Casual Blogger Conference 2010

Well, we are still up in Utah enjoying the holiday weekend and spending time with family.  Not only that, but the last couple of days I had a great time attending the first annual Casual Blogger Conference.  Wow, what a blast!  300 women (ok, there were a few men, maybe four) who all have the same hobby and passion, most from the area, and all laughing and visiting with each other.  I met some fant-abulous ladies, including a few whose blogs I follow (and am a huge fan of) like Leigh Anne from Your Homebased Mom, Becca from Blue Cricket Design, Julie from LeeLou Blogs, and Kari from UCreate.  I also made some new friends and some great connections. 

I will tell you what a bad blogger I am.  First, I couldn't find my camera before we left so I have no pictures.  Second, I didn't bring my laptop with me so I couldn't blog along like others.  And third, I don't text, tweet or have a Blog Frog community.  Wow!  I am really behind in the times, aren't I?

Friday we learned alot about search engine optimization, FTC guidelines, and social media.  I know - geeky to some, fascinating to me.  Even if you don't get the appeal you have to respect the power of the blogger.  Here are some interesting facts about blogging:

• People are 4x more likely to trust a blog than any other online media.
• 85% of blog readers make a purchase decision based on a blog.
• Over the next year the people reading blogs will double.
• 22 of the top 100 Google-ranked websites are blogs.

Saturday we broke out into smaller panels and I focused on my area of interest - blog design and HTML coding.  By the 3rd panel with the same instructors I felt like we were friends. *giggle*  Although I did learn alot, I also surprised myself with how much I already knew.  What an exciting discovery and an enormous boost to my confidence, that's for sure.

My mind is buzzing with new ideas.  I have a thousand and one projects in mind and at least a million new items on my to-do list.  Stay posted for updates on how I end up filtering them down (or as Rustin Banks of Blog Frog would say, pivot).

And PS - I can't wait for CBC 11.  I think I am hooked on these things now!!