It’s time for part two of my recap of the Central Florida Blogger and Social Media Conference! (For part one, please click here.)
Recognize anyone? Ha! I started the day trying to use my phone to take notes since so many people were using phones and laptops. I quickly realized I’m not that tech savvy and switched to my notebook after the keynote speaker. Pen and paper, baby!
CFLBlogCon: Part II
The momentum of the day never seemed to slow down at CFLBlogCon and I hopped from session to session like a mad woman!
SEO
Tom Jelnek, CEO of On Target Web Solutions, led a session all about search engine optimization (SEO) that addressed little ways you can improve your website’s rankings in Google.
SEO is something I honestly don’t worry about too much and neglect pretty heavily as a blogger. I know it’s important and great SEO can really increase website traffic, so I was really interested to hear what Tom had to say.
- Repetition is important. Posting rich (original!) content on your blog regularly is valuable. The more you post, the more Google “crawls” your site. Regular visits from Google = A very good thing.
- The longer you blog with original content, the more Google “trusts” your site. Keep pluggin’ away!
- Keep your website coding clean. Don’t overuse plugins.
- Google hates slow loading websites. (So do humans.)
- Never post a bunch of content as an image. Google cannot read text in an image and could miss valuable content on your website.
- Before you buy a new domain name, check its history to make sure it wasn’t previously owned by someone who engaged in bad SEO practices.
Tom also shared a story about the time he started a website and was so excited to see it quickly rank on the second page in Google for key search terms. Then, a week later, without reason, it fell to page seven in Google rankings. Tom explained that Google will often “test” new sites and play with their rankings before they’ve earned Google’s “trust.”
I left this session in awe of Google. Is Google human!?!? Can Google see me!?!? Google is powerful.
Bing? Sadie knows not what she says.
Tom took an informal poll in the room and asked what search engine everyone used and I don’t think anyone raised their hand for Bing or Yahoo. I would’ve declared my love for AOL with pride if he asked about AOL since I do use it from time to time when I check my 1990s email address inbox, but he didn’t since AOL fans now clock in at a strong and loyal two: Me and my mom.
Lunch
At the end of the session, I walked to lunch with Olga, a graphic designer and blogger from Gainesville.
(Picture from Olga)
I loved meeting her (and wanted to steal her blazer) and she helped the lunch line pass in a flash, as did Jordan who was so fun and bubbly and actually knows my sister!
Lunch was provided by Bahama Breeze and I was happy to see shrimp, scallops and mussels served in a paella.
It’s not too often that seafood makes an appearance at conferences, so I was in my element.
During lunch I had a chance to put a face with a name when I connected with Jenni from Costa DeValut, an Orlando-based public relations company I’ve worked with on some freelance projects this year.
After lunch, I walked to a session all about Twitter. Rachelle Lucas, a writer, spokesperson and travel videographer has more than 40,000 followers on Twitter and knows her stuff.
Rachelle was so spunky and easy to listen to and shared her top Twitter tips with the group:
- Make sure your Avatar is a picture of you, not your logo.
- When you retweet a tweet, make sure you “old school” RT it, otherwise the person whose tweet you retweeted may never know you did so. (Did you follow that?)
- Don’t tweet links to your blog directly @ other people.
- Share content from tweeters outside your niche.
- Don’t curse if you want to be taken seriously by brands. They’re always watching.
- Thank people who share your content.
- ManageFlitter can help you organize your followers and find new people on Twitter within your niche.
- Buffer is a great site if you want to schedule tweets.
This post is getting a little long again, so I think I will conclude my recap of the conference in another new post. Information overload!
**Big thanks to Macbeth Photography for taking a lot of the above pictures and allowing everyone who attended the conference to use them.**
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Thanks for including Twitter in this recap. As part of my “entrance” into the blogging world, I signed up for Twitter last week since so many people say it’s a great way to get your blog out there and interact with other bloggers. Did she have any tips for increasing your following? I’m already following a bunch of bloggers I love (including you!), but I’m not sure how to get followers without simply asking. Wow, does that make me feel like the new girl in school! 😉
that was actually a common question! she said sharing other people’s content, sharing content outside your niche, having “twitter conversations” with other people on twitter, using hashtags, etc. are all good ways!
