creating your own products
  • Takes time, builds brand, you keep 100% of sales
• Affiliate marketing
  • Very little time, can be looked down on, you get around 50% for information products/5-20% for physical products
• BE HONEST ABOUT IT

Affiliate marketing

• Try a few different things
  • for a running songs post by Matt.  What didn’t work: iPod affiliate links through Amazon, Waterproof headphones affiliate links, “running audio” training program.  What DID work: “iTunes affiliate links”
  • Better to target specifically, rather than setting up a store
• How to start
  • Browse Clickbank for related products
  • Amazon Associates program
  • Commission Junction
  • Direct programs through companies/bloggers…. look around at blogs within and slightly outside your niche
  • Vitamix/Blendtec
• Get special link code that tracks your sales
• Don’t set up a store, just solve problems
• Always DISCLOSE!  Maybe not for making 5 cents off iTunes song, but anything more substantial

Product Creation

• More money in creating your own products
  • Tarahumara example (Pinole and Chia recipes ebook)
    • Last month: Post viewed 11,003 times; $1544.60 in net sales…. CPM=$140

If your blog, your posts, and your products are a tree, then what is the soil?

• Answer: the readers (NOT you), if you want your blogging to be a business

Audience Q: Do you turn your ebooks into affiliate products for other bloggers?

• Answer: Yes, using  e-junkie.com

Audience Q: For e-books, how much do you offer affiliates?

• Answer: Aim for more than 50%…will bring lots of traffic and buzz, and most purchases come directly to him anyways (so he doesn’t mind giving a cut of that small percentage of sales to other bloggers)

Audience Q: How does Google view ‘self-pings’ (from going back and editing old posts, etc)

• Answer:  Not entirely sure, but has heard that the very first indexing matters more than going back and changing it

Other notes:

• Audience tends to self-select…your audience will change as you change your blog.
• Don’t write something just to fit a good headline, if it doesn’t fit the rest of your site.

Audience Q: Is it worthwhile to go back and edit something 9 months later or so?  Or is it too late?

• Answer:  Depends on the post, and Google is constantly changing.  Try changing it and getting a new link to it/link to it within your content, etc

This session was captured by Julie of Savvy Eats.

The statistics are exciting and are waiting for you to leverage them!!

-          People communicate 7% by words and 55% by body language.

-          People retain 10% of what they read and 20% of they hear and 50% of what they read and hear.

-          Video gives a 53% better chance of being on first on a google search with video

-          52% of people that watch a video will take action after watching it – remember to have a call to action

Are you interested in adding video to your blog or creating a new community from video?

What you need to start (Hardware):

1. Recording device – Jendi loves the Kodak Zi8
2. Microphone – any device ~$20 is sufficient
3. Tripod

What you need (Software):

1. Start with what you have Movie maker or iMovie
2. Next steps: Pinnacle, Corel, Adobe (MSFT) Final Cut Express, Sony Vegas (MAC)

Jendi’s Top Recording Tips:

1. Look Presentable – One chance to make a first impression – be yourself!
2. Have a  blog in addition to your YouTube channel
3. Background – nothing that distracts & a background that supports your expertise
4. Timing – 2 to 4 minutes is the ideal.  Break it up if longer.
5. Call to action – Subscribe, leave a comment
6. Stability – easier to watch
7. Content – Education + Entertainment = Success
8. Lighting – desk lamps that swivel are good tools
9. Audio – Most important item for your viewers!
10. SMILE!!!

Where do you start with – what do you talk about –

1. Intro/Welcome – who are you?
2. Product Demo – do a DRY run to be sure you know how to use it
3. Promotional
4. Training
5. Testimonial
6. Video Blog

Editing – don’t let it intimidate you.  It will really increase your quality.

Music – search for “free royalty free music” and check the terms.  Istock has some great video and pictures you can utilize.

Video hosts – you don’t need to pay for the storage on your own site and can build a second community at the same time as your blog.  Top sites:  Youtube, Blip.tv, Vimeo, Viddler, Momtv

Getting over your Top Fears:

1.  Fear of Image  - Start small to build practice and comfort

2.  Fear of Technology  - Start with what you have web cam, handycam

*************TIPS AND TRICKS FOR YOUR VLOGGING!!!***********

1. Use what you have for video options – just get started!
2. Leverage the tutorials on your new camera or software
3. Be aware of people in the background if you are shooting video in a public location
4. Make others laugh
5. Watch your own videos – the entire way through before you post.  If you can’t sit through it, your followers won’t.
6. Try one new thing at a time
7. Don’t be afraid to pause
8. Talk about passionate topics to you – It’s contagious!
9. Find a community – share your embed codes with other like minded individuals, blogs, and brands!
10. Start with your blog address url in the YouTube posts

There is something you can find in each and every post – video or words – that you want to do differently.  The biggest message of the session is to just get started!

