They blinded me with science - BlogHer ‘06 technical knowledge
In my previous BlogHer ‘06 post, I covered the social networking aspect of my conference experience. In this second BlogHer ‘06 post, I’ll discuss the technical knowledge I gained from the conference.
Day 1 - Friday, July 28 - focused mainly on technical instruction in a variety of areas. For the first session, I chose to attend “Primp Your Blog”. I was torn between that session and “Blog in a Box” (so that I could hear Miss Zoot!), but considering that I’d been blogging for over a year and had already moved from a free hosting service to my own domain, I decided that “Primp Your Blog” might be more appropriate. Besides, I’d promised Megan that I would attend.
Much of what Megan and Maura covered was what I had muddled through on my own over the past few months, but it was definitely worthwhile to hear it again and confirm that I’d gone in the right direction (especially with respect to Akismet, my spam-eater!).
I found the second part of the workshop truly fascinating. Skye covered all sorts of technical aspects that bloggers wouldn’t normally even consider but are of great importance to people who have various physical limitations and rely upon tools to use the Internet. Plus, in my opinion, much of what she covered is best practices, regardless of for whom you’re writing.
(That’s not to say that I follow all of those best practices, but I aspire to.)
At lunch, there was a keynote panel discussion of emerging technologies. I’m ashamed to admit that I did not pay much attention. But I didn’t talk over the speakers; I stuffed my face with pecan pie instead.
(Cathy, you had better not throw stones. I saw those pieces - PLURAL - of carrot cake.)
After lunch, there were four workshops that each repeated once. That is, I could choose from two of the four workshops to attend during the allotted time period.
First, I went to the “Ten Types of Web Writing” workshop led by Lisa Stone (mwah!) and Lynne D. Johnson (whom I would have loved to chat with, especially given her music industry background). I found it to be exceptionally helpful in that writing for the web is very different from writing for print in many ways. I could expound further, but instead I’ll refer you directly to the post (and comments) on the BlogHer site regarding this workshop. I’ll only reiterate the site that Lynne mentions in her comment - copyblogger.com - because it sounds like an excellent resource.
Next, I went to the “Audience Building” workshop led by Elise Bauer. Leading up to the conference, I’d been devouring her series of posts on the topic - the second of which (concerning content) led me to write my post on the usefulness of mommy blogs. Much of what she presented in the workshop is covered in the series of posts I linked above, but one key nugget of information I learned is that 404 errors (page not found) detract from page rank. That is, if your site has a preponderance of 404 errors (broken links), search engines like Google will prioritize OTHER sites (with fewer broken links) over yours when returning search results. Elise suggested using a link checker, and one that I’ve found is the W3C link checker. I’ve run it, but I haven’t dug into the results yet.
(Hell, I haven’t even updated my blogroll yet. One step at a time, people.)
After the first series of workshops, there was a second series with a similar setup. I’ll admit that I only went to one workshop in the second series. Not because I wasn’t interested in attending a second one, but because I was wiped out and needed some downtime before the poolside reception and complimentary wine.
I chose to attend the “$$$ Generation” workshop, led by Jennifer Slegg. (Can you see the trend? I’m a money-hungry capitalist who has no shame about driving traffic to my blog to click on my ads so that I can pay my Nordstrom credit card bill.)
Jennifer, with the help of Very Mom’s personal example, reiterated the importance of maintaining page rank by not only fixing your broken links, but by guarding your subdomains with your life. With respect to page rank, you want to be as close to the top of the search results as possible in order to increase the likelihood that the searcher will click on your site (page views! page views!) even if they are looking for something that couldn’t possibly be found at your site.
(I have had not one, but TWO people click on my site in the past two days looking for “world record for marshmallow stuffing up one nostril”. If ever the phrase “what the fuck” was appropriate, it would be now.)
I’m going to take the easy way out and link to the live-blog entry for this workshop. The section I found particularly interesting was the affiliate programs, but I’ll be honest: I wasn’t familiar with such programs, so much of it went over my head, and I still need to sort out what may be useful and what may not.
(Big thanks to JenB for having the balls to ask questions on behalf of our entire table!)
Although I have been scared of coding since my freshman engineering classes, blogging has helped me begin to overcome that fear. Writers using a medium such as the web really do need to have a modicum of technical knowledge, if for no other reason than to ensure our content is safe and backed up.
(Oh, and to update our blogrolls. That’s MOTHERGOOSEMOUSE. Dot com.)
Technorati tags: BlogHer, BlogHer ‘06, technical knowledge, Google
August 4th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Julie, you are the best. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
August 4th, 2006 at 7:54 am
I could have used a few of those seminars! BTW, not to change the subject but I love the new banner with the goose and the mouse…very cute!
