This is the way it usually goes after a conference. I go to the conference, I get home, I write up my notes to share with you and I publish them the next day. Thing is that I have sooooooooo many notes from ProBlogger and soooooooo many things I want to share and I don’t know where to start. So I figure I’ll just start with the welcome on day 1 and work my way through day 1 until I need to start a second post.
OK, so Darren gave the welcome speech (well he is ProBlogger after all) and the first thing he asked us was what is the challenge facing us as bloggers? And for most people it comes down to time. His advice? There will always be more that you could be doing and that’s just a fact of life. So you need to make peace with it. Know your goals and judge the opportunities.
Another challenge is fear. Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen? How would you recover if it happened and whats the best thing that could happen. And that saying that I just love about getting out of your comfort zone because that is where the best things happen.
During the welcome a few of the fabulous speakers were introduced and I loved Trey! Trey’s advice was do you what you love and it doesn’t matter who shows up! Don’t you love that. People get so worried in blogging about traffic and stats and I’m so glad that when I started blogging way back in good old 2006 that wasn’t even a worry for me. In fact it was years before I even knew what my traffic was. And I love that about this blog. So focus on what you’re going to write about and don’t worry about the other stuff.
I also loved Trey’s advice about things on the side can make the money and allow you to do what you love. So you need to experiment and it might be that your income is directly or indirectly related to what you love doing. Great advice for bloggers and people thinking about a career change.
And the last obstacle is the comparison game. Oh that old chestnut. Bloggers are so guilty of this and it’s not fair. I love this from Darren – it’s not fair to make comparisons because you compare everything you know about yourself to a snippet of someone else. How good is that? How TRUE is that. Darren went on to say that you are unique and use it as part of your story and you are so much more than what people say about you. Gold. Right there. Write that down. Thanks Darren.
Ok so that was just the welcome address. Can you get a sense of how fabulous the conference was? It was. I have so much more to share and didn’t think I’d go on so much. Straight after Darren’s address was Amy Porterfield the Facebook guru. I was notetaking and paying attention the whole time and she was one of my favourites.
So I’ve shown you how to change your timeline cover here and after re-reading my notes I’ve realised that Amy recommends updating your timeline cover each month. So that’s a little challenge for you. Some other facebook tips from Amy are to make sure you link your personal facebook page to your blog page. You do this by putting it as your employer and if people come over to facebook looking for you they can click on the link and like your blog/business page rather than sending a friendship request. And while we are doing these little things let’s get a ‘like facebook’ widget on your blog page. You’ll find mine on the right hand side of my blog and it’s just a facebook widget (Facebook social plugin) that takes no time at all to install. People can like your page without leaving your blog page and it’s a great way to boost your facebook page.
Amy recommends posting on facebook at least 2-5 times a day. No problem for me as I’m a motor mouth and love to share….and I don’t get out much. But there is some science behind it because only 16% of your facebook fans are seeing your updates so the more you write the more chance they will see one that day. Don’t know what to write about? Think about having a post that either educates, empowers or entertains. And think about an image with your update. When people scroll through their newsfeed a picture is just the thing to catch their attention.
phew…..still lots more to share so I’ll be back tmrw with more from Amy and then the next session which was Tsh and Darren. Hope you learnt something from this post………………..
Thanks Corrie for the tips. Very helpful. Now to work out how to put the Facebook Like on my blog???
are you on wordpress? no blogspot? let me work out a quick step by step for you:)
I’ve been considering starting a blog for a long time….in fact I did in 2008, but stopped writing when life got too hectic! Thank you for writing these posts, they will help me decide if I should take the plunge! I’ve got my blog name and created with blogspot, so step 1 done
Looking forward to learning more! X
another thing we learnt is just do it! don’t wait till you have content but just get started:)
hope you start!
I wont link my blog to Facebook,lol dont want those people to track me down,great advice though,the best I think was not to worry about stats,I found myself checking whos came to visit and in the end I had to say to myself,who cares i write for the joy of writing
exactly! it takes away the joy of writing and also you can forget about why you started:)
Thanks so much for sharing Corrie! I would have loved to come to the conference, I’m so passionate about my blogging, but (as a very small blogger that doesn’t bring in any income) it was a bit hard to justify the trip! I really appreciate you taking the time to share all the wonderful info with us!!
my absolute pleasure:)
Great recap Corrie! My head is STILL spinning and I’ve been back nearly a week. My notebook is still full of scrawled bits and pieces along with points that I obviously thought were important as they have a big * next to them. I too loved Amy Porterfield and am in the process of attempting to implement some of her suggestions.. Loved her enthusiasm and expertise (as well as her and Trey sipping those enormous glasses of vino in the last session of the Saturday 😉
oh they were so funny and such a great combo weren’t they! lots of fun:)
Love living the problogger experience vicariously through you. Thanks for sharing!
hahahaha my pleasure! it’s a lot of fun
Thanks for tips, hoping to get along to the conference next year!
Marianne
do it! I always say it’s the best in australia and if you only go to one then make that the one
Thanks Corrie. I’m just starting my blog again, having overhauled it from earlier this year so these tips are great!x
oh happy to help
Ooohh I’m liking these tips!! Thanks so much for sharing xx
my pleasure! I have so many more to share
Thanks for this Corrie. I really wanted to go to Problogger, but missed out on tickets. I’m only new to the world of blogging and haven’t been doing much, but these updates are inspiring me to start again!
Thanks for the update babe! So glad you had a wonderful time and thanks for updating me on Facebook, off to change my timeline picture 😉
xxDani
I’m kicking myself for not doing Amy’s facebook session! Thanks for the overview, I am off to listen to it on my virtual pass. Also, thanks for including a photo of me but can you please photoshop my horrible chin!? LOL
xx
Great advice, I look forward to more updates
2-5 times a day sounds like so much to me – yet I tweet non stop
Time to share it across mediums I think! I’m still trying to find time to go back and listen to all the sessions that I didn’t attend.
Hi Carrie if you could give me the ‘step by step’ bit as well to put the Facebook Like on my blog, I have already done your tip to put my blog as my employer!!! Thank you so much.