Blogging recap provided by Amy at AmyBurford.com

Jen: Thank you everyone for attending. My name is Jen from Prior Fat Girl and I blog at www.priorfatgirl.com. We are going to introduce ourselves and tell what it means to us to be a professional blogger. Define what being a professional means.

Ryan: I’m Ryan Sullivan and I blog at www.nomorebacon.com. As far as being a professional blogger, it doesn’t have to be about making money at first. It will evolve into that, but you have to change your vision a little bit. You need to have clear goals for your site. Generally it won’t begin with much income, but over time as you get people to follow you, you can build things up.

Josie: My name is Josie Maurer and I am the Yum Yucky. I’ve been blogging since January 2009 and I actually had no intention to become a professional blogger. I do make money, which varies from month to month. The biggest thing to me is accountability. I have to plan things out and treat it like I would any job. I have to commit to what I’m doing and view it as a career. To blog as a professional you have to go through the steps and stay accountable.

Esther: My name is Esther Crawford. I blog for Weight Watchers and www.ShePosts.com. For me, professional blogging started in 2007 when I decided to leave my job and take on blogging as a full-time career. That is when it became more of a view of a profession for me.

Jen: Blogging is so fresh and so new to all of us and you all look to us asking “How can we become a professional”? It’s important to define what being a professional even means. Tell me more about what it means to move from blogging as a hobby to professional.

Esther: I set goals for myself. Then, when I saw those being achieved I realized it was something I could do. I began working with Weight Watchers. I was the first person to blog my weight loss journey. Now it has been 7 years of blogging.

Josie: I want to say something about actual goals. You may see others doing certain things and think that is your goal. You may find you aren’t successful with it or decide its not what you want to do. It is ok to have evolving goals. For example, I went from wanting to work with brands but moved to more wanting to brand myself. Don’t put yourself in a box. Your goals may change and that is okay.

Jen: You talked about thinking outside the box. How do you begin to think outside the box, or outside the blog to say, and actually make those changes?

Ryan: When you’re moving from blogging as a hobby to blogging as a professional, understand who your reader is. You really need a grasp on what your reader reacts to. Look at your material and what gets your readers excited and sharing material. If you have a post that does really well for one reason or another, take a closer look and build on that material. See what your readers are seeking in your site and cater to that more specifically.

Esther: Personally, I make very little money on advertising. It is primarily through other sources such as being a spokesperson, work as a brand ambassador, hosting events, speaking, and freelance writing. You have to view your work in an entrepreneurial manner. Some do it well and others find it more of a struggle. In order to make blogging a profession, you must have approach things as an entrepreneur because you are building your brand and your blog.

Jen: Yes. There are so many things to consider behind the scenes with blogging in a professional focus instead of as a hobby. Like when you get money from a brand or a company you will have to report it on your taxes. Blogging is a very new career. Companies may not know or understand brand and blogger relationships. You have to package yourself to make it a win win for both companies – yourself and the brand you hope to work with.

I also want to say that you need to know what you are going to work on and concentrate on in your own blog’s brand. You want to cater to your readers and you have to be true to yourself. You have to have value in what you’re writing. Ask yourself – would you want to read your own blog?

Now, as for aesthetics, what are some of the things you have done to change the aesthetics of your blogs?

Josie: Early on i made little money with the ad sidebars and similar stuff. Eventually, I realized that I would have to invest more in my blog. In the beginning, you have to put money in to get money out of it. You may have to go to self-hosting or design labels. I even had to move up to my own hosting because my blog kept crashing for three hours a day and that was simply not acceptable. My readers expected my site to be up and running and I must cater to them. Paying for the hosting was an extra cost but you have to be responsible for your blog. If you aren’t willing to invest in your blog, you will likely stay in the hobby realm. That’s okay but you need to consider that.

Ryan: When you go to Josie’s site you get a visual of who she is and what her blog is about fast. There is the three second rule. If someone goes to your site and doesn’t get a sense on what its about in around three seconds then they will leave and wont come back.