August 4th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Great post. Next year, I’ll definitely be more choosy about which workshops I attend. I didn’t find “Primp Your Blog” all that helpful, but it might have been better if I could have had a WORKING laptop. Let’s cross our fingers that next year’s conference location has a better network server.
I just bought my own domain, which I’m running through Wordpress, and I am STILL afraid of coding. Baby steps for me.
August 4th, 2006 at 8:22 am
Gotcha sister- Just added you to my blogroll right now!
August 4th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Seriously, I either followed you around or you followed me. I’m a money grubber too. MONEY. GRUBBER. Isn’t Elise fabulous? I got to talk to her in the Business Blogging unpanel - she is ‘all that’.
August 4th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Um, sorry, but I’m going to have to clutter up your comments section with a stupid question - what are sub-domains, and how do we guard them?
(Am techno-tard)
(so I’ll add this non-techno remark - I love you. MWAH!)
August 4th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Heather, my friend Cathy and I commented to each other that Elise must NEVER sleep - she is incredible.
HBM, not a factor until you have your own domain. However, your current URL is actually a subdomain itself! That is, it’s a subdomain of blogspot.com. So an example of a subdomain of my domain would be badladies.mothergoosemouse.com. I could allow you to “rent” that subdomain for your use, but it is still a part of my domain - mothergoosemouse.com.
The trouble comes when someone who is on your subdomain posts objectionable content - objectionable in terms of how it is handled by search engines - and it affects your domain as well.
August 4th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Oh, and I love you too. More MWAH!
August 4th, 2006 at 9:10 am
Wow, there’s so much to learn. I really wish I would’ve gone. Just thinking about how much more there is to know if you’re really serious about getting as much traffic/money as possible makes my head spin. I hate the feeling that I’m missing out on stuff, like getting people to my site or somehow making money off of it, but geezus. I only have so much time in my day! It’s exhausting.
August 4th, 2006 at 10:11 am
There is a lot to learn. I think I’d bounce between feeling kind of overwhelmed, a bit nerdy and excited at being able to get such great information.
August 4th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Thanks for the comment about my presentation on accessibility. I don’t even follow all my own suggestions on all my blogs and sites just yet, but I’m moving in that direction and tried to do my best to share what I know.
August 4th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Thanks for posting this. As one who was not there, I have loved finding more info on the sessions.
August 4th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
i wish i had attending things that i actually got use out of. i tried. i really tried, but they just weren’t for me, or couldn’t hold my attention. i walked out of one right after the introductions because i knew that those 3 people on the panel were not going to tell me anything i could use. or if they could, i would be too bored to hear it. you know?
August 4th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
i was not there–but these references are just great. i will definitely be checking out some of these later, especially Elise Bauer (did not know about her at all).
August 4th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Love the new look!
Hh
August 4th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Thanks for all the info on the technical stuff. I didn’t get to go to any of the conference, but would have liked to have heard this stuff so I appreciate the linkage!
P.S. Like your new header!
August 4th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Did you say on Amalah that your dd has blue eyes and you and her dad don’t?
Just curious…we have a similar situation and have had dr’s (wtf?) tell us that “its genetically impossible for a brown eyed parent and green eyed/hazel eyed parent to have a blue eyed child”
are you similiarly having the impossible?
Seriously curious…
August 4th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Here I was feeling stupid for being hungover the first day and missing all the workshops and now…I can catch up with it all! It’s just like copying off your homework, Julie!
August 4th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
After Lisa and Lynne’s writing class, I realized that those whimsical subject lines that I had so much fun creating? Not so useful for searching! Oh well, it’s not like anyone is going to be googling about most of my topics anyway.
Thanks for the summary! I went to a lot of the same sessions and managed to take pretty good notes until the last class, where I zoned out completely like a high school senior in June.
August 5th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Thanks for the info on the subdomain! I had no idea and I actually have several for rent. Everytime anyone does a search for “Mocha” they end up with something in the porn industry.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Wow. I learned something new again. Thanks for the info since I didn’t make it to those sessions.
August 5th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Thank you SO much for this summary. I should have been there but I goofed off at the pool instead. Some things never change : )
*slips MGM a $20 for taking such good notes*
August 6th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Wow, this is really helpful. I attended the first day, actually i sat with you at one session, but not the others you talk about.
Update blogroll: soon!
August 6th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Those pieces of carrot cake were SMALL! very TINY! and also, “carrot.” That is, contained actual vegetables.
August 6th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
that’s such a good point, and one I feel I should/must heed. but am loathe to. I so despise the idea of learning code.
ugh.
August 7th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Thanks for coming to the session and not throwing tomatoes!
August 7th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
Re: to Curious on the eye color thing…
I recently read that geneticists now know that the formerly hard and fast rules regarding eye color are not so hard and fast.
Also, any eye color that is not brown is technically blue, including green, gray and hazel. So a hazel eyed person and a brown eyed person can, indeed, have a blue eyed child.