The Blog Workshop Conference

I was very blessed to have the opportunity to attend The Blog Workshop Conference online for free in return for promoting the event on my blog and social networks. I particpate in The Blog Workshop Affiliate Program, however, all opinions and views are my own.

I spent the last three evenings attending The Blog Workshop‘s Online Conference presented by Your Life After 25, hosted by Da Vinci who, by the way, was an awesome, enthusiastic and fun hostess!  I learned so much! I’m not even sure where to start to explain my enthusiasm! You can click the image above to see some great photos of speakers and attendees (some of which may have been in their pajamas- just one of the many perks of attending an online conference!). 

One of my top three goals for this blog is to make it a sustainable endeavor that pays for itself in order to bring my wonderful readers fun, fresh and inviting content every day. In order to do that I’ve had to make a small financial investment in web hosting, design and a much larger investment in my time. The truth is, I genuinely enjoy blogging, sharing information and meeting and connecting with my readers! 

To offset these costs I understand the value of carefully selecting ad content and accepting sponsored posts. That being said, I wasn’t really sure how to do exactly that. I don’t want my readers bombarded with advertisements that overwhelm and underemphasize my content! I also need to continually evolve as a blogger and work very hard to improve this site on a daily basis. Now, I have a garage full of power tools in the form of really great information to do just that! 

One of the biggest things I took away from the conference and immediately put into action was the need for a media kit. In fact, I created and uploaded my media kit between the second and third nights of the conference. I knew I wanted one but I’d been procrastinating for way too long. Thanks to the speakers and conversations with my fellow conference attendees I finally had the push I needed to make the effort. You can find my Media Kit here. 

I learned a ton about best practices for placing ads on my sites, video blogging, branding, legal and tax implications for blogging, decluttering my site, Google Hangouts, the best affiliate marketing ventures and SEO optimization. Speaking of SEO, Dan Morris of LettersfromDan.com is teaching a Surviving SEO workshop with The Blog Workshop on 6/26 8-9pm Eastern time. If you are interested in great info from a funny AND smart kind of guy, check out the workshop page here!

“You are not just a blogger, you are an influencer!” 

I live tweeted throughout the conference. You can read all of my tweets about the conference here. And great news! We trended every night of the conference! Yay! #TBWC13

I’m a Winner!

I’d like to say a special THANK YOU!!! to The Blog Workshop, LegalZoom.com and Cloudswipe for my  $509 value prize package! I won a  LegalZoom Gold LLC package and 6mo. of CloudSwipe! I’ve been contemplating becoming an LLC for a while now. This was just what I needed to make it happen!

As my freelancing and independant contractor business is rapidly growing along with my blogging efforts its really time to make the leap! Cloudswipe will be helpful in selling my recently added eBooks formerly only available in Print as well as some upcoming ecommerce products! A better, more secure checkout for you and an easier, more streamlined ecommerce solution for me. Win! 

I would also like to Congratulate the other winners of some great prize packages and an incredible grand prize!!  Also, thank you to Rafflecopter who gave all conference attendees a one-month blogger package.You may recognize Rafflecopter from some of my other blog posts with giveaways like the one currently happening for a one-year subscription to ABCmouse.com! (There’s still time to enter- $80- Value!)

The Sponsors

• Cloudswipe
• Rafflecopter
• Big Honcho Media
• LegalZoom.com
• LELA
• SocialWebCafe.com
• Subjekt

The Speakers

• Da Vinci, Lifestyle Blogger/Vlogger at Your Life After 25
• Lindsay Lee, Co-Founder of Blog Trends
• Laura Summers, Blogging for Business at NakedBlogging.com
• Deborah Anderson, Community Building Strategist at Social Web Cafe
• Dan R. Morris, SEO Expert at LetterstoDan.com
• Lindsay Lee
• Kelly Whalen
• Jeneba Ghatt
• Holly Harmann, Sponsorship & Monetization at Tap Influence
• Robert Mooney, Sales Strategist at Blogads.com
• Ryan Schram, CEO of IZEA
• Dee Dee Cocheta, Public Relations & Branding at A.B.C. Publicity
• Paige Wilcox, Community Development Specialist at Blogads.com
• Rohit Vahist, CEO of Sverve
• Jennifer Beaupre
• Crystal Duncan, Director of Client Strategy & Operations at IZEA

But wait, there’s more! This year’s conference might be over but The Blog Workshop offers a ton of opportunities year round! Workshops, a great community and upcoming the Blog Workshop University! Early enrollment start today! 

Membership Benefits

•Access to our learning community, forums, groups and much more.
•With our paid membership you would also receive Conference admission for next year and a directory listing for 1 site for 1 year.
•Starting at our Silver membership you also receive admission to all our workshops for 1 year.
•Discounts available for students, educators and military.