For me, I may focus on getting more subscribers. Something I have done is instead of just saying “subscribe by email for these updates” on my main page I have a space that says “Get Bacon!”. Use language and images unique to your brand that will draw attention and that the reader wants to see. Another good example is to have a space with something that asks a reader if it is the first time visiting. Then include a link to a page or material that will share your message.

And put a clear call to action on the bottom of every page aimed at what you hope to gain with your blog. Make it easy for someone to share something on Twitter, to become a follower on Facebook, to subscribe to your material, to comment, to buy something you sell and promote. Put things you hope people to do with your material in a clear, defined space on your site. You want it to be clean but you still have to promote your blog. Even just the other day I sent out a quick tweet asking for people to sign up for my email list. I got 25 people to sign up from that one tweet. Sometimes you just have to ask.

Jen: It’s okay to say “Hey, if you like me then why don’t you share with a friend?”. Show a clear action you hope to get from what you share.

Josie: You can have your own system. Certain things make you who you are. I do see occasionally people trying to be like other people and it comes across as forced. Readers can tell when you’re trying to force something. So be yourself

Esther: I want to add that finding strategic partnerships is important. If you find other bloggers similar to you, you can always find a way to perhaps promote each other. Hungry Hip Girl did a great job of doing that by trying to get more people to sign up on her email blast. She sent out requests to AOL, Yahoo, and Weight Watchers asking to write reviews. It led to back links and many other opportunities. You have to keep asking and put yourself out there. It may not be a paid position at first but it can bring extra exposure and future pay.

Josie: But how do you say “Hey AOL, hey Yahoo? How do you do that?

Esther: The best thing is to contact writers in the category you’re trying to get into. A lot of the main contact pages have such general information. A writer in your niche may give you a more direct contact. A local connection is great too. On a local basis, Twitter is a great tool to find local journalists or editors and connect with them.

Josie: Early last year I wanted to do some local press for my blog. I found local editors on Twitter and began following them.

Jen: You would be surprised how much info you can find on your local sites.

Josie: Exactly. I was able to find the Twitter for local editors and I followed them. At the time, I knew they may not notice me. I didn’t expect them to, but I focused on having genuine conversation with them. Over the course of 6 months I would tweet with them and then suddenly they asked to do a featured article on me and my blog. I was on the front page of the section. Then later on, I was offered to write with them in a freelance position. Consider local options and take those opportunities.

Jen: Yesterday, in the Keynote Panel on Blogging From Hobby to Career,  they talked about the brand relationship and the importance of having a relationship with the brand. Before i began working with Polar heart rate monitors, I was authentic with my love for the brand. It was a natural progression to work together after communicating over things like twitter for awhile. We need to build connections. Why not email companies and ask to work together? Or why not email other people to ask hey how they broke into working with certain brands? Ask your friends for help. We are all a social network.

Josie: I did that early on. I actually emailed some bigger bloggers and talked to them on Twitter. I then emailed them asking for tips but never heard anything back. I didn’t understand that, so now i will always respond. This is not a competition. We can all be successful in our own ways. Go ahead and ask, but if you don’t get a response back, then move on.

Jen: Ryan, I know you had more to talk about aesthetics.

Ryan: Well first I have to apologize to Josie for not responding to her email! Okay, okay. Something I find very useful is a site called www.crazyegg.com. The site does cost $9 per month, but it tells you everything about your website. It shows you where people come from, what they click through to. and we can see how people interact to the site. The nine dollar investment can totally change the way you set up and utilize your site.

Question from the Audience: How is that different from Google Analytics, which is free?

Ryan: Google Analytics is free, but Crazy Egg can show you more in depth about peoples interaction in the site as they are there. It’s a little tricky to explain. The features page on www.crazyegg.com gives a good breakdown.

Question from the Audience: Are there other sites similar to that?

Ryan: I have seen some other ones, but that is just the one i have used.

Statement from Audience Member: There is one called Lucky Orange and another that is more expensive called www.clicktale.com. Click Tale will actually record people on your page so you can see what they are doing on your page. You can even watch their mouse move.

Jen: What are some small things we can do to our sites to make them more professional?

Ryan: Get rid of widgets. They are distractions from what you ultimately want people to do – follow your content or potentially buy from you. You don’t need to have things that will have people clicking out of your site. Make sure any outbound links open the link in a new window. You can even create a dedicated resources page and link to that page first before linking to the outside site. It makes people have to make a conscious decision to leave.

