Today I wanted to share with all of you the top things that I took away from the sessions I attended at the Healthy Living Summit. I love the session portion of the summit because it really re-inspires me to write my blog, but this year it also inspired me to search for a job or career that I really love, but you’ll see more below!
I attended several sessions, including Blogs in Transition, Video: Lights, Camera, Action, Blogger and the Brand, and From Blog to Job. All of the sessions had a TON of great information, so I encourage you to check out the live blogs from each of the sessions. The takeaways in this post are things I felt were most relevant to me, so you might find a lot more information for yourself on those blogs. Here are my main takeaways:
Comment Reply Notification: You know how you comment on a blog and when the blogger comments back you get an email with their response? Well, all this time I’ve been responding to EVERY single comment on my blog, but didn’t realize that my comment reply plug-in wasn’t working… womp womp. I learned in this session that you have to go into settings and turn on the comment reply notification, so expect to get responses from now on!
Working With Companies – JUST ASK! I’m always jealous of some of the great product review opportunities I see other bloggers getting. However, sitting around and waiting to be contacted isn’t going to get me anywhere – I need to reach out to companies and ask about reviewing their products or working with them. The worst that can happen is they say no! They suggested to reach out to companies whose products you’re already passionate about, that way the company will be more excited about what you might bring to the table.
Develop a Blog Mission Statement: What are you all about? What are you trying to convey or achieve with your blog? Having a mission statement may be helpful in helping your own brand, knowing you are and staying true to that concept.
From Blog to Job: your blog can be a great way to discover your passions in life and possibly turn a career out it. Some suggestions included find a mentor and/or look at other bloggers who’ve done something that inspires you and get ideas from them. Reach out to these bloggers for ideas. Make a resume that includes blogging information (for example, my resume is only law-oriented and I plan on making a second).
Incorporate into an LLC: if your blog does become your job, or if you’re doing freelance writing and are your own boss, incorporating into an LLC can be a smart idea to protect yourself. It’s very simple and not expensive (usually less than $50 depending on your state) and it means that if you’re sued by someone and they win, they can only come after your business assets and not your personal assets. This is more relevant if you have something you want to protect, like property that you own.
Plug-Ins: Here are a list of plug-ins that I wrote down (from a much longer list) that I didn’t have and sounded interesting: About Me 3000; Alpine photo tile from Instagram; broken link checker; nrelate related content; Tweetily; Ultimate Follow Me plugin by Free Blog Factory
And there you have it! These are just my own notes from the summit, so I really recommend checking out the live blogs of each of the sessions to get more ideas that might work for you and your blog.
Do you have any good blog tips?
What do you think about these?