Nuffnang Blogopolis 2012 debrief

And that was Blogopolis, hey?

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I’m currently sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home and realising I’m exhausted! After half an hour of sleep on Friday night, a 4am wakeup for a 6am flight, a flight where the lady next to me talked to me the whole way, a cab ride to the hotel, straight into the conference, 9-5 of speakers and socialising, then drinks and more socialising until 3am when I finally said goodnight to the day…. I’m not surprised I’m exhausted!

Further to this, my head isn’t feeling too happy after a couple of drinks last night. I hadn’t actually had anything in the form of an alcoholic beverage for 28 months. But baby-less and free… It was nice! I’ll write a post about that one day. Because Imogen from Inside Out Style told me to – 10 ways the lost Olsen twin I became a total lightweight. Ok maybe I won’t, but that’s number 1 on the list of ‘What I learnt at Nuffnang Blogopolis 2012′….

1. You can find content inspiration from lots of different places – keywords that people search on your blog, keywords people use to search for your blog, calendar/season-related events, the comments section of your blog, social media comments and discussions, news headlines and magazine covers. For those playing at home, one of the activities she had us do is look at a magazine cover and get as many blog post ideas as you can from it. Have a go yourself…

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2. Some of the resounding advice from the speakers and during the panel sessions was to write about what you know well. Be honest. Be true. Write from the heart people. I think that’s common sense though, right? BUT also remember not to sell yourself short – maybe you know more than you think. I think it’s pretty safe to say though, I’m probably not the best person to write beauty and make-up posts… Last week I bought myself some new foundation – it was the first bottle/tube/container thing of foundation I had bought in 3 and a half years. Case rested.

3. The main things I got from Jeff’s SEO and Analytic section was to link better (link to others, take note of the words being linked…. I generally would link the word ‘this’ if I wrote ‘read this article’- apparently that’s not cool/useful), to understand and utilise your keywords and to understand your google analytics better and use them to your advantage (eg. What are your traffic sources? What sort of people are reading? And then focus on them).

4. I didn’t go to the design session but from my investigative work (thanks Twitter!) the tips I got were to get a good quality photo and use it across the board for all of my Internet profiles (Instagram, Twitter, blog, Facebook, etc.), to have fewer categories (see that junk down the right of this page? Too many) and also to get rid of Captcha. I don’t think I have it but I’m adding this point for the sake of all of societies sanity (I’m good like that) – GET RID OF IT if you have it. It is just painful and makes people not want to comment on your blog. If you are concerned about robots or spam, get some sort of anti-spam plugin.

5. Ah media kits. I was clueless on such things, but now I am clued. Main points – be clear about what you will or won’t post on your blog, make sure your media kit has your terms and conditions included, write honestly (again!) – don’t write just for the sake of the money or free stuff (keep it true to your blog and make sure it’s beneficial to your readers), never blog for free for a brand and lastly the main thing I got from Lady Melbourne’s session… Is that I should actually put together a media kit!

Ok so for the sessions not mentioned above, I was probably either zoned out (thanks sugar-filled morning tea!), searching for a power point to charge my phone, going to the toilet (a lot! Thanks Twinings!) or taking a stretch break..

BUT…. Other stuff I jotted down: I could use Pinterest more (huge viewer base and shared across multiple social media platforms), have a crack at podcasts (ahhhh!), utilise YouTube (second biggest search platform – after Google) and the panel sessions were great (mainly just loved seeing the bloggers that I follow and some of the leading bloggers in Australia speaking their voice and sharing their expertise ‘IRL’). But one of my favourite little things at the end of the day was when someone stood up during ‘question time’, explained that she was ‘a small blogger’ and thanked the panelists for their session and Mrs Woog replied with something along the lines of “thanks, what’s your blog called so we can check it out?”. There is something about that that I absolutely loved! I don’t know what but it just seemed to be a perfect summary of the Australian blogging community (I think her blog was One Pink Chair by the way).

SO… Thanks to Nuffnang (I think some of the slides from the speakers are going to be put on their website too for anyone who wants them), thanks to my fellow bloggers and thanks to Fiona for coming and polishing off a couple of bottles of wine with me! Glad I could put names to faces and that I could actually meet a number of people I had become virtual friends with.

And a final plug… thanks to Summer Romance Boutique for dressing me!

Did you enjoy Blogopolis? Did you steal any spoons?

Other #NNB2012 posts:

Mama Grace – Using my voice, my way, in my own time. A Blogopolis afterthought.

Cup Of Tea And A Blog – Tweets from the loo

Tina Gray {dot} me – Idea sourcing and content creation ~ Nuffnang Blogopolis 2012

Katrina from the Block – My blog design tips from Blogopolis

Suger Coat It – What the bloggers taught me about blogging

Five Frogs on a Blog – How we invented spoon porn and other adventures at Nuffnang Blogopolis 2012>

Mojito Mother – I don’t fit in ~ Forming connections at Blogopolis

Planning With Kids – Branding your blog ~ My Blogopolis presentation and pretty photos of Sydney