Jen: Also if it an outgoing link doesn’t open in another window then you have to try to bring them back to your site or click the back button instead of your site still being there as the reader closes out of the other window. Ryan, do you have any other easy ideas we can use?

Ryan: Overall, get rid of things that can distract from your ultimate goal. More actions to choose from get less action that people will actually take. Keep things as simple as possible. Keep all the actions that readers can take on your site directed to your ultimate goal, whether it is getting followers or selling an e-book.

Jen: The trick is to balance. These are all ideas to get people to buy into your brand but you have to do it while still being true to who you are. That is why no one can tell you exactly how to develop your blog brand into a more professional venture because it is a personal thing. Sometimes its simplifying what you’re doing instead of being all over the board. I always ask myself how much I’m writing and if I would skim my blog post. Should I do a “to be continued” post? I don’t feel bad about not saying everything in one blog post. So, how do you balance work as a professional blogger and a personal life?

Josie: Well, I drink coffee at 7 pm to keep me up until midnight. I drink it at seven so it will saturate into my body by the time I work from 8 to midnight after the kids are in bed. In seriousness though, I go back to the view of blogging being my job. I simply treat blogging as my profession. That is what i have to do. I set aside my time to work and my family knows and understands that is  my time to work. I don’t always write a blog post, but there are other things that are the foundation of the blog that you always have to keep working on. I try to squeeze in everything I possibly can while working. I have my smart phone so i can interact all day long. Which, by the way, if you don’t have a smart phone and want to do more with blogging then you need one.

I know my stats every day. I keep up with them to see the trends and what is going on with my site. I do have 4 kids so its difficult, but i decided 2 years ago to commit to my blog after it started taking this direction. I give myself a window so my family knows my schedule and understand its mommy’s time and that I’m working.

Esther: I have two kids too and we’re adopting a 6 tear old. It is really difficult to balance. I consider myself more as an entrepreneur over a blogger. Blogging was simply the launching point for other things. It really does take a lot of time.

Jen: It is not a glamorous lifestyle. A lot of things are going on behind the scenes.

Esther: In a typical month, I am gone 10 days for travel. My family is even moving to San Francisco for opportunities related to my work from blogging.

Ryan: Like with anything it has to be a conscious decision. You have to decide you will make the time and then just follow through and do it.

Jen: During my masters program, the counselor worked with us on writing our thesis. One thing we were told was to make sure what you choose is your passion. You will live it, own it, breathe it, and bleed it. If it’s not a passion, then you will burn out. Blogging is a lot like that. You will burn out if its not your passion, so you have to be true to yourself. And who knows? Maybe you won’t be the next professional blogger. What happens if that doesn’t happen for you? Are you still going to have that passion? I think you have to still want to do it for yourself first .

Josie: Although, I know I do still get burned out sometimes. I have days where I start stressing and can’t think. My husband is really good and he can tell when it’s about to happen. He will pull me back for a moment, so I don’t have a complete meltdown. Then, I have a recovery time, like a day, and after I am back to it. Recovery is not quitting the blog for an entire week or a month or being wishy-washy. Sometimes bloggers go really strong and then drop off. Try to test things out and find a balance. That will help you avoid saying “forget it all and it’s not for me”. If you can pick up on a burn out and handle it early on, you will be able to have longevity.

Esther: You have to be willing to change it up and not be afraid of that. When I started blogging in 2004 it was a travel blog. A little over a year ago I launched www.ShePosts.com as a new site. I was posting 4 times a day, but it was too much. I finally decided to bring other people on board and hire some writers and a new editor. By the time I would have experienced a burn out I already had other people there to help step in.

Jen: We have about 25 minutes and I want to allow the audience to pick your brains. Do you have anything else you want to add before we start questions?

Okay, Heather will be passing around the mic for questions!

Audience: If I would go home and have just one thing to do to become a professional, what should I do?

Jen: Concentrate on your brand. Think about who you are and what message you deliver. Own that brand. Is it genuine to yourself and could you be on that brand forever? What is the package you want to give out to people?

Ryan: We haven’t really talked abuot this much, but guest blogging is a great way to get exposure – guest posting on larger sites. Write an email to 4 or 5 sites that can give you great exposure and share a great idea.

Josie: Just be sure you already have a relationship with them. If you are a stranger to them, they will see straight through to someone just wanting to get on their blog. it offends me actually if i don’t already have a relationship.

