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The Blogger Town Hall Meeting has always been one of the highlights of the Type-A Parent Conference, and I can’t imagine it will be any different this year.
Kelby is starting us with a few announcements, but she’s getting really emotional about how much this part of the conference means to her. Soon after the conference, association.typeaparent.com will be going into public beta. Kelby asked the founding members to stand up, and I was proud to be one of them.
Next year’s Type-A Parent Conference will be right here at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia from October 9-11, 2015.
Instead of a second Bootcamp next year, there will be multiple but extremely small (~20 people) “super summits” in Asheville, North Carolina. “There may be wine drunk and chocolate eaten.”
This is an open mic event. Say what’s on your mind, but don’t be rude.
How do we feel about blog comment circles?
Deb Ng has some thoughts: no one ever wants to be the first person up to dance, so sometimes asking friends to come by and comment is helpful to get the ball rolling. But when the same people are sharing the same links and comment on each other’s blog, it gets tired, and people notice. Don’t be disingenuous. Make sure you’re looking for support, but not committing fraud. The coordinated, strategic, reciprocal commenting thing is uncool.
Andrea Bates is in a few of those types of groups, but you have to draw your own line. You don’t really want to do it every single day on every single social sharing outlet. Shake it up. Support the people you believe in, but participate only when it feels authentic.
Jacqueline Cromwell is in a tech group, and she won’t RT people’s Apple stuff, but she’ll RT Windows stuff. And if there are social networks that penalize a certain sort of behavior, that’s sort of a compass to let you know when that behavior is maybe something you shouldn’t be doing.
Jamie is in some of these groups, but she’ll only participate when it’s not “all or nothing,” and she only shares other people’s stuff when she finds it would be valuable for her readers.
Some people who create high quality content (*cough*) don’t always look good on paper, but would be a better choice for brands than the person who looks good on paper but it’s all manipulation.
PUT THE SHARING BUTTONS ON EVERY SINGLE POST. Top and bottom, if you can. (via Robyn Wright) If someone has a sharing widget you like , go ahead and ask them how they did that.
I shared a reddit pro-tip to follow up on Jacqueline Cromwell’s advice to add a reddit sharing button to your posts. Don’t try to promote your stuff on reddit until you’re a member of the reddit community. A contributing member to the particular category/subreddit you want to share with. Otherwise you will be seen as a spammer. You have to earn your reputation before you share.
High quality content. That’s what you need to aim for. Not every post is going to be golden, but care about what you’re writing. Care about your readers. If you don’t prioritize them, they are going to stop prioritizing you.
If you’re taking on way too many sponsored posts, you probably aren’t charging enough.
Be true to yourself and your blog. What’s your best content isn’t the same as someone else’s best content.
Just because no one shares your post doesn’t mean it sucks. Some things just aren’t shareable for one reason or another.
Stop writing for the search engines. Stop writing for Facebook. Stop writing for Pinterest. Get back to writing for people! (Sadly, my most popular posts are a poor reflection of this advice.)
Emily Jones thinks that if she writes something that’s really from the heart, and just one person likes it or pins it, then she feels like she wrote it for that person.
Cashing in on tragedy is a real moral gray area. Some people think that cause blogging crosses the line here. I don’t. Blogging about tragedy can be a little “squirmy.” I think it needs to be authentic. Don’t just monopolize on a tragedy for the clicks. If you have something genuine to add to the conversation, go ahead and share it. But don’t try to profit off of someone else’s tragedy.
Cecily Kellogg wants to know what people are planning as far as earning income from this 2-5 years down the line. She’s doing content marketing now, but she’s not really encouraging clients to do blogger outreach anymore. Diversifying is a good thing. Don’t overcommit to sponsored posts. (Honestly, this blog is more like personal marketing for me; I make my living writing content for corporate websites and blogs.)
If you don’t evolve with the industry, you will not be able to compete. Adjust. Be flexible.
But it is okay to write a post that’s absolutely just for you, too.
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
Great recap of the town hall! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Robyn! The town hall is always the most difficult part of the whole conference to capture. My brain just can’t process all of the great things every has to say in real time, and my fingers move even more slowly. So I just hope I get as much as I can down, and people are always welcome to share anything I missed in the comments!