Thanks! I’m trying to learn all I can and I’m trying to absorb things like a sponge!
I had almost the exact same question! I just signed up for Twitter this weekend and still getting the hang of it. Thanks for sharing these tips 🙂
Do you ever feel it gets too “Fake” though? You know…constantly tweeting, re-tweeting, following others, commenting on others…it’s like constantly being super nice and friendly for the purpose of getting more likes.
It just seems fake after a while….people need to chill out on the social media and go do something more meaningful. Read a book, volunteer, go for a walk…like be latched to your e-devices.
i tooootally see what you’re saying. if you’re on twitter just to get followers, i think people will see through that.
i think everyone needs to determine what works for them. for me, i typically am away from my computer in the evening and am not nearly as present on social media on the wknds when i’m with family and friends. if you feel like you’re not being genuine or aren’t acting like yourself on twitter, i think that would be draining, and i’d take a step back and reevaluate. twitter is a funky little place.
Cool…it’s nice to know you understand what I’m talking about. Nowadays, it’s just ‘twitter this, facebook that, blog this and that’…it’s just too much and too “fake” to me at times.
i feel like i could talk to you for a LONG time about my thoughts on this. 🙂 my BIGGEST pet peeve is when someone is playing on their phone at a restaurant during dinner, at a family party, etc. i just want to scream “be in the moment!” i’m also horrible with my phone – calling people, texting, etc., so i’m probably not the norm, but i really prefer doing “computery” things on my computer and ignoring my smart phone unless i have to make a call or if i’m bored waiting in line somewhere and want to check my email.
Oh my gosh! Julie, I was about to say the exact same thing. I have a group of girlfriends that I only get to see two or three times a year. They all have iPhones and drive me crazy with when we’re at dinner. I’ve noticed this has become a big problem in our society. Jen, I think your definitely on to something. Like I said, I’m very very new to this blog and Twitter world, but already I find myself glued to the computer a little more than I’d like. I think it’s all about finding a balance.
You should play “stack it” where everyone has to stack their iPhones on the dinner table to avoid the distraction. This is what my friends and I do if it starts getting annoying when one or more of us are texting when we are trying to spend quality time together! 🙂
I remember going to Bahama Breeze! I was in Florida 7 years ago…God it doesn’t feel like that long ago, had to do some finger calculating!! 🙂
Looks like a lot of fun! I enjoy hearing about the sessions a lot. There is a lot of useful information at conferences that us who didn’t atted usually don’t get to hear. Thanks! 🙂
I’m loving these recaps! It sounds like it really was a great conference and thank you for sharing everything that you learned. As a new blogger, it’s really nice to get tips from wherever I can!
On the contrary. I don’t think it was long enough! This is fascinating!
Wow! Thanks for all these awesome tips. I just learned so much from reading this post.. it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished a lot today.. hahah!
This recap is SO helpful and interesting, thank you! I agree that it sounds like Google is a human. Except a computer who can watch everything I do and say….aaah getting creepy now.
I love Manage Filter! I just started twitter maybe 2 months ago and am just under 2000 followers now. It’s one the top 3 sources of traffic to my blog.
It was great meeting you, too, Julie! And thanks for the recap … I’ve been compiling them for our team and I know they’ll love all the good SEO information. 🙂
So much great info! I really wish I could have been there too!
Is it sad that I now think in hashtags? I wish there was a way to subtly enter them in conversation. #imdrippingpatheticrightnow.
I have so so much to learn about seo optimization. Thanks so much!
Awesome tips! Thanks for sharing. Just adjusted a few things to keep up with the times 😉
I like how Sadie is weighing in on browsers. 😉
I love the twitter tips!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I am not sure I am using Twitter to its full potential. I need a Twitter tutorial. The whole RT thing gets me.