Jen: I usually don’t accept guest posts, but Jasmine from Eat Move Write recently was featured as a guest poster on my blog. She has a story on overcoming obesity and gastric bypass surgery. She noticed my readers had asked questions on it, so she reached out to me. When she asked and pitched her idea for a guest post, she pitched it to my heart instead of to my stats. So, I accepted it.

Esther: Interviewing is another great way to go about that as well. If you ask interesting questions featuring interviews with people or bloggers the audience finds interesting, then you may still get back links and exposure.

Question from the Audience: I have two questions. You were talking about guest posting and making connections, but you’re talking about just making connections with blogs already established. Do you think there is any responsibility to those who aren’t built up? Also do you think there is such a thing as overexposure where people write too much that ends up diluting the blog’s brand?

Ryan: I do like to give opportunities to guest post, but i don’t really write on smaller blogs – which part of it is time but also I honestly don’t get asked.

Jen: Yea. You can’t put these bloggers on a pedestal. You must realize everyone is human. We are real people.

Ryan: As far as diluting the brand, there will be times where there may be an overshare or the awkward TMI on a site, but sometimes those get great traffic. I think every once in awhile those things are great.

Josie: I know other people who have giveaways all the time. Awhile back, I thought “oh i need to do that”. Now, I won’t do any giveaways unless it is really of great value to my readers. That is just my decision. I feel more interested in giving away things from me and not because a company sponsored me. I don’t want to sit around and wait for a company to come to me to do something worthwhile for my readers.

Jen: I actually got called out on doing a lot of giveaways. A friend emailed me and told me I sounded like a commercial. It was a reality check. I even sent things back. Now, I try to be strategic with it. In WordPress, you can have posts that post to a subcategory. I can post reviews and giveaways, but it doesn’t post to my main stream. People can subscribe to just certain areas so it allows people to be proactive in what they read on the blog.

Esther: I work with Weight Watchers and help them choose people they will work with. I try to work them to have a variety of sizes of blogs and help their traffic. About diluting your brand, I think its really about being true to your core message and allowing your message to evolve. I like seeing people try different things, but also when bloggers will admit if something didn’t work for them.

Question from the Audience: I have a question about the navigation menu and sidebar. How would you clean that up a bit? I have services and e-books that I want to share in my navigation menu, so how could I clean it up?

Ryan: If it’s your own stuff, leave it. If it’s for other products, you can get rid of it. You can also simplify it into a products page that then breaks down into individual pages. You want people to interact with your site, even if they have to go through a couple more pages.

Jen: You can also do dropdown menus in WordPress to help simplify the menu.

Question from the Audience: You mentioned an image saying “start here” when someone new comes to your site? How does that work?

Ryan: I have something on my sidebar that will catch attention to get people to interact with that. It has changed and evolved over the years.

Question from the Audience: How beneficial do you think it is to have a Facebook presence?

Ryan: I think it goes back to deciding if that is a space you want to grow your blog in, but it certainly has a benefit. It is really nice, from a history standpoint, being able to get interaction from people right away. Everyone is on Facebook! As far as being successful, you have to use it as another place to interact and not just post links like a billboard. You have to have the time to use it to start discussion. If it ends up being a place you post links over and over again, it can take away from the professionalism of the blog.

Esther: Facebook is nice because it allows you to do ads that are very targeted. Also, you can tag certain brands like you would do in Twitter. This allows for brands to feel you are bringing value to them. Brands appreciate that and especially on Facebook since it is so much more popular. I mean, consider the percentage of the population using Facebook over Twitter.

Josie: I use Facebook and share my links and content, but i mainly use it as a space for people to interact. It’s not about getting a click and someone to read. I post things on Facebook that I may not post on my blog. I want it to have an added value such as pictures, updates, and information that is different than what appears on the blog. There is something to be said about your brand in having a Facebook page. If you’re interested in building your blog, I think it’s good to have a page.

Jen: Sometimes people find blogs intimidating and will feel more comfortable using Facebook. You can certainly get more interaction from it.

Esther: You will get into their stream and news feed, so you will get a lot more eyeballs.

Jen: We now have 3 more minutes, so we don’t have time for another question. I did want to give the panel time to share their final thoughts. For me, I would say you have to ask yourself if you will still be satisfied even if you never make it as a professional.

