October is nearly over, and that means in just over two weeks geeks from all over will be descending on Los Angelas.  BlogWorld’s bi-annual conference hits the west coast this year with a vengeance, and judging by the lineup it’s going to be a fantastic conference.

It’s funny though.  I always joke around with attendees because I’m sort of an anomaly.  Everyone attending BlogWorld is a blogger, podcaster, or new media professional, and then there’s me.  As I like to tell people, I’m the mechanic in the room full of car enthusiasts – I’m the silent sentry that’s ever vigilant on keeping their websites up and running, performing well, and looking nice.  Not that I don’t blog, or podcast, or engage with social networks; it’s just that I’m so busy giving that my own blog suffers.  The old saying goes, “The cobbler’s kids shoes are always the worst” and that rings true every time on my own blog, podcasts (when I am recording them) and twitter account.

BlogWorld for me is a change to recharge.  I’ve heard it mentioned before that BlogWorld is what South-by-Southwest was before it got huge – not that it’s necessarily small!  But whereas people at SxSW can get by with a party pass and a couch to crash on, BlogWorld is definitely more speaker focused – you’ll want to attend sessions just to see what all the fuss is about.

Plus, because of the nature of the conference, you get the chance to meet people you’d never otherwise see (other than online).  Chris Brogan, Jason Falls, Darren Rowse, Guy Kawasaki – I could go on and on but these are people who are in the trenches living and breathing this stuff every day and you and I get to meet them.

BlogWorld NY, earlier in the year, was a turning point for me as a speaker.  I’d always loved (and still love) doing WordCamps and BarCamps, but this is the major leagues and the expectations are high.  I was honored to see a packed house with people stuffed into the doorway trying to get in.  It truly vindicated me as an influencer (at least, I’ve tried to live up to the hype).

So for me, BlogWorld is a chance to get away from the “doing” that goes on day after day and get a fresh perspective.  It allows me to meet people who are doing the day-to-day magic that I strive to do, and see that 1) They’re normal people, just like you and me, and 2) They are willing to impart their knowledge.

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If I’ve piqued your interest, you’ll be happy to know that there are two ways you can attend.  You can hop on a plane and show up, or you can attend virtually.  If you want to attend in person (and believe me, it’s worth it if you can) then you can use this link to get 20% off (or click on the button in my sidebar – both lead to the same link).

Virtual tickets are new-ish to BlogWorld this year, but they’re super cool.  You get access to all of the recorded sessions, plus some behind-the-scenes interviews, videos, and all of that other stuff.  Plus, it’s a lot cheaper because you don’t have a hotel or airfare to contend with.  You can grab a virtual ticket here and join in from the comfort of your own bedroom.

I hope to see you there – and if you are planning on attending, look me up.  More than likely I’ll be the one wearing the awesome fedora and talking to people about WordPress

Get. Stinking. Excited.

It’s that time again – as if BlogWorld New York wasn’t awesome enough, now I’m getting a double dose of awesomeness – west coast style.

I just got my acceptance email stating that I will be speaking at BlogWorldLA.  It’s November 3-5 at the LA Convention Center, and if it’s even HALF as awesome as New York was, it’s going to be a conference worth going to (hint: it’s going to be even better than NY, I can tell!)

I’m doing something different this trip: instead of staying in an expensive hotel, I’ve booked a room with someone else.  I used airbnb to find a private room near the convention center.  I found Shelly’s apartment, and she’s letting me crash there for the few days I’m around.  It’s just under a mile from the center, but at $55 / night, I can afford the walk (and it’s good exercise!) or take a cab (because I’m lazy!).

I’ve never done anything like room sharing before, but I’m always willing to try something new, and I’ve heard great things about airbnb, so I’m going to take a chance on it.  Shelly’s already contacted me about the reservation, so I’m pretty sure my hostess will be fantastic.

At any rate, I’ll be speaking on WordPress (as per usual) and making the most out of a WordPress blog.  I’m going to do it a bit differently though, so look to this blog for feedback on what to cover and things of that nature.

