Blog World and New Media Expo is a fantastic event for bloggers held every October in Las Vegas.

This year there will be a full day of ProBlogger training in a ‘ProBlogger Track’ on the Thursday. Yesterday the full details of that track’s sessions were released on the BWE site.

The four sessions through the day are based around 4 Pillars of ProBlogging that Chris Garret and I have been working on for a future resource here at ProBlogger. In our view these 4 pillars are all crucial foundations in building profitable blogs – it’s not just about one or two of them, all come together and make a blog a more powerful thing.

The day in vegas is also very similar in content to what we recently place on in the sold out ProBlogger Training day here in Melbourne.

Here are the four pillars and session times:

Making Killer Content: 9.45-1045am (Presented by Chris Garrett)

Chris Garrett walks attendees through principles of making compelling content that will draw readers into a blog and get them excited about passing it onto their network./b>

Finding Readers for Your Blog: 11am-12pm (Presented by Darren Rowse)

What’s the point of fantastic content if nobody is reading it? Darren Rowse has jam packed his session full of teaching and tips on ensuring that your blog is read… by more than your Mom!

Building Community On Your Blog: 1.30-2.30pm (Presented by Darren Rowse)

A blog REALLY comes alive when it has community. In this session Darren Rowse teaches the secrets of moving ‘visitors’ into ‘readers’ and ‘readers’ into ‘members’ who feel a sense of belonging to your blog and who start to take ownership of it to help you take it to the next level.

Making Money from Your Blog: 2.45-3.45pm (Presented by Darren, Chris and Yaro Starak)

In this final session of the ProBlogger stream Darren Rowse, Yaro Starak and Chris Garrett will present strategies for making blogs profitable through a variety of approaches. It will include time for Q&A from participants.

If you’re interested in these sessions – make sure you mark them on your schedule so you don’t forget they’re on. I’m sure Chris and I can come up with some prizes for people who come along and participate well so we’ll make it a fun day.

Keep in mind that this ProBlogger track is on the Thursday and is available to all BWE attendees with a ticket for that day. There will be other sessions going on in other rooms that you can also attend (although we’ve designed this track so that it’s best if you get the full lot).

Other Sessions

I’ll also be participating in a number of other panels and sessions including:

• A Keynote with Brian Clark and Sonia Simone (both of Copyblogger and ThirdTribe)
• A Monetization panel with Shoemoney, John Chow and Anita Campbell
• Possibly a couple of other sessions – TBC

Come along to BWE

I get excited about Blog World Expo every year. The sessions/teaching are fantastic (I just looked over the schedule and there’s some fantastic stuff going on) but better still is the opportunity to meet other bloggers (huge and small). The opportunities for collaboration, networking and some fun times are certainly there.

This was taken at a ProBlogger dinner we held last year at BWE – one of the most fun nights I had all year. Photo by Lisa Morosky.

I’ve found people to be very approachable and while there are thousands of others there it’s not as overwhelming as some of the larger conferences like SXSW.

Speakers are very accessible – here’s Tim Ferris (4 hour work week), Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) and I after one of the sessions in 2008. Image by Shashi Bellamkonda.

I also like how BWE brings together such a diverse group of people from all kinds of fascinating backgrounds.

One of my more surreal moments last year was sharing the stage with people like CNN’s Don Lemon, music producer/rapper Jermaine Dupri, journalist Hugh Hewitt, and Ford’s Scott Monty. Image by Ken Yeung.

Lastly – if you book your tickets before 16 September there are some excellent discounts on tickets still available. Get all the details on the Blog World and New Media Expo Site and I hope to see you in Vegas!

This Post is from: ProBlogger Blog Tips.

ProBlogger Track Details – Blog World Expo

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One week ago today in Melbourne the first ever ProBlogger training day took place. What started as a spur of the moment thought less than 4 weeks before ballooned into a very worthwhile experience.

Originally I had thought it would just be a day for 10-15 bloggers gathering around a board room table talking about blogging – but it quickly turned into a sold out training day with 150 bloggers from around Australia (and one from New Zealand) packed into a hotel’s conference room to spend a full day learning about four aspects of blogging.

Speaking on the day were Chris Garrett, Yaro Starak, Collis Ta’eed, Pip Lincolne, Shayne Tilley from SitePoint and myself.

We covered four main ‘pillars’ of blogger:

1. Making Killer Content
2. Finding Readers
3. Building Community and Reader Engagement
4. Monetization

Here’s Yaro, Chris and myself – and no we didn’t coordinate our clothing for the day but we’re wondering if perhaps jeans and grey shirts are the new blogger uniform. Image by TheCreativePen.

There was also a couple of panels and two case studies as well as a work-shopping session.