Esther: Hustle. You have to hustle. Be willing to invest the hours and the sweat and do the work.

Josie: Be honest with yourself. Do you really want it? Don’t force it because then it will become boring and you will quit. Find a way to blog that it is a passion for you. Then, even when you feel your brains are going to fall out, you wont mind.

Ryan: Have fun. And test all the time. If you question whether or not something will work with your blog, just try it. There can always be a chance to grow

Jen: That’s all the time we have. Sorry we weren’t able to cover more. Thanks for coming!

This session was captured by Tina of Faith Fitness Fun. Tina shares her personal journey to a full, healthy life and touches on topics including body image and fitness.

Introductions of panelists.  See bios for more.

Carla Binberg: MizFit. Blogging since 2001.

Karla Walsh: Healthful Bites blog.  Blog editor at FitStuff (on Fitness Magazine’s website).

Kelly Olexa: Blogging and videos –> part of the Ford Fiesta movement.  Also works with Polar HRM and Andrea Metcalf and Sears.

Liz Neporent: Journalist, writer and fitness professional.  ABC News national (Good Morning America website) and publications in Harvard Medical School.  “That’s Fit” blog on AOL –> Shape.com (soon)

Andrea Metcalf: Health and fitness professional, started going into traditional media to gain exposure.  Own blog + Huffington post + Oprah.com + more.  Author of Naked Fitness.

Q: How can bloggers take their first step out of the unpaid realm and into the paid realm?

Andrea: What brand do I like?  What brand resonates with me?  And go after it. You don’t have to wait for them to contact you anymore.  Call, email, “stalk” (but not really).  Keep at it and be true to that brand, and you will get something from it.

Liz: Have to learn to like the word ‘no’ and it can’t bother you.

Kelly: Sometimes have to ignore the “no.” Used to be a ‘lurker’… once started with Ford, got her talng more and communicating more.  Reach out to brands you love, get creative (they may have very little budget or ideas).  They may not know what to do with you or how to use you. You need to give them ideas/pitch them.  Reach out to whomever you really have a connection with, not someone you think will pay you the most.

Karla: Blogs as a hobby, to meet people, doesn’t view it as a business.  Used internships through schooling.  Life-long fan of Fitness magazine, and interned for the company that owns the magazine.  Once had groundwork of internship + blogging at home, could take the fitness mag blog to the next level.  Didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer

Andrea: You ahve to know your platform, your analytics, your audience, and find the win-win.  Why would/should the brand care about your blog?  Why should they do anything with you?  You have to differentiate yourself.  Have to put in hours to build your brand.  Figure out the win-win and you will win.

Liz: Use HARO.  Subscribe.  Email three times a day with a list of reporters looking for people to talk to/quote/interview.

Karla: Gets pitches for magazine.  Hard to sort through the emails…lots of good mixed in with the bad.  Sometimes solicit ideas or success stories through Facebook or Twitter… so follow the brands you want to work with on social media and keep an eye out.

Andrea: TV shows get hundreds of thousands of emails who want to be on the show, but far fewer via Twitter.  Lesson: Twitter is a powerful tool.  Couldn’t get through to Andy of Bravo via email, but got through via 12 tweets over the course of 3 days.

Carla: Twitter is the great equalizer.  Tweeted Zappos CEO and asked to interview for her blog.  Approach people on Twitter, get a “face” behind the brand.

Q: As a fitness writer, how do you begin to know what the opportunities are/who to reach out to/how to contact the brands.

Andrea: Google is the best place to start. Trials are your best ‘in’ for the high-end PR newsletter/sites.  Mediabistro, Hoovers, etc.  Mediabistro will tell you when magazines want pitches, who to contact, etc. in some cases.  Press release to the PR person. Can’t just send out an email.  Have to email-phone-email-phone + Twitter and keep going through it until you get a response.

Liz: Gets 40-50 pitches a day.  Reads every single one. Just don’t know where a good idea is going to come from.  When she wants something, she can be single-minded about it.  Must network.  Invite people to lunch.  Allot time in weekly schedule to tweet, facebook, network in person/via lunch, go to networking parties, etc.  You never know what’s going to come of it.

Kelly: Works for social media agency.  Look at social media, PR, ad agencies to see who their clients are.  Hates the word ‘networking’.  Keep blogging and meeting people and going on Twitter/Facebook and tell them what you’re all about/what you’re passionate about.  People are always watching and will contact you down the line.  There are a lot of people who work at brands that you may not realize. They can introduce you to brands you want to work with without you asking for it.  “The more people you know, the more people you know.”

