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This past weekend I attended the Florida Bloggers Conference at Full Sail University, and really had a blast. I met a lot of new people, and some of them I have talked to virtually on social media like Twitter but most were new. For me that was probably the most exciting part of the conference was getting to met other bloggers and hobbyists and professionals.

A brief description about #FLBlogCon is a one day conference for bloggers around Florida (and beyond) to hear from influential leaders and speakers on topics from social media, monetizing, blogging tips, legal, and more.

Bess Auer is the founder and main organizer of this event and has been doing so for over four years and it continues to get sold out weeks after tickets are announced. This year’s conference started with a really cool launch party at Universal Studios for the Blue Man Group. I’ve never been, but was so excited to be going with my wife Nicole to experience this show. I won’t talk about any spoilers in this post so I’ll let you have that to yourself, but if you’ve gone already I would love to discuss it in the comments below.

While I did take a few photos of the day, I think my greater take-a-ways were some notes I took to take action with my business, website, and blogging tactics.

Monica Dawn Stone talked some pretty good points in terms of monetizing your blog. Some of my take-a-ways were:

    • Look into affiliate sales for products (Amazon)
    • Review products
    • Banner ads and ebooks (give a ways)
    • Create a Resource Page on your website
    • Create sponsored posts with brands
    • Create a media kit with logo, stats, social media links, your offerings, rates,  banner sizes,  analytics
    • Create a “pitch letter” to the brands you’re targeting.  How can you help them,  how you can help readers

She has a bunch more if you visit her website you’ll be enlightened!

Tom Jelneck from OnTarget Web Solutions talked about Google Analytics. Some points that resonated with me where:

A low bounce rate may not be a bad thing depending on the type of website and business that you have. A high bounce rate with a great call to action is a good thing.
    • Use FeedBurner to see your subscribers and blog reach
    • Understand your engagement rate. Should be higher if people are talking back to your blog
    • Food for thought: Users and readers visit 10.4 places/sites before buying a product
    • Define your blog/website goals

Justice Mitchell probably had the most energetic and lively presentation I’ve attended…. I’d say ever. Absolutely loved his quick hits and fell back in my seat with excitement for his surprise “Bonus Round”

    • Get an influencer or performer to promote your products. Be it a shirt, hat, tool, etc.
    • Construct a social group or community (Facebook groups, TweetChats, etc)
    • Revise your popular content.  Create a v2.0 post from a previous post you wrote that did really well.
    • Create This vs. That content (because everyone has an opinion, and they’ll want to weigh in)
    • Construct Infographics
    • Challenge people to do the same photo as you in a blog post
    • Solve a problem a day for your audience 
    • Create inspiraGrams on Instagram (inspirational quotes with serene backgrounds)
    • Write blogs about your own historical content (this date on this year. …)

Well that’s my wrap up. I’m still swimming in a bunch of ideas and things that I want to try and map out for the next few weeks and months. I’ve also taken action on a few things right out of the gate. If you also attended or have more to add please do so in the comments below and lets share some great ideas.
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