2-Minute Video Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
January 21, 2010
By now, you have heard of Tim Ferriss, right? The guy who touts outsourcing to virtual assistants, is a productivity genius, who made the phrase “Lifestyle Design” mainstream, is a Princeton University guest lecturer, and New York Times Bestselling Author. I loved his expanded book and hope you enjoy the review. 
2-Minute Video Book Review: Starting a Web-Based Business by Steve Slaunwhite
January 13, 2010
Greetings and I hope you enjoy this next video book review, Starting a Web-Based Business by Steve Slaunwhite. It’s one of the best, most comprehensive books I’ve read so far about this subject. Highly recommended! Kudos to Steve, the author. My insider sources tell me more books from Steve are on the way, which is exciting.
P.S. I am not an affiliate. Just a book nerd!
My 5 Favorite Things from WordCamp Atlanta 2010
January 10, 2010
What: WordCamp Atlanta 2010 (http://atlantawordcamp.com/)
Website Blurb: WordCamps worldwide connect a community of bloggers, designers, coders, marketers, and enthusiasts of WordPress, coming together to share knowledge, and meet others around the Southeast and the rest of the country.
My Insight: I just finished attending WordCamp Atlanta 2010, and it was an excellent conference. Because there are so many people who have great summaries of the event and are publishing notes, presentations, slides, videos, photos, you name it, I won’t go there. I will however, list my Top 5 Favorite things from the perspective of a WordPress newbie. I’m in the process or writing a report on how I used WP as a CMS for this site (http://www.jennymunn.com/), so more info will be included in that as well. The group demographic definitely edged on the technical side; that’s great for me since I learn so much from this demographic and the techies seem to be some of my best clients (they hire me to do copywriting for their clients). I was pleasantly surprised how friendly and eager this group was to share information. Okay, so here is my list of my 5 favorite things from WordCamp Atlanta 2010:
1. The Genius Bar rocked. I would also call it a WordPress therapy bar as I mostly just unloaded some pent up WordPress issues off my chest and had to have the genius behind the bar I was speaking with calm me down and confirm that I was doing things right. Many thanks to Scott Clark for patiently explaining answers to my questions without rolling his eyes. Here are a few juicy tidbits of our conversation:
Me: Is upgrading WP to 2.9.1 scary?
Scott: No. Do it.
Me: How do I change my footer on my homepage?
Scott: Just a sec (click, click, click)…Done.
Me: Did I install Google Analytics correctly? I only put the code in one place and I read you’re supposed to install it on every page.
Scott: You’re fine.
Me: What is an FTP Client? I designed my whole site without using it but lots of people keep mentioning it and now I think I’m in trouble. Do I really need it?
Scott: No.
No: Am I using my SEO Plug in appropriately?
Scott: Yes.
2. As usual with events like these, the breakouts were of course very good, but it’s the networking and people who really made the event for me. In order of WordCamp superstars I met, I’d like to give a shout-out to:
Steve Burns, Jenny DeVaughn, Charissa DeVivo, Megha Rodriguez, Randy Barnes, Steve Worrall, Kellye Crane, Charity Hisle, Chris Jordan, Dan Wooten, Lisa Marr, Tessa Horehled, Tammy Hart, Kristin Colier, and many more.
3. I starred in a video…and no, not that kind of video. Steve Burns’ vblogging video he took of WordCamp. See, Steve and I happened to be two of the first attendees to arrive at WordCamp. Apparently the organizers had to delay the start of the event due to bad weather, and neither of us knew about it until we got there…an hour and a half early. Sooo, I was one of the lucky few to be interviewed by Steve. The video is at the bottom of this post.
Disclaimer: I HATE seeing myself on camera…my in-laws video every single family get-together and I have been forced to be in their videos for the past 14 years…this has scarred me.
4. Favorite workshop: “How to start freelancing with WordPress especially if you’re a Noob.” This workshop was toward the end of the day, and John was hilarious and provided some great refresher tips to working with clients, growing a freelancing business, discussing hourly vs per project rates, and stressed the importance of freelancers being confident and protective of their time.
5. Content, content, content. During one of the sessions, the speaker asked the website designers in the room to raise their hands if getting content was an ongoing problem. About ¾ of the room raised their hands….gotta love that – job security!
Want more WordCamp insights? Plug this search into Twitter and go crazy – #WCATL. Enjoy!
Atlanta Bloggers Meetup and the Future of Blogging
January 8, 2010
What: The Atlanta Bloggers Meetup
Website Blurb: Meet other bloggers to talk about blogging, internet marketing, social media, tips and techniques, practices, SEO, writing and general support. All blog topics are welcome.
My Insight: This was my first event although the group has had more than 15 monthly meet ups. The event organizer told me the group usually gets a large number of new people every month who have a wide range of social media expertise. Although I met a few people who are new to blogging, the clear majority of the contacts I met all had an intermediate to advanced blogging skill level. With 75+ posts on this blog, that’s about right for my level as well.
Interesting Facts: 1. Through my previous career in Sales, I have been fortunate to attend hundreds of networking events. I am a big fan of the table host format, which this group uses to facilitate networking and discussion. 2. I was very impressed not only with the collective body of knowledge the group possessed, but how freely everyone shared tips, advice, knowledge, and insider secrets.
Would I attend again: Definitely!
Top 5 things I learned from the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup
- 2010 and Beyond: The group foresees two elements in the future of blogging – blogger collaboration and video. Video is not just a “wow” thing anymore, it’s considered the norm. (check out my 2-minute video book reviews here). http://www.tubemogul.com/was cited as being a very helpful resource for video blogging. Augmented reality was also discussed a few times.
- Income and ROI: These are ongoing topics of conversation. Everyone wants to know how he or she can produce income through blogging. Also, as service providers, we have to continually talk beyond strategy to how we can deliver ROI and sales for our clients.
- Income producing CONTENT on blogs is big. Content and copy are not the same thing.
- SEO and linking. There are some very clever, sneaky little secrets for getting backlinks, blog promotions, and SEO rankings. Internet marketers all use strategies and are very “in the know” about this. One person writes “Tiger Woods” repeatedly in black font to blend in with the black backdrop of the website, so users can’t see it but it helps with his rankings. Another guy creates free sites on WordPress solely to provide backlinks to his main page.
- Plugins: the importance of these can’t be underestimated. One plugin that was mentioned as being crucial will make websites more viewable and compatible with mobile web pages.
Lastly, two great blogging/social media events are coming up this month: WordCamp this weekend, and SOCON10 at the end of the month. I look forward to seeing all my new friends and sharing all the great information I learn. Did I miss anything that’s crucial regarding the future of blogging? Just drop me a line or add in a comment.
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