Karla: If you have trouble getting in touch with the person who you initially tried to get in touch with, keep contacting them but also contact someone down the “ladder.” They may have more time to answer queries, etc. and their desk is probably right near the person who actually makes the decisions.

Carla: Be aware, people are watching.  People do pay attention. “Tweet on brand.” Does what you’re tweeting further/hurt your brand? If you want to make it your business (you don’t need to worry about it as much if you blog as a hobby)

Kelly: Be yourself.  Don’t think you have to say things the “Laughing Cow” or “Diet Coke” way, etc. Form long-term relationships with someone you WANT to talk to and WANT to blog about.  Even if you tweet something negative about a brand, they may contact you to say they appreciate your honesty and ask for advice on how to improve.

Liz: Your personality and your brand has a thread that runs through it.  If you want to go to the next level, you need to think of yourself as “You, Inc.”

Andrea: That’s not always comfortable.  But that comes with being your own brand.

Q: Often people say they don’t have a brand and are just blogging.  Start asking OTHER people what your brand is/what they expect when they come to your blog.  May find out that you aren’t coming across the way you want to.  How do you start to define your blog?

Andrea: Who you are/what your brand is…think of it as SEO.  What are the 10 words someone would use to find you?  Will help you figure out your brand and then your tagline.

Liz: Be passionate about what you’re writing about.  Find your personality in your writing/work.  You need to think a lot about it, but it will also come somewhat naturally…you are who you are.  Be a little egotistical.

Kelly: For a lot of people who are just getting started, it may be overwhelming to hear “what’s your brand? just be yourself.” Sears chose Kelly, Andrea, Carla for different reasons and because they are so different from each other.  May not be able to define yourself, ask people for help.  Ford chose her for Fiesta movement because of how she relates to her audience.  She doesn’t have a car blog, etc.  Be okay with turning down brands that don’t align with what you’re all about.

Carla: If they don’t fit with you, refer other people. Pay it forward.

Karla: Live what you believe in, and things will fall into place.  Subscribes to every fitness magazine and wathces fitness DVDs, etc…that’s who she is and what she does, and was lucky to find a career opportunity that aligns with that.

Carla: Remember to tell the brands what you are willing to do. Lay it out for them…what you need from them AND what you will do for them.  Make it win-win.  Paying bloggers is somewhat of a new things.

Carla: Asks for audience questions.

Q from Katy Widrick: Once you’re in with the brand and you’re facebooking/tweeting with them, how do you show them that what you’re doing is valuable?  How do you prove return on investment?

Carla: Her experience is that they’re watching.  They’ll track the numbers.

Andrea: mymediainfo.com has a free trial. Will tell you the media value of your site, etc.  The brand will understand how to interpret media value (but you’ll only get paid about 2% of your media value).  Know your analytics going into it.  Always overdeliver.

Liz: Lives and dies by her numbers.  As a writer, you cannot get hired unless you have those good numbers writing for the web and a strong social media presence. If you’re working for someone, ask if you can see their analytics and have access to see how your blog posts perform, etc.  Even if your numbers are small, keep looking to eke out a little more in degrees.  When she gives an opinion, it is well-researched.  Immediately puts posts on twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc…then looks on google/facebook/etc to find other places she can link to it that will get a big reaction.  Be creative and strategic about those things.

Kelly: Doesn’t know her analytics, hasn’t tried to make money from her blog… opportunities come from connecting with people.  Comment everywhere — good way to connect.  Do GoogleAlerts to find people who are talking about you who you don’t even know.    Thank people who write about you to make that connection.  Until you get to the place where you have a lot of unique views each month, it will be more useful to know who you are and what your brand is. If you’re proactive and strong, it will help you go further than some of the “big bloggers” with big numbers.  Don’t get too hung up on the numbers.

Carla: Tell brands what you bring to the table, and you’ll get opportunities even if you don’t have a lot of followers, etc.  You don’t have to have a lot of readers, you just have to be an influencer.

Kelly: The quality of the relationship matters more than the quantity of your audience.  Brands are starting to realize this more and more.  Being genuine and having a good back and forth relationship with your readers is more important.

Liz: She is selling by the numbers.  Don’t get the numbers = fired.  You need to understand what your goals are/what you’re selling.

Q: When you get comments on your blog, how do you deal with negative comments?

