Blogs and Brands
Marie Denee, The Curvy Fashionista; Tola Lawal, SixOne7Creative; Nadia Jones, Niche Parent Network; Brandi Jeter-Riley, Sr. Manager of Community Relations at Collective Bias
Eliminate the guesswork about working with brands. What are the best practices for bloggers who want to work with brands? What opportunities are available to bloggers? What are brands looking for when they partner with bloggers? How can bloggers convey their audience, reach and influence in an effective manner? Join bloggers and agency veterans as they explain best practices for bloggers who want to partner with brands.
Blogging 101
Arsha Jones, BrandBuildSell
Learn the basic building blocks of blogging: hyperlinking, embedding, block quotes, images and video.
Email Marketing
Kendra Webb-Scott, Ideazio, Inc and ClosetConfections.com
When it comes to conversions, email is still the most effective way to connect with your audience. Learn how to build a high quality email list and avoid wasting your time and credibility on ineffective email campaigns. Hear about the keys to list-building and email marketing and learn the latest strategies for improving your email response rates.
Girls Compete Women Cooperate: How to Use Bloggers in Your Niche to Build a Network
Presenters: Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, The Budgetnista; Kara Stevens, The Frugal Feminista; Tonya Rapley, My Fab Finance; Marsha Horton Barnes, Financial Empowerment; Tiffany Victoria Williams, My Fab Finance
Learn how 4 different brands in the same niche leveraged their respective personal finance brands to create a collaborative brand called The Frugal Fab 5. Questions this session will answer: How do you maximize your online relationships with other bloggers in your niche to create offline opportunities and brand exposure? How do you successfully identify and initiate contact with bloggers in your niche? What are the logistics for maintaining this type of relationship? (legal, meetings, culture, expectations, communication etc.)
How To Build A $100K Blogging Business
Jullien Gordon, SideHustla.com and B.P.A.I.D.
Need to monetize your blog? Can't wait to get a million views a month? Well there are many ways to monetize your blog that aren't ad-based.Questions the session will answer: How to create a business model that isn't just advertising-based? How do you build an email list by creating a valuable, yet free, "hook" for readers? How to use your blog to get speaking, coaching, and consulting opportunities
How to Get Invited to Speak at Conferences
Presenter: Sarah Milstein, Lean Startup Productions
Writers often want to make the jump to speaking, and with good reason: giving presentations can increase your visibility and can lead to new income streams, too. This session will give an insider's view on how conferences pick speakers and how bloggers can greatly increase their chances for getting onstage. Questions this session will answer: How do conferences pick speakers, and how do I get invited to speak? How do I give a great presentation? How can I get paid to speak?
How to Form Kickass Collaborations to Boost Your Web Traffic & Increase Your Social Media Following
Presenters: Sheree Adams, Smart & Sassy Mom; Christine St. Vil, Moms ‘N Charge
Heather Hopson, Diary of a First Time Mom
This session will be a dynamic and interactive experience that teaches concrete collaboration ideas/strategies that could gain more readers and attract more social media followers. Questions this session will answer: How do I gain more readers and attract more social media followers? How can can I connect and collaborate with other bloggers? How can I make my blog stand out from the crowd and build a positive reputation through blogger endorsements?
Law for Bloggers
Presenter: Miriam Nicole Huffman, One Loop Consulting
This session will discuss laws bloggers must know in order to protect their intellectual property online as well as not violate copyright law. Questions this session will answer: How to protect intellectual property (i.e. copyright and trademarks law overview). How to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. How to respond to a letter from an attorney requesting a cease and desist and removal of information from website.
Learn to Code 101
Presenter: Keisha J. Reed, KJR Consulting
Learning how to manage your site is one of the most important rights of passage of a website owner. Come along for the journey in taking the first steps in decoding the jungle that is your website. Questions this session will answer: Do I need to go back to school to learn to code? How can I juggle learning a new skill on top of my other responsibilities? Where can I find additional resources to help me learn more?
