A Blogging Conference Worth Every Penny: Want to Win a Free Pass?

New Media Expo 2012 Las Vegas

In my 25+ years of self-improvement ventures, I can count on one hand the memorable conferences I have attended. They were the ones that actually made me better at what I do and challenged me to try some new things.

And the older I get, the ones that impress me are becoming even rarer.

I have heard speakers who have very little of a concrete nature to share. They are usually the ones with a lengthy bio, but whose main (and rather obvious) purpose is to sell their latest book.

At one writing conference, the organizers closed (and locked) the auditorium exits and proceeded to hard sell an add-on program: an inner circle “club” with a hefty price tag. Being a little claustrophobic anyway, I experienced the sheer panic of knowing I couldn’t escape if I wanted to.

At another, we were presented with Native American Dreamcatchers, wands we were encouraged to wave around with our eyes closed, as we whispered our deepest and biggest wishes. (Okay teachers’ conferences can be a little woo-woo.)

But somewhere around cruising altitude on the way home, passing over the Rocky Mountains, the magical fairy dust would begin to melt and I wondered what I really got for all that money.

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Social Media Bio Meets Mind Map: It’s Vizify

Vizify.com

If you have read my blog for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of the visual mode: using things like doodling, drawing, mind mapping to get ideas across quickly and release the creative side of me. My friend Ralph Dopping from The View from Here blog also wrote an outstanding post on the topic.

Through my better half, Bob Dunn (AKA @bobwp), I ran across a fun, visually popping tool not just for writing your bio, but for managing your entire online profile.

It’s called Vizify.

Their message is, “”…looking good online matters.” Vizify is a unified bio that pulls all your stuff together from across the web, summarizes it and puts it into a cool, at-a-glance form that is easy to digest. We writers are fond of the mantra, “Show, don’t tell.” This tool does just that.

To show you what I mean, I’m including some screen shots below from Bob’s Vizify profile. The first one shows an at-a-glance picture of the important stuff: where he works, how many years he’s been in business, an icon for his WordPress services, how much he has talked about WordPress-related topics on the web, number of workshops and conference speaking gigs he has under his belt—things like that:

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Stephen King, Seth Godin and Content Marketing: Who Is Defining You?

Stephen King, Seth Godin and Content Marketing: Who Is Defining You?

Audience, content. Content, audience. These are the two intertwined threads of blogging. And writing—and marketing.

Intertwined because who you write for determines your content and what you write about defines your audience.

Bob and I will be guests on Tshombe Brown’s radio show, Selling with Spirit, next Monday, September 24, 1pm Pacific Time. Tshombe helps entrepreneurs make positive changes and eliminate the disconnect between what they need to be doing to grow their businesses and what they are actually doing. The topic for the September 24 show:  Can You Really Use Blogging to Sell Your Services?

As I thought about all the ways you can find customers and clients through your blog, it became clear that one thing needs to happen first.

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The Surprises of Guest Posting

 The Surprises of Guest Posting

There are a bazillion bloggers who have talked about benefits of making guest appearances on other blogs. One of the best reasons to write guest posts is to reach new audiences and grow your own blog.

But sometimes when you write a guest post for another blog, things happen that weren’t even in your brain. You see, the thing is, you never know who is reading your post. And that makes guest blogging unpredictably fun.

For instance, just this week, my guest post for Write to Done showed up on the Holy Caw! All the topics that interest us page of Guy Kawasaki’s mega-popular site alltop.com. (If you didn’t know, alltop.com is now the authority in sorting through the flood of blog posts and articles that are published daily. Their goal is to filter through all the stuff and aggregate the best for you.) Because of the Holy Caw appearance, my guest post was shared on Twitter a whole bunch of times and got tons of traffic.

The next day, I got requests for an interview from a national magazine for writers and for quotes for an e-book. So what’s my point?

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The Hollywood Guide to a Better Blog Tagline

 The Hollywood Guide to a Better Blog Tagline

Some of us watched the inflated, over-the-top, “I’m good.” “No, you’re good” Oscars this spring. I did not. Since my daughter was in the biz, the glamour is gone.

I do remember, however, seeing the blow-by-blow on the front page of cnn.com. And watching the trailers on the Web, I couldn’t help but think.

Those folks in Hollywood know how to do some things well, like sell their product in one line. They know how to entice us in 25 words or less.

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Why I’m Dumping the Cat’s Eye Writer Blog

Cat's Eye Writer blogWe go way back, me and Cat’s Eye. And while this blog has morphed, from marketing advice for small businesses, to social media strategies for solopreneurs, to blogging tips for writers and small biz folks, I never messed with its name.

I had a solid brand, I had name recognition. Why would I want to risk losing that?

The Cat’s Eye blog started out as a spot to talk with readers about their toughest marketing challenges—as a small biz or solopreneur. It was an official outreach tool for our 20-year-old  business, Cat’s Eye Marketing.

But stuff happens and things change.

