Type-A Parent Conference always teaches me lessons I need to learn about my blog and career. The sessions are informative and the speakers leave time for questions. Many provide more information online for free and are willing to assist you if you have a concern that comes up after the conference.

Much Needed Blog Lessons

1. Continue to work at writing better content and to learn about social media. I can’t sit back and write blog posts just because I like to write and share ideas. It’s easy to get lost in the crowd of blogs, now more than ever. It’s important to know how to share my content, how to maintain my blog connections and become an expert in a few of the social media outlets. “There is no such thing as job security” via Chris Garrett @chrisgarrett during his Opening Keynote – Blogging from Zero to Full-Time Business, opened my eyes to this lesson.
2. Learn more about SEO. I’ve bought ebooks and read dozens of blog posts, but say that this topic is too difficult for me to understand. I need to put more effort into SEO if I want more blog traffic period. It makes a huge difference if people find my blog posts through search rather than through promotion. Thanks to the amazing Heather Solos @HeatherSolos for inspiring me.
3. Don’t give up on RSS subscribers. Every time I check the number of RSS subscribers for Brain Foggles, the number is the same – 121. What the heck? At one time I had over 2000 subscribers. At first, I was disappointed, but learned about the glitches of Feed Burner. After a session with Phil Hollows @phollows, the founder of Feed Blitz, I was entranced with the necessity of email subscribers and of his service. I’m giving it a try.
4. I can make simple changes to my blog design. Who would have thought so? I’m of the belief to leave it up to an expert, but during the Blog Design Session, I found out that It’s OK to mess around with CSS.  But don’t touch the PHP because you can break your site. Again, SEO comes into play with blog design, for example meta tags with your blog name and description are necessary. Thanks to Brittany Vandy @BrittanyVandy, Laurie Smithwick @UpsideUp and Melissa Culbertson @MelaCulbertson for their Blog Design Session.
   
5. Stay true to myself on my blog. Hearing Katherine Stone of Postpartum Progress, Tanis Miller of Attack of the Redneck Mommy and Cecily Kellogg of Uppercase Woman read blog posts during the We Still Blog Keynote had me in tears. It helped me contemplate about the reasons I blog and the importance of the written word online. The Blogger Town Hall Meeting reminded me that saying no to opportunities that don’t fit my blog means that I’m not a sell out. I’m thrilled to say that I know what my “it” is (my purpose) and I own it via @ReneSyler during her Harvest Your SuperPower Keynote. My purpose may change as life does, but I’ll remain true to it online and in real life.

Thanks to Kelby Carr @tyepeamom, the speakers, sponsors and those who attended for teaching me blog lessons that I needed to learn during Type-A Parent Conference. I’ll be back next year!

Image source: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/356496/TypeACon_BlogDesign.pdf