ContentRobot had the pleasure of attending these BlogWorld Expo keynotes and sessions on Saturday.

The Keynote

Richard Jalichandra of Technorati gave us a preview of the State of the Blogosphere. He indicated that it is active, influential, branded, and money-making. Expertise and self-expression remains and big reasons for personal bloggers and the sharing of ideas were important for corporate bloggers.

Anil Dash and Chris Alden of Six Apart discussed happenings with their blog products. They believe that bloggers want to connect, everyone is their own media company, and blogging 2.0 included big social aspects. They project by 2012 that 77% or 74 billion people will be reading blogs in their daily internet activities.

Making Money Online with a Blog Session

We listened to these successful bloggers on this most interesting session: John Chow, Brian Clark, Zac Johnson, Jim Kukral, Darren Rowse and Jeremy Schoemaker. They shared the ways they make money with their blogs:

Most of them took the time in the first year or two to establish credibility and create trust. They also chose to blog about topics that they were passionate about so they could write for the long haul. By becoming a thought leader, you can then influence your readers to buy products.

  • Advertising: AdSense, Chitika, sponsorships, (in sidebars, interstitials, and newsletters)
  • Sales: affiliate and direct
  • Freebies: give them something free (like an e-book), but get their name on your newsletter list (building that email list is real important)
  • Promoting Yourself: Give away schwag, ebooks, consulting, etc.
  • Connect with Your Audience on Other Sites: get involved in Flickr/Google Groups, forums, Twitter etc. to share your expertise
  • Word-of-Mouth: These visitors are more important (and more lucrative) as relationships lead to repeat buying
  • Add to Your Pitch: Get others to give you reviews and testimonial
  • Balance: Ensure content value and promotions are mixed for maximum effect
  • Consistency and Repetition: Each does at least 1-2 promos per month and 3-10 posts per day to send their message out (they do work hard for their money)

Microjournalism: Breaking News in 140 Words or Less Session

These blogging rockstars (Laura Fitton, Robert Scoble, and Doc Searls) enlightened us on using Twitter. Here are the highlights:

  • Twitter has spawned home-based data sources and “man-on-the street” reports
  • Information will be easily found on Twitter before a major source can break the news (examples of fires and earthquakes were noted)
  • Centralized news is gone, participatory news is here
  • Adding these new citizen journalists creates richer data experiences
  • Moral: get thyself to Twitter, befriend, learn, teach, and share for everyone’s benefit

Creating Customer Loyalty with Social Media Session

Toby Bloomberg, Becky Carroll, Frank Eliason, Tony Hsieh, and Brian Solis chatted about making personal connections with today’s technology. They said:

  • If are going to blog or Twitter, what will you be talking about and what resources do you have to keep it going?
  • Use phone, email, IM, blogs and Twitter to reach out as a PR, customer service, and marketer all in one
  • Get involved in the platform that your customers use (search for them, find out what are talking about and engage them there)
  • Portray your company’s culture in your tweets (and other communication) consistently
  • Help to create or reinforce your brand’s personality so others want to interact with you
  • Each panelist twittered for about 1-2 hours a day!

It was a day full of good stuff – onto the TechSet.TV party!