Here’s to a fantastic end to the year’s conferences with Blogworld!

(PS: If you want to attend BlogWorld, then by all means do it! – it’s worth every penny to go, and they’re discounted until September 21st!)

I’m flying on my last flight back from New York (and thankful that these flights fared better than my incoming flights to LaGuardia). I finally have a little bit of time to rest, recouporate, and put into words all of the ideas, feelings, and emotions that I’ve experienced over the last week. I’ve met a LOT of great people (and I have business cards from all of you, and plan on emailing you personally very soon) as well as learned quite a bit from both the sessions and the expo floor.

Here are some of my top takeaways from BlogWorld, in no particular order.

WordPress is here, and it’s not going anywhere soon.

I was privilaged to be able to contribute to this year’s BlogWorld as a speaker. Two years ago, I applied to be a speaker on my top subjet matter of choice – WordPress. I was declined, but was allowed to speak on a topic that was “blog platform agnostic” (I spoke on “designing a killer blog” and it was received very well – especially for a room of content creators ). Over the course of two years, WordPress became one of the fastest growing blog platforms, then started to chip away at the Content Management System market as well.

This year, I was honored to be welcomed to BlogWorld to speak on WordPress. And I was even more honored (and blown away!) that it was so well received; the room was packed, people were sittin gon the floor, people were waiting in the wings and doorway with cameras, and we stayed twenty minutes into lunch to make sure everyone had their questions answered. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

Social Media “gurus” have… mellowed out over the years.

With a few unnamed exceptions, every one of the speakers and session-goers were interested in one thing: making new relationships. Not just getting a business card to pitch something to them once we all got home, but really striving to make long lasting and heart-felt relationships. I’ve made so many new contacts (and I’ll be honest – meeting and remembering people is something that I don’t excel at – but I am working on it!) and I plan on sending each and every one of them a personal email over the next week (or two… or three). But it’s not just about making new clients; these are people I hope to really connect with until next we meet (and I really hope that next time is BlogWorld LA

Recommendations > SEO (to some)

I know a LOT of SEO experts (REAL ones, not just your fly-by-night hack jobs) and I can honestly say that they do great work. I can also say, however, that when it comes to recommendations, I personally tend to give weight to something recommended to me. That said, I believe that there is a place for both. How else will people be able to find you once you’ve been recommended? “Oh, I know this really awesome WordPress dude – here’s his name”. Said name is Googled, researched, and then hired (at least, that’s the hope). Don’t throw away SEO to invest in Facebook and Twitter, but be mindful of the delicate balance they hold.
Paper.li, by the way, is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the “curation” (recommending work from creators based on a theme or preference) of content.

The mobile web is the new web

I’m not going to coin the phrase “Web 3.0″ here (God knows that we all hated Web 2.0 – why do you think we call it the “Social Web” now?) but I do see a new wave about to hit the horizon. Mobile (QR Codes and mobile based websites to start) will become more and more important as people ditch their laptops and desktops for on-the-go content consumption with readers, tablets, and smartphones. You can either create a separate mobile site, use a mobile stylesheet to adapt your current site, or just make sure your normal website is compatable with both types (the latter of which being the hardest, but also the most consistant).

People Make Mistakes

Time to address the white elephant in the room. I didn’t attend the Keynote, but I would imagine that Chris Pirillo and Chris Brogan were doing the best that they could given the sitaution. However, if you weren’t happy with it, then by all means tell Rick Calvert or Deb Ng – they are your one-stop hotline to anything with this conference, and I know on good authority that this is the kind of stuff they *need* to hear about. Whatever the reason for it, let them know and hold them to making it better. After all, we do the same thing with our brands and other people we follow; why should we treat the conference different?

Bonus: Syed Balkhi and John Chow are a dangerous duo.