The Kidless Kronicles
Haha bing is an epic fail. I will defend my love of yahoo Solely for the stories that often contain errors and typos. But the best part of the yahoo stories is the comments section. Pure gold on a boring work day
Great tips thank you for sharing them.
Thanks for all of the helpful info, Julie! Did they have any sessions about Pinterest? I’ve noticed your recipes and workouts are really popular on there!
there weren’t any sessions on pinterest, but i bet there will be next year!
Haha, Google might as well be a human. Seriously, its so creepy and eerie when you think about all that it can do.
I loved these tips. Thanks for sharing! I would love to go to a blogging conference someday.
Thanks for sharing all this info Julie it has been really interesting!
Julie, thanks so much for posting this… Glad to see you got some SEO takeaways.
Take care.
Thanks for the mention! Overall it was a weekend dipped in awesomeness. I can’t believe all the amazing talent Orlando has in the bloggershere!
–Rachelle
PS … I want to lick the peanut butter spoon on my screen …
Apparently I’m not the only one having a hard time squeezing all this info into two posts!
That information about google was so useful–thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing all of this really interesting information. I would really like to attend a blog conference eventually but haven’t taken that plunge yet. They sound like they would be a great resource though! Thanks again!
Thank you again for sharing some of your takeaways! I would have loved to attend a session like this because I feel like there is SO much to learn.
Is it important to use google analytics as tracking on your website? I haven’t used anything like that yet but am wondering if that helps in how google ranks you as well?
there was a whole session on google analytics at the conference that i unfortunately didn’t attend. it wasn’t addressed as something that helps SEO in tom’s presentation though.
Great information! I wish there were more local resources on how to use Twitter effectively. Thanks for sharing.
I’m loving these recaps, thanks for putting them together, Julie!
Ahh, SEO, such a mind-boggling concept sometimes! I have been researching SEO more for my job and figuring it out can be tough. Your question about google is so right. Big brother google is always watching!
Again — great advice!! Definitely things that I’ve never thought of! As for Google vs. other search engines — I’m the Google queen. I literally google anything and everything (it’s a little shameful sometimes! But honestly, why not?! I’ll ALWAYS find the answer!)
thanks for the info, i’m new to the blogging and social media world so i’ll take any information I can get 🙂
Those are great tips! Thanks for sharing.
What a great conference! The Twitter session sounds really interesting, and I would have been totally in my element with you at the sight of all that seafood!
I found your blog through Google! 🙂
I was looking at reviews for Garmin running watches and came across one of your posts about yours. Loved it right away. And yes, I have the same running watch now.
I’m completely not technology savvy so I have to ask – what does “old school” retweet mean?
I LOVE Buffer! I sang it’s praises at my social media session during Healthy Living Summit. It makes life so much easier for sharing on FB and twitter!
JULIE!!!! That picture! I die!! Man-pants in all their glory! Haha
Great information! I also love the way you look in that first picture. When I have a picture made of me when I am not paying attention, I look hideous. You, on the other hand, look like you are modeling. Okay, enough kissing up! But I always feel like if you think something nice about someone, you should tell them. 😉
I am all about pen and paper too…I actually kind of miss being in college and taking notes…nerd alert!
Thanks for sharing these tips Julie!
Bing?!?! Sadie definitely knows not what she says! 🙂 Something about Bing makes me feel frustrated every time I see it.
Great tips, Julie!
You have a really pretty serious face 🙂 I love Bing – my hubs works for Microsoft so I am biased!
You look so pretty in that first pic – it reminded me of Elle Woods when I first saw it! 🙂 (I love her)
Thank you so much for posting these tips. I found them very useful and am excited to use them with my blog 🙂
I said it after part 1 but I really love these recaps! As rookie as it sounds, I’ve started making more use of tags so let’s see how much of a difference it makes!
Great information in this post! Thanks for keeping us all informed!
Is Google human!?!? Can Google see me!?!? -that was funny lol
Thanks so much for all the info !!! It’s very informative, since I’m new to the blog world its great there’s so much information out there to improve. 🙂