Blog Business Summit

Are you interested in learning how to leverage blogging for your business? If so, you should have been at Blog Business Summit last week! The conference spanned useful topics ranging from starting your 1st blog to the future of online communications. There was an impressive line-up of speakers (bloggers) and panelists, including Dave Taylor, Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo Jason Calacanis, Ben Edwards, Andru Edwards, and John Battelle.

Two common themes were search engine optimization (SEO) and engagement with your blog’s audience. Google favors fresh content and links — so, the simplest way to drive more traffic to a blog is to give your posts more google-relevant titles. Blogs also have great potential to engage readers in a conversation about their content. Robert Scoble mentioned that his blog’s audience’s engagement level is much higher than most websites because he brings his personality to his blog & stays authentic. 

Many attendees blogged about the conference as it happened. It was weird to hear constant typing during the presentations.  For a summary of each session and its highlights, click the "continue reading" link below …

Wednesday:

• Business Blogging Case Study: The Creation of a Sponsored Weblog - See summary
• Dave Taylor Keynote - The Future of Findability - Dave is an amazing presenter with a vast array of knowledge. A key thing he reminded that group was that a blog is "just a tool" and it is up to the blogger or bloggers to take advantage of this tool to the best of their abilities. Another key takeaway from this presentation was that you NEED to make sure that your customer can find you (ahead of your competitor) when searching for your company or product online (findability). Further, blogging is the 21st Century version of word of mouth. More coverage.
• The Blog Advantage: What Blogs Are and Why They are Taking Over - Steve Broback from Blog Business Summit mentioned a couple of reasons blogs are better than traditional media: they are more practical, more visable, and provide greater flexibility. Do you know what Nigritude Ultramarine means? The answer is nothing- It stemmed from a SEO challenge to see who can become number 1 on google for a search term that did not exist. The winner- a blog.
• Getting Started: Your First Blog - This was a very basic session on how to start a blog, using TypePad as the example.  Dave and Steve were able to create an entire blog, start to finish, within the hour. Quite a feat considering all the dialouge that took place in between building the blog.
• Working Your Blog: Posting and Beyond - Again, Dave Taylor discussed the various ways to get your blog noticed in the vast blogosphere.
• Getting Started with Podcasting and Video Blogging - Robert Scoble, John Furrier and Andru Edwards discussed some of the history of Podcasting, and how you can best incorporate these new forms of communication into your blog.
• Legal Issues for Bloggers and the Companies Who Employ Them - This was an interesting discussion with Buzz Bruggeman, Kevin O’Keefe and Phil Mann on the issues employers and employees face with blogging and bloggers.

Thursday:

• What’s Next in Online Communications - My key takeaway? Internet usage on phones will be the future. See summary.
• Maintaining Authenticity & Integrity Within Commercial Social Media - Lots of bloggers covered this one (including me). One interesting quote he mentioned was "Do not let anyone get inside the blog post"— meaning disclose EVERYTHING and do not deceive others. At the end of the session, Jason Calacanis announced that Podtech and GoDaddy agreed to a $100,000 sponsorship of his new podcast, with the money going toward putting two Brooklyn kids to a private school they could not otherwise afford.
• Engaging with Bloggers: Working the Blogosphere - Halley Suitt, Janet Johnson, and Buzz Bruggeman led a lively discussion about how to best engage with bloggers when trying to market your company.  The number one rule they all seemed to agree on was making sure you read and understand a blog or blogger before doing any sort of outreach. More.
• Audience Measurement: Quantifying and Qualifying - See this excellent summary of the panel discussion.
• Building Communities Online - Dustin from Move.com wrote a good summary over at RainCity Guide. He actually randomly sat next to me during the morning sessions on Thursday and we talked at length at the reception afterwards. I posted my notes on my blog.
• RSS and Feeds: Monitoring the Blogosphere and the Buzz - See summary
• Walking the Tightrope: Mixing the Personal and Professional on your Blog - This panel was the most lively and interesting session that I attended. With Jory Des Jardins moderating, Robert and Maryam Scoble participated in the panel with Chris Pirillo and Ponzi Indharasophang. They talked a little bit about how being personable creates a strong bond between reader and author, which drives engagement.
• Corporate Blogging Policy - Ben Edwards from IBM, Nicki Dugan of Yahoo!, Betsy Aoki from Microsoft talked a bit about corporate blogging policy. Summary here.
• Entrepreneurial Blogging: Maximizing Ad Revenues - This turned out to be just a free-form discussion with the main contributors being Jason Calacanis, Dave Taylor, Andru Edwards, Robert Scoble, and Chris Pirillo. One thing that was brought up was the notion that, in the blogosphere, "Everybody’s talking, no one is listening." More coverage.
• Microsoft & Social Media: Lessons Learned from the MSDN Community Blog & Channel 9 - Some great ideas came out of this session around how to engage the "MVP’s" of your blog- how do you get them coming back time and time again and adding insightful ideas. More.
• Small Business Blogging - Sarah and I both missed this session. But here’s a summary.

Friday:

• Putting Web Feeds to Work - It’s estimated that 30% of your time on the job is spent looking for information. Conference sponsor Attensa has a RSS reader (that plugs into Outlook) that can help people organize their information more effectively. For more information, check this post.
• Ben Edwards: Branding in the Age of YouTube - One of Ben’s slides said, "The rise of social media heralds the advent of a new communications paradigm" - which represents a new way of communicating that’s emerging. Are you ready to lose control of your brand? Well, you already have according to Mr. Edwards. Instead, try to influence rather than control. In the age of social media, there is the concept of the "naked" corporation- Everything can be seen by everyone. Embrace social media- it’s here to stay. See more coverage and take a look at this video Ben played for the audience.
• Ten Ways to a Killer Blog - Robert and Maryam Scoble gave a lively and engaging presentation about ten tips to create a great blog.
• Podcasting and Video Blogging Best Practices - Mary Hodder, Robert Scoble, and Andru Edwards spoke both about best practices and creative way to use video online. The first thing to determine is what story you want to tell. Stay close- "if your pictures aren’t good enough, you probably aren’t close enough." More coverage.
• John Battelle Keynote - Talk about a great keynote speaker. Take a look at this great summary for the key points. More coverage.
• Blogging and SEO Strategies - John Battelle, Tris Hussy, and Dave Taylor answered audience questions about the ins and outs of drawing more traffic to your blog. One tip- show a little link love!
• The Future of Blogging: Tools and Trends - RainCity Guide gives some highlights here or Pro PR summarizes here. What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts (if you’ve made it this far)!

If you’re interested, Teresa Valdez-Klein at Blog Business Summit has started to post speaker slides for all the sessions listed above on the Blog Business Summit blog. For even more coverage, type "Blog Business Summit" into Technorati.