Kelly: Her site attracts a “diverse” audience and she had to shut down comments for a time because of inappropriate comments.  There isn’t any one answer to how to deal with it.  She deletes profanity, but otherwise may respond with some snark.

Andrea: Make sure you can stand behind whatever you are writing about.  If you can’t stand behind it, you shouldn’t be writing it.

Liz: She likes the discourse.  You’re putting yourself out there, and part of what you do is criticism.  You may get story ideas from negative comments, or realize that it is somewhat constructive.

Kelly: Expect negativity, especially when you start working with brands. Be yourself, and be willing to stand up for yourself.  There is always going to be a brand that you like that someone will be pissed off about. Get used to say things like “I really appreciate the feedback,” “I appreciate your opinion,” “agree to disagree” etc.

Karla: Tim Ferriss (4 hour body/workout)… leave critical comments up and let it start a conversation.  If it is attacking someone personally, he takes it down though.  You can’t be too sensitive (on the web or in real life).

Andrea: Contact the person to understand why they don’t like it and how to improve it…you may end up learning from it or making a friend.

Q: General Mills brand representative: What can we offer beyond the standard review and giveaway to the bloggers?  Especially if they can’t do it monetarily?

Andrea: Make your expectations very clear.  Sample tweets can help, as can the “bullet point” information.

Liz: Spell their name correctly and show that you know what they do/write about.  Show that you know something about the blogger.

Carla: It’s tough to be offered free product for developing lots of quality content. She would prefer to be told that the company will donate a set amount of money to a certain charity if they can’t pay the blogger for whatever reason.

Kelly: Offers for free product for a blog post can be overwhelming.  It is more effective to find a different way to do something, have a year-round relationship, rather than a one-off.  It is good when brands work together.  She wants more flexibility, more year-round relationships… it lets you get more creative.

Karla: Get to know the person you are emailing.  Do at least a little research and find a connection with them.  What kind of “scoop” could the brand offer a blogger (soon-to-be-released product, upcoming report, etc)

Q: What do you think of advertising as a source of revenue on your blog?

Liz: Doesn’t have control over that.

Carla: Chose to have no ads.

Andrea: It depends on if you have to have the CPM to make it worthwhile.  Thinks bloggers have to find ad networks, but ad networks are looking for bloggers too.

Kelly: Her site doesn’t have ads because she thinks it is difficult to make them relevant to the rest of the blog.  She doesn’t want her blog to become like a garage sale with many distracting ads on the side. She thinks a lot can happen with blogs and advertising, and that there are more creative ways to do it.

Audience member (who works for ad network): There seems to be a disconnect between what bloggers want and what ad networks are offering.

Blogger in audience member: If don’t have long term relationship with company, you can bring in revenue with ads as a place to start and a piece of income you didn’t have before.

Blogger in audience member: Brevity is wonderful.  Keep the initial email brief, introducing yourself.  Bullet points are great.  If they’re interested, they’ll get back to you. If not, you won’t have wasted your time or their’s.

Q: How do you figure out what is a fair payment for sponsored posts?

Andrea: Find people who are similar, with similar amounts of traffic and figure out what your average payment/offer is. Keep talking and asking around and you’ll find the right number.

Carla: It is rough because people don’t know or don’t want to talk money.If you’ve worked with brands, don’t be afraid to talk with other bloggers to help them out… mentor bloggers who want to start working with brands.

Liz: At some point, you may need to do something for nothing just to build up a profile.  And at some point, you need to say no and walk away.
Kelly: Between PR/ad agencies, there is a monthly number for working with influencers. You may have to do speaking engagements, etc for nothing but be ready to ask.  Be okay with asking about their budget.
Andrea: Honorarium = you would like to be paid, but they don’t have to if they can’t
Kelly: Over-deliver.  This is a job.  If you really want to do something with your blog, over-deliver.  Understand that brands are being approached by a lot of people… so be confident, but humble.  Show the brand the unique ways you can help the brand and you can demand a little more the next time.

Karla: Prefers reciprocal relationships “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your’s.”

Carla: Wise and witty wrap-up?
Karla: FitStop  has “Fit Blogger we love” highlighting health bloggers.  Connect with Karla if interested!

Liz: Always welcomes ideas and relationships.
Andrea: Want to try out and review S2H, GoFit.net, Trainer World — contact her via Twitter/in person

This panel was captured by Julie of Savvy Eats.