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Cat’s Eye’s Picks: 5 Good Stock Image Sites for Bloggers

5 Great Stock Photo sites

While I’m at BlogWorld 2012 in New York City this week, I’m leaving you with a post many of you have asked me to write: where I find my blog post photos and how to find images that don’t break the bank. Enjoy. And please, in the comments, do leave the sources you’ve found to be great ones—ones that didn’t make my list—so we can all learn from your experience and collect even more resources. 

Most bloggers recognize that quality images are an important part of their blog content strategy. In fact, post and articles with relevant images garner 94 percent more page views than ones without. If you need more incentive to use quality photos and other graphics to power up your blog content, see Danny Brown’s post at For Bloggers By Bloggers.

As you know, I’m a big fan of finding the just right photo for a blog post.

But, after four years with a phenomenal online stock image company, I am looking elsewhere for my blog photos.

For four years, iStockphoto, with more than 4 million stunning images, was my go-to stock photo agency. I knew I could always find exactly what I was looking for there. And I rarely had to pay more than a buck or two for it.

But things gradually changed. It started in 2006, when Getty Images acquired iStock. You can still buy credits in as little as 12-packs ($19.50 for 12 credits), but the price-per-credit is now $1.63.

But here’s the problem.  iStock has drastically reduced the number of images that cost just one or two credits. So the photo I used to be able to find for 1-2 credits ($1.60 to $2.26) suddenly had a 4-credit price tag (sometimes the one I fell in love with was 10 credits).

At a price of four credits,  each photo now costs $6.52. Not only am I spending way more time finding a photo in my price range, if I post once a week, my iStock bill is  $26.08 a month. And between Bob and I, with three blogs, using only one photo per post, our monthly photo expenses total $78.04. Ouch.

Photographers deserve fair compensation for their work

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with photographers being paid fairly for their work. In fact, I think it’s one of the professions where people tend to take advantage of the skill and talent. The number of people who steal images from the net and don’t give credit, let alone pay the artist for them, s is appalling.

If you are a designer working on a piece you are going to charge your client $750 or $1,000 for, it makes sense to pay those prices. You can either absorb it as the cost of doing business or pass it on to your client.

But if you are running a non-monetized blog—that is, you are not charging for your content—anything you pay to support your blog comes directly out of your own pocket. So when prices take a jump, I tend to look for less expensive options.

Here they are, in alphabetical order: 5 potential stock image sources that my research turned up (there are many more but this will give you a taste of what’s out there):

What I found

As you look at this list, keep in mind that using free images has some drawbacks, mainly being the quality of the images and the time it takes you to wade through the substandard stuff to find what you want. But if you are not too picky, you’ll probably find what you need.

Often with a free photo, you are required to add the photographer’s byline, which for me mars the aesthetic look and feel, but that may not bother you at all. And, of course, with a free image, there is a greater chance that you will see it on many other blogs, too. Because it’s free!

On all the sites, you should click on terms of use to be sure you are not violating them.

And, unless you are independently wealthy, I strongly advise that you not lift images from the Internet and use them without permission.

1. Flickr – Creative Commons

Flickr Creative Commons

A photo management and sharing application, Flickr consistently lands on lists of the top free sites. It lets you explore and upload photos as long as you provide proper attribution under the Creative Commons license. Some photos may not be available for commercial use, so if your blog is monetized, it may not be a good choice.

Upside: Tons of free photos; nice variety.

Downside: Many have use requirements and limitations; time-consuming to search.

2. Fotolia

fotolia

Fotolia has both a free and a paid side. Several of my fellow bloggers, including Brankika Underwood of onlineincometsar.com, list them as their favorite site. Brankika has an excellent review of Fotolia on her blog.

Upside: Great selection; good search function; cheaper than iStock.

Downside: Many images are for purchase only.

 3. Freedigitalphotos.net

freedigitalphotos

My friend Tony Hastings of The Top 10 Blog uses this one a lot and I like his photos, so I’ll be looking into it. This site has a great selection and fast and easy download. To see some of the other sites Tony recommends, go here.

Upside: Lots of quality free photos by category; instant download, no registration required.

Downside: No access to lightboxes unless you register; must include photographer credit.

4. iStockphoto

istockphoto

From here on out, I may be save these guys for the times I want an amazingly special photo, but I’m still listing them here because the quality of their images is outstanding.

Upside: Bundled credits; pay-as-you-go; high quality; search by price and subject.

Downside: Not many free photos; recent substantial price increases.

5. Stock.XCHNG

stock.xchgn

Like iStockphoto, Stock.XCHNG is also now owned by Getty, although images are still free (at least for the time being). Hundreds of thousands of searchable images, categorized by subject.

Upside: Now has advanced search capabilities; images are free

Downside: User is required to rate the image and show the photographer the work they created with it; also, the site “cannot guarantee the legality of the images and cannot be held responsible for any copyright violations.”

What about you?

Have you used any of the above sites for blog post images?

Do you have some favorites of your own that you can share with us?

Power Up Your Blog: The Emotional Impact of the Right Photo

Do people remember your blog posts? Does your content have staying power? If you evoke emotions in your readers, I can guarantee that your ideas will remain firmly planted in their brain.