I wasn’t quite sure how we’d pull it all together in such a small time but considering there was only a few weeks lead time the event went swimmingly with loads of requests to do it again both in Melbourne and around the country (and overseas). I’m not quite sure when or how we’ll place on another one – but I do hope we can do something similar again.

A number of people kept fantastic notes on the day so I’ve compiled the ones I’ve found below for those of you not able to be there. Some of them are blow by blow accounts so you’ll be able to pick up a lot of the tips touched on during the day. Also below is a video shot on the day by Lara from Social Rabbit asking attendees for tips on what they learned.

Summaries/Notes from the Day

• The Value-Add – Notes from ProBlogger Event Round Up (detailed notes – 6 parts with more pics)
• The Blog Stylist – 15 Useful Blogging Resources and Tools Discussed as a result of the ProBlogger Event
• Brendans Blog – ProBlogger Training Day Wrap-up and Part 2.
• Connecting Librarian – Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3
• NuffnangBetter Blogging Tips from ProBlogger Training Day
• Would You Travel 1846 miles for this man?

PS: we did record the day and are trying to work out what to do with the 7 or so hours of content recorded. One option is to bundle it into a DVD – if you’re interested in buying a copy please let me know in comments below to give us an indication as to whether it’s feasible to do so.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

150 Bloggers Pack Melbourne Hotel for ProBlogger Training Day

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One of the largest challenges for a new bloggers starting out in an established niche is to find a way to stand out from the crowd and find their first readers. Without existing profile and/or credibility – getting those first readers can be very tough.

To combat this a few years back a number of bloggers started to use ‘Guest Blogging’ as a technique to launch their blogs and grow their brands to new audiences. This technique launched many bloggers to prominence – including Leo Babauta, Brian Clark, Chris Garrett, Skellie, Jon Morrow (all of whom have guest posted on ProBlogger) and many many more.

Much has been written on the topic of how to use guest posting but one of the best resources that I’ve seen lately has been produced by Jon Morrow. He’s just released the first in a series of videos (#aff) on the topic and they are well worth watching.

I’ve seen the complete set of videos for myself and they are simple to watch, actionable and inspiring.

Jon himself has used guest blogging with fantastic success – including this fantastic post on speech recognition for bloggers here on ProBlogger which helped many.

Jon’s first video is completely free (no opt in required) and is well worth watching. His future videos require an opt in but you’ll get a feel for whether they’re right for you from the first one. I watched them all and they’re brilliant.

Do yourself a favour and set aside some time today to watch these videos.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How to Use Guest Blogging to Grow Your Blog Exponentially

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Just over a week ago I had the crazy thought to run a training day for bloggers while Chris Garrett was in Melbourne. It was a spur of the moment thought and as a result something that I thought would be quite small, informal and relaxed.

I posted about the thought and questioned for expressions of interest and was flooded with enquiries. What I thought would be a 20 person event was starting to look like a 50 person one. In conjunction with the team at SitePoint I started to look at venues of that size but as the expressions of interest continued to come in we realised we needed to reckon larger.

We have booked a venue – the Jika International – which will seat 100 comfortably (there is a chance we can upgrade to a larger room) and on Friday opened the doors to start selling tickets (via this page on EventBrite).

As I write this – we have sold 88 seats and there are only 12 8 6 available. There is no guarantee we’ll get the larger room so if you’re interested – today’s the day to secure your place.

A few details about the event:

• When: Tuesday 3rd August – 9am-5pm
• Where: Jika International in Fairfield (it’s not a high end venue but has everything we need including wifi, plenty of food, close to public transport, 6km out of the CBD and some crazy carpet).
• Cost: $99 AUD – including lunch and morning and afternoon tea (plus some other bonuses/prizes). We’ve tried to keep it as affordable as we can and reckon for 6 hours of training this represents value.
• Who: this event is for people with blogs. It’s not at the real beginner end (ie how to start a blog) but will be accessible for those starting out through to more intermediate bloggers who want to take things up a notch. The 88 people signed up already are a fantastic bunch from all around Australia (and New Zealand) (you can see them listed on the ticket sales page). We’ve got people flying in from Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane etc and there will be time during the day for networking and interaction.

Sessions/Topics

The sessions in this event will cover a range of topics identified by a survey of attendees including:

• Making Killer Content
• Finding Readers for Your Blog
• Building Reader Engagement and Community
• Monetizing Blogs

We’ll be mixing up the presentation style with some keynote style presentations, case studies, a panel and some workshop/interactive times for looking at some participants blogs (we won’t be able to do everyone).

I still want the day to be informal, relaxed and fun – but we should be able to cover some excellent solid teaching over the day too.

