Atlanta Blogging Workshop Review

According to social media expert Erik Qualman, more than 200,000,000 blogs exist. Now, I love my little blog, but it has mostly been written with topics that were of interest to me and a select group of people (“Hi Mom and Dad!”). It’s past time to take my blog to the next level and highlight my copywriting capabilities.

So when I found Hollis Gillespie and Mike Alvear’s Atlanta Blogging Workshop advertised in Creative Loafing, I was ecstatic. Usually I wince every time I shell out more than $25 on myself, but ongoing education is so important. Especially for solo-preneurs like myself where my company’s greatest asset is…me (gulp).

The six hour seminar surpassed my expectations. Although I suspect many of the participants left the workshop with information overload and a long to-do list, I walked out with a clear direction of where to take my blog and what to do next.

Hollis and Mike co-taught, facilitating the exchange of ideas and sharing success stories. They held the class in a cozy, adorable, crazy studio decked out in outlandish décor. Although “finger food and champagne,” was advertised, there was enough food to feed the snackiest of snackers like myself. Delectables came at us all day in the form of fruit, muffins, cookies, cake, pesto pizza, chips, and more. I certainly think better when I’m served mimosas in the afternoon and dining on scrumptious food. The 13 or so of us participants sat in comfy chairs clustered around a long conference table.

Without giving all the seminar content away, I’d like to share a few workshop highlights. It was comprised of the following components:

-we reviewed several sample blogs as case studies to identify success factors
-we went around the room and each participant was able to explain where he or she was with their blog and any challenges they were having. ¾ of the room only had concepts of what they wanted to accomplish and had not created a blog yet. It was great to provide ideas and suggestions to people and in return get feedback for my own blog
-we were taught core blogging concepts such as having a narrow, niche concept, promoting your own work, having passion for your work, and the importance of writing killer content

And lastly, Hollis said something that resonated with me. One of the participants didn’t know what topic he would blog about and was a little lost trying to come up with ideas. So Hollis asked him: what would the world be missing without you in it? Blog or not, we should all consider the answer to this question. Life is about living with purpose and passion. Cheers!

Put Your SEO on Steroids with Blogs

I love webinars and encourage everyone to sign up for webinars with interesting topics. It’s a great way to continue your ongoing education and keep on top of trends (which is very difficult to do sometimes!). Even if you can’t make the webinar at the scheduled time, the host usually sends out a link afterwards so you can listen at your convenience. One of the webinars I “attended” recently was “Put Your SEO on Steroids with Blogs.” I wanted to share some important takeaways from the perspective of focusing on the content, which is what I do as a copywriter. Plus, I am a HUGE advocate for businesses using blogging as a marketing tool and a way to communicate with potential and current clients.

My Webinar Notes:

-blog traffic spikes in the morning and at lunchtime: people like to check blogs first thing while drinking their coffee or right around noon to take break
-make other bloggers a key target for readership
-the user is looking for the answer; that is what you need to center your posts around
-organize content around keywords. My note: don’t make your posts sound ridiculous. If readers can tell what your keywords are, you are doing this incorrectly
-make a list of your top keywords. Think what TERMS drive your business
-what is the language of the customer? Use these words in your copy
-again, think about what people are going to type, and talk about that
-nobody wants LONG thought leadership posts. They want 1) the quick answer to their problem and
2) multimedia
-people skim content online; they want credibility, so give something of value
-to get higher in search, create more content
-a great blog post idea: tell the stories of your company: what problems have you seen? How does your product solve a problem?
-the key getting links (important in SEO) is to write good content
-the TITLE of the blog should be based on keywords as well

For non-techies, SEO is a difficult concept to wrap your brain around. It is certainly very trendy right now, and the amount of information on the web is overwhelming and at times, contradictory. This webinar was worth the hour it took to review the information .That takes a lot for me to say, as I am very protective about my time! Tip: if you attend the webinar from a download after the “live” event, what I think is fabulous is the ability to speed ahead or go back using the fast forward and rewind buttons. Note – I am not affiliated with this webinar. Just a fan!

2-Minute Video Book Review: Business Writing - What Works, What Won't

I hope you enjoy my third video review! I really enjoyed this book, Business Writing: What Works, What Won't. Highly recommended if you want to polish your writing skills, learn quicker writing techniques, and get an excellent grammar refresher.