Whew! I’m back in D.C.! Yesterday at FitBloggin’ was awesome — very informative and fun.
The day started with a New Balance sponsored 5k run.
Those of us that signed up for the run actually got free running shoes, socks, and shorts! This conference had some seriously great swag.
I tested out the socks on the run and I was a huge fan 🙂 Loved that they were “L” and “R”!
It was such a beautiful morning for a run.
Our hotel was in the inner harbor so the run took us all along the water. Gorgeous! Loved all the boats.
I’m happy to say I was in the lead the whole time during the run! We were keeping a great pace (below an 8 minute mile) and it was really fun to chat with the others in front — in particular, it was great to meet Nicole! We had lots to talk about since she’s living in Germany right now and I lived in Prague last year 🙂
After the run, it was time for a Quaker-sponsored breakfast — oatmeal, of course!
Delish 🙂
And then, I attended the following sessions:
- Blogs, Accessibility, and SEO
- Getting Noticed: How to Pitch to Traditional Media
- Beyond the Blog: Getting Published
- Making Money From Your Blog: Should You? Could You? How?
All the sessions were interesting, but I think the one about SEO was the most helpful.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and is the process of making a site and its content relevant for both search engines and searchers. Here were my take-aways:
- Make sure your post and page titles include keywords
- Download the “All in One SEO Pack” plugin from Wordpress
- For images, try to include keywords in the picture titles and alt attributes
- Spend 80% of your time on content development, and 20% on SEO
The session about making money from your blog was really interesting, too. My thoughts on making money through blogging are that while it’s a nice added benefit, it shouldn’t be the main reason you’re blogging. 🙂
It was a beautiful day out, which made staying inside really hard! During the lunch break, some of us headed out for a little walk.
And then after the sessions a bunch of us decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather by hanging out at McCormick & Schmick’s on the waterfront! Our mission: FIND CRAB CAKES!!
Eating with other bloggers is always hilarious:
Ali, Katy, and I decided to share a bunch of appetizers between the three of us. Best idea ever.
We had 2 orders of the crab cakes, which were just as amazing as we’d hoped 🙂
An order of their sweet potato casserole, which was divine.
And one of their Crab, Avocado, and Mango Towers. SO GOOD!
We also enjoyed some of their awesome, warm, crusty bread. Mmm…
After dinner, a bunch of us headed out and tore up the town 🙂 There was lots of dancing involved. It was SUCH a blast!
I can’t believe how quickly the weekend went by! I’m so glad I decided to attend the conference. Honestly, while the sessions were really interesting, I think my biggest take away of the weekend is: The blogging community is amazing. 🙂 Miss you girls already! It was really sad to say goodbye to everyone 🙁
Enjoy the rest of your weekend — I’m heading out for a run! I was supposed to do a 10 miler this weekend, but that’s definitely not going to happen… I’m thinking 6 or so will be just fine 🙂 This will be the first time I’ve been able to run on my favorite trail without stupid snow or ice since the fall!! I can’t wait 🙂