Speakers

Speakers will include both Chris and myself but we’re also bringing in some other fantastic Melbourne bloggers to do case studies including Collis Taeed from Envato and Pip Lincolne from Meet me at Mikes. There will also be some of the SitePoint team participating.

Prizes/Giveaways

Attendees will also be in the running for some cool giveaways. The team at Haul have place up an iPad folio or sleeve (like the one I have) for one lucky attendee, we’ll give away some ProBlogger books, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbooks, and the team at Flippa are giving all attendees $20 credit at their site. We’re also talking to a couple of other companies about some giveaways/bonuses to add a small spice into the day (if your company want to talk about that let me know).

If you’re an Aussie blogger (or you can get to Australia on 3rd August) we’d like to have you join us. Reserve your seat today and if you find that all 100 tickets are taken please do add yourself to the waiting list as we’ll do our best to find a way to add a few more seats or shift to a larger room if it is still available.

Reserve your seat here and join the fantastic group of bloggers attending.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Melbourne Blogger Training Day
3 August 2010 – 12 Seats Left

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I am very excited today to be able to announce to you that at this year’s BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2010 that Chris Garrett and I will be running a full day of training – the ProBlogger Track.

In this post I want to share a small more information about what we’ll be doing in the ProBlogger track and also mention that the Early Bird Special (nearly 50% off) for signing up ends 15 July. But first, let me tell you why I like BWE!

Why I like Blog World Expo

BlogWorld Expo is an event that I’ve had the privilege of attending for the last two years and for me it is the #1 event that I try to get to in the US each year. I like it because:

• Networking – thousands of bloggers and social media people in the one place opens up some incredible opportunities to build relationships and learn potential business partnerships.
• Learning – some fantastic speakers share what they know at this event. Their expertise covers a range of topics, from design, to SEO, to monetization, to content creation, to community management. There are also a lot of social media specific topics as well as sessions for different niches. Over 200 speakers present – there’s some fantastic stuff to learn from them!
• Not too Huge but Huge Enough – some other shows are so huge that they become completely overwhelming. BWE is certainly huge enough to attract fantastic speakers and a large number of people to network with – but it’s not too huge that you can’t find anyone. This being focused upon blogging and new media also brings it enough focus that you continually bump into people with shared interests.
• Relaxed and Friendly – my own experience of this gathering is people are very friendly, inclusive and chilled. This is not a hyped up conference, but there is a lot of fun and plenty of opportunity to interact with others (the networking parties are fantastic in the evenings).
• Vegas – I’m not someone who could spend a lot of time in Vegas, but 3-4 days can be a lot of fun. This year BWE is moving from the convention center to Mandalay Bay which will mean that it is much more focused upon one area and hopefully more people will be staying close to each other. Less travel and more chance to interact.

What will the ProBlogger Track Cover?

Most of you should know Chris Garrett – he and I co-authored the ProBlogger Book. This will only be the 4thd time we’ve met in person and the 2nd time we’ll have run this type of thing together (we’re doing one in Melbourne in a few weeks too).

Chris and I are still finalising the exact schedule for the day but here’s what we can tell you so far:

• It will be held on Thursday 14th October. Please note this date so that you don’t just buy a pass for Friday and Saturday. There are other sessions on Thursday also which the Thursday pass will also get you access to.
• I’ve recently surveyed a segment of ProBlogger readers on the needs and challenges that they face as bloggers. We’ll be basing the sessions we run around the main needs identifies. These are ‘finding readers’, ‘making blogs profitable’ and ‘writing killer content’.
• We are hoping to mix things up a small in terms of how we teach these topics. We want each session to contain solid teaching (keynote style) but also time for practical case studies/interviews with people who know what they’re doing and some Q&A. So there will be a mix of keynotes, interviews and one panel on the day.
• Chris and I won’t be doing everything alone – we’re already pulling together a few other special guest presenters to bring their own expertise.

Also at BWE this year it looks like I’ll be involved in a number of other sessions including the usual ‘Super Panel’ that looks at monetization and another that I’m not sure I can announce quite yet.

BWE Early Bird Special Ends 15th July

If you’re coming to BWE NOW is the time to get your ticket as they are currently running an Early Bird Special that ends on 15 July. The special gets you nearly 50% off so it is well worth taking advantage of! Sign up to attend BWE here.

PS: Promote BWE as an Affiliate

If you’re a blogger with an audience that might like to also attend BWE – you can also become an affiliate for BWE (like me). They pay a 10% commission on any referrals you can bring in. With an average spend of $360 this is $36 per attendee referred. Sign up as an affiliate here.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Announcing the ‘ProBlogger Track’ at Blog World Expo 2010
Early Bird Special Ends this Week!

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