On Sunday I attended the RetailCamp blogger conference with my blogging pal Sarah at Woodbury University in Burbank. It's hard to believe that in the four years since I started Fashion Trend Guide, this is the first blogging conference that I've attended. (Note to self - attend more seminars and conferences!) Overall, it was a motivational and helpful event with plenty of words of wisdom, especially from the first two panels: the Business of Blogging and the Legal Side of Blogging. Luckily, I took copious notes, and I'm going to share some helpful tips from the speakers, who are experienced in the world of blogging, marketing, and social media.
The Business of Blogging panel was moderated by Macala Wright of Fashionably Marketing and included: Erin Weinger from StyleSectionLA, Jennine Jacob of The Coveted and IFB, Valerie Elizabeth of Society Stylist, Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista, Mary Hall of The Recessionista, and Tina Craig and Kelly Cook of Bag Snob. They spoke about their inspirations to start blogging, how they leverage their blogs as a business, how they define quality of content, which digital media tools they use to drive traffic and connect with readers, and how to work with brands graciously. Here are some key points I took away from this panel:
- There is still room for good content in the blogosphere
- Unique voices will continue to be heard
- Develop a business plan, create quality content, and everything else will follow
- Don't compromise on the quality of your content, hold yourself to a certain standard
- Find your passion and speak to that
- Find your voice and stay true to it
- It's up to you to keep the conversation with your readers going
- Go out and get original content. Photograph things that inspire you
- As you're building your blog, you're also building relationships
- Be discerning about your content
- Think of each Tweet as a press release
- Add a Tumblr blog to your web address and the Tumblr page views will count as your blog's page views
- Be careful about the personal information you share via your blog, Twitter, etc.
- When working with brands, be authentic, objective, and honest in order to maintain your editorial integrity
- Stay aware of what your value is to brands and retailers
- Although some bloggers have agents, no one can sell you like you can
- Wordpress is way better than Blogger. Considering that I just spent 2 hours typing this post and a Blogger glitch deleted 95% of it and I've had to retype it, I'm thinking of making the switch to Wordpress.
My original post included the legal advice from the second panel, but since I'm still fuming over the deletion thanks to Blogger, I'm going to save that information in my head and retype the legal tips for another post. Time to hit the treadmill...I hope you find these tips helpful!