How do you do that as a blogger? With the right photo, of course.

I’ll be writing a post soon to help you figure out exactly where to get good photos that won’t break the bank, but for now, just know that posts with engaging photos get read more and shared more—even on sites that you aren’t necessarily active on.

Why You Should Touch the Heart and the Head in Your Posts

One of the biggest factors in remembering something—an image, an experience— is how much emotion is attached to it. For all you science lovers, here is the reason: The amygdala, the center of emotion in the brain’s temporal lobe, lights up when emotional content is shown, which in turn boosts the activity in areas of the brain that form memory.

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Your Blog as Stage: Building a Believable Author Brand

When I taught blogging workshops for writers and authors, one thing was predictable. Their eyes would always glaze over when I got to the part about building an author brand.

They thought of selling out, of compromising their art, of consumer brainwashing. They had seen too many taglines, too many TV commercials—Coke (“refreshing”) and Apple (“think different”).

“I don’t need a brand,” they would say. “I’m not a product.”

They were confusing a brand with an advertising slogan.

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What Is Your Online Avatar Saying About You?

alienYou have a blog, or comment on blogs, or hang around on Facebook and Twitter for a reason.

Usually, it is because you want to get noticed. So you can sell your book, or get customers, or find business leads, or whatever your goal is for being on social media.

I have written before about how important it is to have a platform and a believable author brand. But did you know that your online avatar is an important part of your brand and image?

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Less Is More: The Cat’s Eye Writer Blog Makeover

girl paintingI am not a designer and never could be one. Yet, as a blogger, I know how important it is to get a nice, clean, visually appealing look. I want to entice my readers, give them a reason to stay. And good design will do that (along with stellar content, of course).

You may have noticed that today’s post looks a little different.

Okay, a lot different.

I believe in regular blog “remodels” because the process makes me look at every single piece of my blog with the question, “How does this help my readers have a better experience?”

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About Page Blues: Are You Making Any of These 5 Mistakes on Yours?

boy with guitarDid you know that your blog’s about page is consistently the second most-viewed page on your blog?

Whenever a new visitor’s breath is taken away by a post of yours, it’s the first place they go to find out who this amazing person is.

It’s your chance to hook your readers, make them come back for more great stuff from this fascinating blogger. (That would be you.)

Okay. Here’s the thing. You already knew that your blog’s about page isn’t really about you, right?

About pages can be tricky because your readers want to know more about you, but they also need to know how who you are makes you the best person to blog about your topics. And just how you can help them with their needs.

So it’s really just as much about them.

Don’t Make These 5 Classic About Page Mistakes

I see smart, talented bloggers make certain mistakes over and over again on their about pages. They are easily fixed, if you know what they are:

1. You don’t tell me what your blog is about.

Most people think it should be obvious what their blogs are about. But it’s the one thing missing from many, many blogs I visit. Your readers want to know what you’ll be talking about.

My blog’s about page says:

I love to write about things that get people thinking about how they can show up online in unique, real ways.

How they can attract more website and blog visitors with a true voice and compelling copy.

How they can use social media to get their brand out there in the world.

Don’t make me guess what your blog is about. Give me that reason to stick around.

2. You start by telling me how great you are.

One about page I read said, in the second sentence, “[Name here] has long been on the cutting edge of web technology.”

Okay, double demerit: he used the cliché “cutting edge” and he told me how good he is, instead of showing me.

It’s okay to list your achievements (in fact, you should), but let me see who you are and what you care about first.

3. You bore me with too many details.

I want a personal glimpse. I really do.

But 27 diary-like entries—including when you were born, what year you got your driver’s license, the date your first husband ran off with a younger woman and the color of your first-born’s hair—doesn’t quite hold my interest. (Actually read an about page with this information today.)

Better to cut that list down and make some of the trivia fit who you are as a blogger. Give me a sense of who you are and what you bring to this blogging thing.

4. It feels like you’re applying for a job.

I don’t care what college you graduated from. Sorry, but I don’t.

If your about page reads like a résumé, I probably won’t stick around.

Now, there are some instances where degrees and credentials are very important (for a therapist, professional coach or attorney, for example). Keep them in there, but just don’t lead with them because people want to get to know you first.

And take out the chronological history of places worked. Now if you had a job somewhere that lets me peek into a part of you that helps me understand who you are today and why you have this blog? Then, yes, I want to hear that.

5. You don’t give me a short version.

Sometimes, on a first-time visit, I’m in a hurry. If I don’t see what you and your blog are all about—and within seconds—I may click away.

Always include the Cliff Notes version of your about page in a bio box, right there in the sidebar on your home page. Some readers are looking for any old excuse not to hang around, so hook them on you as the blogger right away.

My home page bio (with photo included) is only 62 words but it tells readers right away what they can expect to see on my blog.

What about you?

What do you see missing on about pages you visit?

Do you mix a little personal into your page or keep it all professional?

What do you want to know about a blogger when you visit their page?