Absolutely Bananas: Seattle stay-at-home mom blog

BlogHer 07 recap: What I learned

BlogHer 2007. Chicago. Navy Pier. Hoards of smart and savvy women all gathered in one place. What’s not to love? Well, a few things. But that’s another story.

For now, let me summarize WHAT I LEARNED at BlogHer. I don’t necessarily condone all of these methods, but I did think that they were interesting and useful enough to share.

How to drive traffic to your blog:

• Check out PRWeb.com - for a minimal fee ($40/post), you can post press releases about your blog. These go out to many, many people including journalists. Good way to get media attention.

• Submit posts to sites that resyndicate, eg. Stumbleupon, Reddit, Digg, and Sk*rt. (this is true. the few times that one of my posts has been picked up by stumbleupon or sk*rt, I’ve seen a significant spike in traffic)

How to “brand” yourself:

• Pick a focus for your blog. The narrower, the better. If no one else is writing about it, you’ll get all the traffic. Which is WHY I’m proud to announce my new blogging theme: BANANA MUCUS. (judging from all the google searches on this topic, it should be wildly popular)

• There are a lot of mommy bloggers out there. What makes you unique and worth reading? My hot body, OBVIOUSLY.

• Come up with a one-line tag line for your blog that states what you’re about. This will help you know whether you’re focused. Done. Absolutely Bananas: Where the baboon abuses gallantly. It’s perfect, right?!

If you hope some day to be published:

• Be careful what you post, since blogging is a form of publishing. Often something you’ve blogged can’t be published because the publisher will want original content. Oh darn. Does that mean my great works will never be published in a SERIOUS magazine? My dreams are dashed against the rocks of despair… seriously.

• Typically you can’t turn your blog into a book… because of the original content thing. BUT there are instances of women who have successfully landed book deals based on their blogs. And just when I thought I was the next Cold Sassy Tree…

To make money off your blog:

• KNOW YOUR VALUE. Don’t sell yourself short by taking a pittance because it’s all you can get. Better to hold out and demand what you deserve. I’m happy to announce that I am now offering $1,000,000 ad space on my blog. Right there, just below my picture… where it says “Mother. Coffee Drinker… blah blah” — that could be your ad! Hurry! Sign up today!

• Consider publishing a “rate card” on your blog that tells advertisers what you charge for them to advertise on your site. See above.

• Another idea is to draft a form letter that you send to all queries for “free advertising” that says what you charge to review a product or to advertise it on your site. Don’t review products for free! Dear Mr. Bater, although I am thrilled at the prospect of advertising your excellent enema product with absolutely no kick-back, I must inform you that due to new operating procedures here at Absolutely Bananas (where the baboon abuses gallantly) we must now require AT LEAST a free give-away in return for advertisements. Thank you and good day.

• The appearance of your blog is important for attracting advertisers. Don’t use a standard template; better if your blog’s design is customized. Also worthwhile to buy your own domain (e.g. absolutelybananas.com instead of absolutelybananas.blogspot.com) because it makes you look more established.

If you want to be a paid blogger:

• B5 Media- Says they look for writers who have an interesting, unique voice. This is more important than experience blogging.

• Babble- If there is a blog that’s hiring, comment on it! Some of Babble’s paid bloggers were hired because they consistently left interesting, unique comments.
• Some companies are new to the “blogosphere” so they look for someone with expertise. If you can prove that you are that expert, this can work to your advantage.

Good bloggers do:

• Have a comment policy, and post it on your blog. What comments (if any) will you delete? Why will you delete comments? Will you tell people when a comment has been deleted?Having a comment policy that’s up-front will help you when/if your comments get controversial. NEWSFLASH: Absolutely Bananas (where the baboon abuses gallantly) now has a comment policy! As of today, any comments that I dislike will be deleted, promptly… and said deletion may be accompanied by wild laughter and shouts of “take that, sucker!”or “how do you like me NOW?” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
  
• When uploading images, name the files using dashes (-) to separate words. This will allow them to be found via search engines. For example: picture-of-jennys-head-photoshopped-on-paris-hiltons-jailbird-body.jpg
  
• No one likes a “spam commenter.” If you’re just commenting to get traffic, it’s obvious. Comments should be authentic, thoughtful, and relevant. Hey there girl! Love the blog! Check mine out at http://www.absolutelybananas.com/. Riiiiight.

A word of caution:
There were a few very scary stories shared about women who were stalked, threatened, and otherwise mistreated by people who found them via their blogs. Be careful! Use common sense! I wrote a post about this a while back: Blogging about your kids: Balancing safety with the need to keep it real. And one more note on this; I keep seeing people posting that they are going on vacation. Please consider NOT doing this… you can write about your vacation when you return. Every time I see someone doing this, I cringe, because it reads like an open invitation to burglars!

And if that just wasn’t enough, here are some of my favorite posts about BlogHer.

Elizabeth Edwards, two ways:
Meeting Elizabeth Edwards by Jen Lemen
When Elizabeth Edwards is Speaking at BlogHer, I’m a Conservative by Daring Young Mom

Useful:
BlogHer 07: The Notes courtesy of Don’t Try This at Home (notes in .doc format)

Motivational:
Lookin’ Out For Mah Peeps: That’s You by Mom-101

Low-down dirty gossip:
BlogHer 07: Exclusive Details of the Swagtroversy Revealed! With Pictures! from Suburban Turmoil

Best recaps by people who didn’t go:
No, I’m NOT jealous by Here In Idaho
BlogHer SmogHer, Who Needs it? by The Queen of Shake-shake

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Related Posts
-BlogHer is my Red Bull
-I want to go home. Why can’t I just go home?
-There’s no place like home

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