Just had to throw that one out there. Although, if Syed gets together with ANYONE it can be a bit dangerous

At the end of the day, I had one of the most unbelievable conference experiences I’ve ever had. If you weren’t at BlogWorld, then I encourage you to go. The investment of meeting the speakers, and other attendees, can open doors for you that you never imagined. By attending you put your ear to the ground and can hear the pulse of what’s next. Then you can take it back to your readers, or business, and act accordingly. With the advent of blogs, the power of the press has been shifted from the old guard to the “content rebellion”. We have the power to control what media we see, and how it shapes our world. BlogWorld is, and always has been, on the cutting edge of this, and if you aren’t in LA in November, then I know you’ll be missing out.

See you there!

I’ve made no qualms in (sometimes a little too much) mentioning that I will be speaking one week from today at BlogWorldExpo in New York City.  I’m pretty excited, considering that I missed last year’s conference for the birth of our lovely son #2 (Sorry BlogWorld, it was totally worth it .  As such, I’ve seen numerous lists come out that showcase the “best presentations for XXX”, where XXX is some sect of marketing or social media.

Not to toot my own horn here, but if you will, allow me the five minutes to give you an elevator pitch on the benefits of learning WordPress.  Whether you get it from my session, or whether you find your own go-to WordPress guy to tell you about it, or whether you do research on your own, WordPress is worth a look from even the most technophilic marketer.

WordPress Powers 14.3% of the Internet

Yes.  The entire Internet.  That means that 3 out of every 20 sites you go to has a good chance of being hosted on WordPress.  That number remains high as you look at the top million Alexa rankings (I’d quote a website statistic, but I can’t for the life of me find it… it’s well above 10% though).  With more and more corporate entities (like Time and Network Solutions) switching their main sites to WordPress, chances are that if you have to do writing of any kind for a blog or website, you’ll end up needing to know your way around

WordPress Allows for Rapid Deployment of Microsites

A seasoned WordPress veteran can get a site up, coded, and designed well in a matter of days (sometimes hours!) but that’s nothing – that’s what we are paid to do.  The real trick is making it to where non-developers can still get in, install, and manipulate things without too much trouble.  WordPress isn’t known for its “5-minute Install” for nothing, after all.  With the proper hosting account you can install WordPress, get a premium theme up, drop in some content, and have the basics of a website up in around 2-3 hours.

WordPress <3 Google, and Google <3 WordPress

Granted, any website can rank well (and some WordPress sites are horribly done on the SEO standpoint, but for the most part the top themes are optimized from the get-go for great rankings.  With proper use of H tags, content in it’s proper location, great tags, and a good linkbase in and out (which WordPress makes super easy), a site can rise in the ranks quickly (with the right content, of course).  Plugins like All In One SEO further the control you have, giving you finite control down to the “keywords per page” level.

So, if you’re in the neighborhood next week and feel like learning a little about WordPress, stop into my session.  It’s on Wednesday at 11:30, Room 1A16.  If not, message me on twitter and I can tell you everything you need to know. Until then, WordPress is worth a second look – I did, almost 3 years ago, and it’s literally changed my life.

I’m finally getting around to debugging and debriefing myself regarding BlogWorldExpo.  There were so many great sessions and speakers that it’s hard to pick just one or two or a few to talk about.  Hopefully this gives me an excuse and great content to write about for a while.

I was talking to Jeremiah Owyang over email about his session (and Blog World in general), and how a lot of people really balked about the point that their customers own their content and control their brand.  I’d never heard a crowd get tense before, but you could literally hear the crowd of business PR managers and marketing people start sweating.  They’d heard it and heard it and heard it, but it took Jeremiah hitting them in the gut to really drive the point across.

But then, over email, he asked me a question I’d never thought of before:

“Imagine if your server got deleted –how would your customers rebuild your website?”

I really don’t know how to answer that, simply because it’s my website, but I wonder… how would you rebuild it?  Would it be the same as it was, or would you tear it apart and rebuild it from the ground up?  Would you want things to be the same as they are, or would a revolution be the end result?

This isn’t a rhetorical question – I am seriously asking this, because I am seriously wanting to know.  Leave your answers in the comments below, and let’s see whether my own website needs a gut check.