JENerally Informed: Five Things I Learned At Bloggy Boot Camp Every Blogger Should Know

Five Things I Learned At Bloggy Boot Camp Every Blogger Should Know

This last Sunday evening I was invited to attend a Bloggy Boot Camp sponsored by the SITS Girls and Invisalign. I have never been to one of these before and was ready and excited to learn as much as I could.

There was a lot covered in a very short period of time and I took a lot of notes. In order to share the information in the most concise manner, I will focus on five points. There is much more to cover, but this will start the conversation rolling.

First Point

So you have started a blog, now what? You need to decide what your end goal is. Are you hoping to make money from the blog, entertain, inform. All of the above? What's your goal? Once you have decided on a goal work towards your end game and stay focused. Before you accept anything make sure that it fits in line with your end goal.

Second Point

How your blog looks matters. Clean, concise, and uncluttered is what you are looking for. Check your load time and nix any plug-ins that are dragging your blog down. Make sure to check your site in various web browsers and at different computers other than your own.

Make sure your email is up front and center. No one who is looking to contact you wants to go searching for it. That could be a very important contact.

Third Point

There are many social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. LinkedIn, G+, StumbleUpon. It's hard to keep up with it all. Pick one platform and become a rockstar on it. Tiffany Romero, founder of the SITS girls, suggested hiring out if you couldn't keep up with it all. I am not there yet, but several women I talked to that evening already do this and have people managing some of their other online media accounts so that they could focus on just one outlet.

FYI- It was reinforced repeatedly that Twitter really, really matters. If you aren't on there yet, you need to be. Set up an account and start making connections and building your community.

Fourth Point

Your About Me page IS important. Think of it like a resume. It should include the following elements:

Your nearest major city
Interests on and off the blog
Accomplishments and links to some of your best, brightest and most popular posts
The year(s) your kids were born and or their ages. Brands like to see if you are a nice fit for them.
Include a 1.5 minute video of yourself if you have one. It should explain about you and your blog. Some brands want bloggers for TV and this gives them a good idea if you can fit that role. Danielle Smith has some nice examples of how to do this.

Fifth Point

When creating images to be shared on social media consider the following:

Pinterest: The image should be vertical. The best colors that receive the highest repins are brown, orange, gold and white

Facebook: The image should be square and don't actually say something about the image in the say something box. A clean, stand-alone image has a higher likelihood of being reshared.

Google+: Upload your image, do not use the thumbnail that is offered.

We also covered the basics of how to land sponsored posts and brand opportunities as well as how to format posts properly for Facebook and G+ in order to help them go viral. There really is a lot of information, so stay tuned in the coming days as I am able to get it all put down and relay it.

Schmoozing with the pros, so you don't have to. . . j/k

Even though it was dark and not many of my pics turned out, here is one of me social stalking a few of the blogging rockstars there that night. Tiffany Romero (Founder SITS Girls) and Jill Greenlaw (Mom It Forward Editorial Manager).

Stay Happy! Stay Informed!

Love,

Jen

If you liked this post check out these other posts:

Three Important Do's and Dont's For Mommy Bloggers

Red Pill Mommy Blogging

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Lana · 577 weeks ago

Thanks so much for the information Jen! I'm always looking for new info to help me with my new blog. I'm jealous you got to go to boot camp :)

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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sara 35p · 577 weeks ago

Thanks for sharing all the info. I'm relatively new to the SITS girls site/forum/thing, but I love the community so far!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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comedyplus 47p · 577 weeks ago

I'm glad you had a great time and learned so much. There are lots of popular blogs out there and I'm sure you'll achieve what you want. You're just that kind of gal.

Have a fabulous day and weekend. :)

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Carolyn · 577 weeks ago

This was so very helpful I'm printing it out. Thanks so much for sharing what you learned. I got alot of great ideas for things to work on, especially my load time and about me page! i'm loving the SITS site too, just don't have enough time to browse it as much as I'd like. If only there was more time in the day!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Leilani · 577 weeks ago

Awesome!! Looking forward to all the information you have to share! I'll be pinning this!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Susan@ofeverymoment · 577 weeks ago

Thanks for condensing and sharing what you learned at Bloggy Boot camp! All of your tips are helpful and I've learned a lot from your blog.

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Roaen 37p · 577 weeks ago

Great points Jen! Looks like the bloggy boot camp was a success! :-)

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Lizzie Lau · 577 weeks ago

Thank you! I took notes from your notes!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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tamaralikecamera 101p · 577 weeks ago

I wish so much that I had had this kind of info when I started blogging. I think my eyes weren't yet wide open. I'm learning now, but slowly!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Dizmommy 66p · 577 weeks ago

HAHA! "Schmoozing with the experts so you don't have to." That is hilarious! Thank you for the info! A video..hmm..I'm so awful on videos- could I actually do that? AHHH. Comfort zone alert

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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mimi · 577 weeks ago

Great tips, i know, yet if i tried to do all of that, i'd never get to the laundry!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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Heather · 577 weeks ago

Thanks for sharing some of your tips from the conference, and I love the photo of you guys!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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leapfrogandlipgloss 36p · 577 weeks ago

This is such an informative post. I really feel like I scooped some valuable information from it.

This is starting to sound like one of those spam comments that gets filtered, but it's true! Thanks for sharing!

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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storiesofourboys 31p · 577 weeks ago

Oh my, I have so far to go. I love the 'about me' guidelines. I wrote mine a year ago, and it could definitely use a re-write. That'll be my first focus. Thanks for sharing this!

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Rea Alducente 96p · 577 weeks ago

Looks like you had so much fun and learned something really helpful in the world of blogging. Thanks for sharing these to us! :)

1 reply · active 577 weeks ago

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debsrandomwritings 63p · 577 weeks ago

Thank you for sharing what you learned at the Bloggy Bootcamp in this post. I still have alot to learn about blogging and any tips are greatly appreciated.

My main struggle at the moment is networking, I enjoy Google+ and after many years of having a Pinterest account I am actually starting to understand how it works! I don't like FB and although I do have a Twitter account I really don't 'get' it. Which I think is mainly down to the inability to not ramble on and not liking text speak.

A few weeks back I actually did add an about me page to my blog and had my first attempt at videoing myself as I thought that it made it a little more personal - I will not be expecting any calls from anyone looking to put me on telly - it's really not good!