Media Relations and Pitching
Presenters: Matt E. Stevens, Prune Juice Media; Michelby L. Whitehead, Everything Girls Love; Jorian L. Seay, Ebony Magazine
This session features veteran journalists, bloggers, and public relations professionals that will address media relations from all angles. Participants will learn what type of media coverage they should seek and how best to partner with those outlets. Participants will learn how to brand themselves, write an attention-grabbing press release, and determine what media outlets and publications fit the platform they are seeking. Attendees have the chance to hear from a member of the media and learn tips, tools of the trade and information that will serve as a blueprint for initiating and maintaining a relationship with media outlets. Questions this session will answer: How do I initiate a relationship with mainstream media? What's the best way to pitch my brand to media and PR outlets so that I am taken as seriously and professionally as possible? How do I determine what media and publications suit my blog/voice? How do I contact talent coordinators and producers for radio and TV interviews? How do I write a clear and concise press release?
The New ABCs of Growing Your Business
Presenter: Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer
Think differently about diverse funding and revenue generation opportunities for online entrepreneurs. Go beyond advertising and affiliates and think of your blog as a business. Learn about funding and alternate methods of funding your business.
Productizing & Ideation for Bloggers
You’ve built an online community, how do you leverage your community to create a suitable commercial product? In this session we’ll introduce the concept of productizing. We’ll generate ideas for products that marry well with your blog audience.
Six Ways to Make Six Figures From Blogging Without Ad Revenue
Lamar & Ronnie Tyler, Black and Married with Kids
In this workshop the Tylers will demonstrate six different streams of revenue that bloggers can tap into, in order to create a six figure income, without ad sales. The Tylers will also give first-hand insight on how they've leveraged all six of these models to generate enough income to replace both of their full-time salaries. Questions this session will answer: How can you make money from blogging without selling ads? How can I make money if I don't have a ton of traffic to my site? What are the seven steps that will turn a reader into a customer?
Social Currency - Using Triberr To Grow Your Blog
Jaha Knight, Karasi Media Group
This session will be about how to leverage Triberr to make connections & start collaborative projects, share relevant content with your audience, join tribes that will contain your blog audience, and gain social currency. Questions this session will answer: How can I push traffic to my site outside of keyword research? How do I increase my social engagement? What will help me get my content in front of my ideal audience?
Trending Topics in Tech: Faith in a Mobile World - SPONSORED BY AT&T
Jason Caston, Social Media and Technology Director at T.D. Jakes Ministries; L. Michelle Smith, AT&T U.S. Diversity Corporate Communications; Chip Dizard, Ministry Multimedia Expert; Tiffani Robinson, Digital and Social Expert
As technology has advanced through the ever-changing times, people have always found ways to mobilize their lives. Today, mobile technology has changed the way we shop, date, read, write, and even worship. Faith communities are the original social networks, so it is no surprise that an increasing amount of African American churches have embraced mobile technology and content sharing, as an effective way to engage and inspire.
Visual Blogging
Presenter: Sarah Glover, Social Media Editor NBC10 Philadelphia
Learn the power of telling stories through video and images.
Yeezy Taught Us
Will Hatcher, Delicious Bath Water
Kanye West is the most most influential brand in the world according to COMPLEX magazine and the greatest genius ever according to Kanye West. His mere presence leaves people with flood of emotions of ranging from anger, confusion, and admiration. While many see Kanye as a guy that's just screaming to get attention, Comedian Will Hatcher will dissect and reveal the true message Yeezus is attempting to convey to the masses and lessons we can learn him. Questions this session will answer: Why we need to pay closer attention to the strategic moves of Kanye West? How can we apply Kanye's creativity to our projects and young minds? Why doesn’t Sway have the answers?
You Can't Be Social Without Mobile First
Presenters: Kristin Bolton-Keys, Mobile Product Manager; Alicia Dixon, Product Manager
The number of mobile users accessing social media has steadily increased, but those that access the social sites through mobile devices are more likely to share content.This session will cover the basics of what it means to have a mobile first strategy, including why it is important for bloggers. Best practices of applying mobile into social media campaign will be outlined through examples of the use of mobile optimized web as well as native apps. Questions this session will answer: Why should I care about mobile for my blog? How do I get started with optimizing my blog for mobile? What are some resources to stay on top of mobile trends?
