BlogPodium: Blogs + Media
January 28, 2012
Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to sit in a room full of fabulous bloggers and listen to an excellent panel discuss the role of blogs and traditional media.
BlogPodium was created by two Toronto based bloggers - Jennifer Flores of Rambling Renovators and Lindsay Stevenson of Little House Blog, and it's purpose is to bring together design bloggers and industry representatives from design magazines and television shows to share ideas about how blogs are influencing traditional design media (and vice-versa), and what blog writers should aim for when striving to make their blog successful. Yesterdays panel was the first of what will be a quarterly discussion about blogs, with the aim of educating and encouraging bloggers to create the best blogs possible.
This first discussion was held at the start of trade day at the Interior design show (which I explored after the talk), and there were excellent speakers on the panel:
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| The BlogPodium panel: from L to R: Lindsay Stevenson, Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault, Jennifer Flores, Kimberley Sheldon, Kate Moore, Margot Austin (my apologies for the fuzzy cellphone picture) |
- Margot Austin - Senior Design Editor - House & Home magazine
- Kimberley Seldon - Editor in Chief - Dabble magazine, and Design Editor - Chatelaine magazine
- Kate Moore - Producer - CityLine
- Jennifer Flores - Blogger and co-founder of BlogPodium
- Moderated by: Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault - CityLine Guest Expert
- A good blog has an original voice,and original ideas.
- Don't just post pictures and say 'wow - this space is awesome' - explain why you think it's a great space.
- Don't let your blog get too serious - blogging is about content and entertainment.
- Make use of all forms of Social Media - you need exposure along with great ideas to grow your blog.
- If you dream of being invited to do a guest spot on a design show include video on your blog so producers of shows can see the real you.
- Set a good regular schedule for posting - 3 to 4 posts a week - once is not enough(eeps!)
- Try to keep you posts to under 500 words (Double eeps!)
- If pitching your idea - consider the vehicle - know the audience - if the magazine features mostly homes decorated by professional designers using high-end products they probably won't be interested in your DIY projects.
- Editing is key - stick to your core message.
- If you use the work of others in your blog (photographers, designers, etc), always, always credit the source.
BlogPodium's next topic will be the Business of Blogging and will be presented in May. I'm sure it will be just as enlightening as yesterdays, and I'm planning on attending, and if you're in or near Toronto I hope you will consider coming as well.
This afternoon I'm heading to Canadian Design bloggers meetup so I won't be able to share today what great things I saw at the Interior Design show - hopefully I'll be able to do that later this week.
PS - Word count: 529 :(
6 comments
Hi Michelle
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it! I'm not sure I'm a "design blogger" so I didn't sign up, but it sounds like they did a fabulous job!
LOVE the new look of your blog, by the way :)
Janet
My theory on the 500 word count and posting 3-4 times a week is that if I can only post once or twice a week, then I can have 500-1000 words, right?!?! I already try to edit my posts down but they're still so long...
ReplyDeleteI wish I could've met more bloggers at both BlogPodium and CDB, but CDB was so packed there was no where to move around! Next time...
Thanks Janet!
ReplyDeleteThey did do a fabulous job - you should come next time. The information discussed was applicable across all forms of blogs - not just design blogs. I don't know if I'd consider myself a 'design' blogger either (although I'd love to be), but I'm going to try to apply some of what I learned.
Michelle
Yeah - I think that 500 word thing will be a little too hard for me to stick to - I'll try though. I also think it's completely readers preference - I read some blogs that hugely exceed 500 words per post, and I read each word. Other blogs have less than 100 words and I only skim them. . . .
ReplyDeleteCBD was a bit packed - and since I didn't know anyone I found it a bit intimidating. I've decided to do better at meeting other bloggers at the next event though ;)
We're supposed to count our words?! Oh, I've totally failed doing that. Great recap Michelle! You've captured some valuable points. I look forward to seeing you at our next event!
ReplyDelete[...] I had the amazing opportunity to attend the 2nd edition of BlogPodium (you can read about the first here) which was held at the beautiful Arcadian Loft in Downtown Toronto. BlogPodium was started by two [...]
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