By Winnie Caldwell

June 18, 2015 through June 21, 2015, I took a trip to the 8th Annual Blogging While Brown Conference (#BWBATX)! The Conference was hosted in Austin, TX and I had no idea what to expect. Will I be accepted? Will I have fun? EVERYONE, even those who were just guests at my hotel treated me like family.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, in some areas home in St. Louis, being black is still not comfortably accepted. Though, upon arrival at#BWBATX, I felt an overwhelming sense of support and welcoming.

There was a multitude of people who looked like me, thought like me, and welcomed me without knowing me. The funny thing is, I met two amazing women who live in my hometown, St. Louis, who were dynamic speakers at #BWBATX!! Brandy Butler and Danyelle Little!

 

Another fun fact, my amazing Love and Relationship contributor, Tatianah Green, Founder of BlissForSingles.com and I hadn’t formally met in person until #BWBATX! Look at God!

Though there was so much love and support at this conference, there was also an abundance of educating.

When you truly care for your community and your future, you uplift and encourage them.

Thank you Elisa Camahort Page, Senior VP Community Content & Events, SheKnows Media and BlogHer15 for setting the tone!

How does one follow up behind that? With a team of amazing, strong women of course! Five women of NaturallyCurly.com, graced #BWBATX with the Lunch Panel | From Niche to Mainstream: Why Your Blog Matters. When I say life was given!

From learning the art of social media from Evelyn Ngugi, how to master email marketing from Nikki Johnson, to Kami Smith giving the importance on partnerships and more! Definitely got lunch and the tea from these wonderful ladies! Thank you Michelle Breyer and Cristina Cleveland for showing us at #BWBATX that anything is possible!

 

St. Louis had to come out, show up and show out though! Hey Brandy Butler! Butler of brandybutleronline.com taught us how to Podcast for Profit! With her bright spirit, fun humor and impeccable tips, I can’t wait to get into the world of pod-casting. Word from the wise: Don’t use BlogTalkRadio….Look into iTunes radio, Stitcher or even Soundcloud and Spotify! Create your own platform!

How do you create your own platform? Maybe you should contact Jennifer Kennedy at teachgoodstuff.com! Kennedy graced #BWBATX with her outstanding teaching skills! She taught us to consider the following:

-Where does this course fit in with your plan?

-What experience do you want your students to have?

-What specific problem are you solving?

-Who’s your audience?

-What’s your spin?

Also be sure to have a course with goal based names!

Thank me later. 🙂

As the saying goes,

“The best thing you can do for someone is to put them in the position to make some money.”-Unknown

Lamar Tyler, Owner at Tyler New Media and Co-Founder at Black and Married With Kids, had no problem reminding us bloggers of our worth and how we could look at ourselves as entrepreneurs and not just bloggers. Tyler explained how to gain more traffic, generate more revenue, and the art of re-purposing content. Also joining with Tyler was his beautiful wife and business partner, Ronnie Tyler on instilling in us attendees at the conference how to create a million dollar blog. After this power couple went home with the award, Bloggers of the Year, they are two individuals to look up to and stay close to! I couldn’t help but call them the Obama’s of #BWBATX.

Bloggers of the Year? What’s that? It’s dope that’s what it is. But in order to be a true Blogger of the Year, you have to make sure business is in tact! Thank you Arsha Jones, of ArshaJones.com, for getting us in check during Blogging 101 Super Session! Below are the Top 10 Pages Your Blog Needs. (Don’t fact check mine just yet, forgive me blog lord for I have not known what I needed before this conference) 😉

 

This was a super session right? It was a super session because Bernetta Knighten, bernettastyle.com also shared her blogging tips! Want to increase page views?

 

 

 

 

Use a gallery post! Essence.com thought they was slick…I caught you lol Make YouTube videos? People don’t want to read all the time. Have quality photos….phones are too high-tech this day in age for your pictures to be fuzzy like a ol’ school television.

 

Hey Oneika! What if I told you I sat directly in front of a beautiful woman who has traveled to 70+ countries! Well I did. I sat in on Oneika Raymond’s, oneika-the-traveller.com, session The Art of Story Telling. And her art of storytelling is amazing. Wouldn’t it suck if she never told her amazing experiences? I honestly don’t know how she does it, but travel-wise, I live through her just because her storytelling is amazing.

How is storytelling important?

It grabs your reader.

It can help someone’s gain if you get personal with your story.

You can be Kontroversial…with a K for Kanye…He knows how to hit those hot spots and get everyone’s opinions flooding the internet!

Speaking of Kanye…in the words of Danyelle Little, thecubiclechick.com, and native of St. Louis; this amazing woman showed out and got everyone’s attention when she said, “Promote like a Kardashian!”

Little had the entire room in awe as she explained How to Take Your Online Message to Other Mediums|TV, to Radio, to HuffPo Live.

Five tips I will share:

-Fine tune our social media bios (Your profile needs to be creative, informative, sincere and professional.)

-Have a niche that allows you to showcase your expertise

-Have a video on your about page! Wouldn’t that be captivating?

-MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO CONTACT YOU ( I can’t stress this enough. Provide email and/or telephone number on your blog where you can be reached! Don’t miss out on a blessing because you are trying to act like you’re too good to be contacted.)

-When traveling reach out to local news/radio stations!

You’re welcome 😉

In light of news and radio, its only fitting to share what the beautiful and hard-working Jacque Reid, singleandfab.com and of The Tom Joyner Morning Show, had to say.

~PUT A NUMBER AND EMAIL ON YOUR CONTACT PAGE! Ok I will stop there. Clearly that’s important folks.

~Be hair and makeup ready! Ladies have a wig packed for goodness sake!

~Have a landline phone available when doing radio interviews. Ain’t nobody got time for, “Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” Nah. She said a woman used the landline phone in Popeye’s Chicken so you have no excuse.

~Be persistent. News and Radio stations get tons of entries. Engage and let them know why your pitch matters.

It was an amazing time #BWBATX! Thank you for having me!

It was kind of like being at a 2- day family reunion without meeting any of the individuals before!