I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
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Hear what I said about Problogger event…
You may have already read some of my impressions and lessons from the problogger event in Melbourne earlier this month.
And I intend writing more about various aspects of the weekend and things I learned and am implementing.
Now, thanks to John of the Young Digital Group, you can even hear what I thought of the event, and a little background of my writing services, too.
John has set himself the challenge of interviewing 30 bloggers who have been influenced by the event. He was a pleasure to talk to and the process was simple (although I apologise for sitting in front of a window and thus having my face shadowed a bit too much).
I have to admit to being nervous about watching and listening to myself on a video – but I pushed myself to talk to people at PBEvent and now I have raised the bar higher for myself.
Side notes: John is interviewing both attendees and virtual attendees to the event so let him know if you want to share your experiences, too. If you haven’t yet grabbed one, you can still get a virtual ticket, listen to some sessions and then talk to John!
Goals from problogger event
One question I knew John would ask was ‘what key goals have you set as a result of attending problogger?’ so I spent some time that morning thinking about specific goals – and goals that were big picture enough to be interesting and challenging.
The answer I gave John is nothing like what I had thought of saying!
One goal I do have is to find ‘sparks of energy’ as Darren called them.
He was referring to the things that I enjoy posting about and am energised by plus the things that my readers are energised and interested by.
So my goal is to sit and reflect on what topics and posts I find the most interesting to work on so I can keep my momentum going and not burn out.
The other side of my goal is to also determine which posts and topics give the most value to my readers (that is, you!) so I can help you as much as possible with your communications and writing projects.
So what does energise and interest you? Are you more interested in reading about blogging or how to manage communications projects? On learning little grammar details or how to develop consistency?
What topics do you want me to write about that will spark ideas and better communications for your business?
Hearing about energy sparks
I started this post to share John’s video.
I ended it asking about your preferences. That wasn’t planned!
Yet announcing that goal is important so I’m glad I did John’s interview to concrete that idea for myself.
You’ll have to watch the video to hear another goal of mine 🙂 And that will force me to get moving on it, too.
Little PB Event tips to create big things for you
My first word of advice – if going to what is likely to be a great event with lots to process afterwards, book out the following days so you can process it!
Attending the PB event last week (yes, this time last week I was sitting in a room to hear Shayne Tilley in the second sessions of the day) was great and I came away with lots of ideas, inspiration and information, plus some great new friendships and relationships.
However, it was back to work as usual on Monday morning. Well, I say as usual but I’ve had some urgent client projects come up this week so it has, in fact, been more hectic than usual.
So I haven’t had the time to sit and read through all my notes or listen to the recordings of the sessions I didn’t attend. Or relisten to the great ones I want to get more out of.
Nor share a lot of those tips and insights with others.
From little actions big things happen
Right from the start, Darren set the theme of the weekend to be from little things big things come.
Even the biggest trees started as small seedlings
{I have to say that I was often distracted by the song ‘from little things big things grow’ used in an ad promoting a group of industry super funds! Distracting similarity but the message is accurate and valuable in both instances.}
It then followed that all the speakers gave practical information so we could pick up little details and see how to apply them to our own blogs. With everyone repeating that taking things step by step and doing lots of little things you can build a success (however you define success).
Major take home message: make 15 minutes a day to work on something important.
Think about it – 15 minutes a day isn’t that hard to find but adds up to 75 minutes a working week or 60 hours (which is 7.5 working days) a year – with 4 weeks annual leave allowed for 🙂
How many new designs could you create or words could you put to paper or sales calls you could make in 60 hours? That may just be the ‘extra day in the week’ many people wish for.
If you want me to write a post on ways to use that 15 minutes, let me know as a comment or email me – or send me a tweet for that matter!
Provide quality and value for your readers
The event was aimed at bloggers so the message was to give readers quality – but the concept is just as valid for any aspect of your business.
Some points on this:
- Make posts and information products useful and informative
- Find your voice (or brand) and stay with it
- Monitor what your readers like and give them more of that
- If accepting money for a sponsored post or ad, ask ‘what’s in it for my readers?’ You get paid, obviously, but make the post valuable to your readers above all
- add opinions as well as information or share a learning experience so people feel they get an answer (paraphrased quote from Chris Guillebeau)
Make a connection
Various speakers over the conference touched on the importance of engaging and connecting with your audience and with other bloggers.
Here are some of their quotes (written as they spoke so these are close to word-perfect but may be slightly different to their exact words):
Look after and engage your readers – engaged readers will do more for making money than having lots of readers ~ Darren Rowse
Involvement begets commitment ~ James Tuckerman
A focus on building relationships and providing value to people will lead to success ~ Chris Guillebeau
[within your blog have a ] hidden message of ‘you’re not alone’ coming through as everyone needs to feel connection and belonging ~ Chris Guillebeau
Final words
I think Darren had some important words to say in his opening and closing talks.
The theme was little things add to big things, but also to realise everyone starts small so don’t feel inferior to others. Again, based on my notes, he said:
Comparing yourself to other bloggers makes you feel small and is not constructive – focus on good things happening on your own blog. Look at other blogs for inspiration not comparison.
If you have questions or simply want to learn more from the great speakers at PB Event, you could…
- leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer you
- grab a virtual ticket to PB Event and hear all the speakers (and see their slides). {Yes, this is an affiliate link so I would get a commission for referring you.}
- use the #pbevent tag in Twitter – there are still a lot of tips being shared
- read blog posts from people who were there – try posts from Belinda, Rita, Helena, Alison and Chantelle to get you started
And with that said, I am off to read more pb event posts myself and do 15 minutes for my subscribers – you can subscribe to get updates of new posts by ticking the box as you leave a comment or fill in the form in the sidebar.
How do you feel as a blogger or small business owner – do you feel small compared to others with more readers or a bigger income? Do you compare yourself to others rather than acknowledging your own progress and successes?
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