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29 Lessons Learned at Mom 2.0 #mom2summit

I’m back! I’m back. Just got back from Mom 2 Summit and need to share some amazing things with you. But, you know that saying: Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Yeah, well I call BS. Just kidding. Sort of. Mom 2.0 has become one of my favourite social media conferences.

Social media conferences or blogging conferences can be an excellent business tool for so many reasons. In the last few years I have been to many. But here’s one of my favourites. Let me tell you why.

 

social-media-conferences

Did you know social media conferences are often a great chance to learn and elevate your brand? And they can also be a great way to improve your writing, pitching and editing game. Oh and of course there’s the networking. However, returning to daily routine after a super energizing, inspiring, business conference like Mom 2.0 is excruciatingly hard.

How did I hear about Mom 2 Summit?

In 2014, I went to my first ever Mom 2 summit in Atlanta. Here’s why. In fact, I was at Blogher, a different influencer marketing conference, one year when another influencer mentioned Mom 2.0 was the best conference she ever attended. I took her at her word and bought a ticket and was blown away in Atlanta. In fact I was so blown away by the first Mom 2 summit that I bought my early bird ticket for 2015 in Arizona the weekend I left Atlanta. Just knew I would make it happen.

Mom 2.0 has become my favourite blogging and social media conference because it is so incredibly well orchestrated every year. Brands show up in droves and they are engaging and genuinely interested in hearing from bloggers and social media entrepreneurs. They want to learn from the attendees as much as we want to learn about them.

mom2_summit

Elevate Your Game

It’s hard to explain all of the reasons why this is my favourite conference, but for me this one has the biggest impact, personally and professionally. The keynotes are always unique and impressive. Mom 2.0 is the one that helps me to elevate my game every year. Last year it gave me more confidence and skills to evolve and grow and pitch a wider range of projects.

The conference helped me understand more about SEO, which is crucial in the social media business. And last year I met some incredible people, heard from inspiring speakers and connected with a wide range of brands. It helped me reconsider my fee structure and also helped me connect with bloggers I admire. This year was every bit as brilliant. Mom 2 summit is a game changer. I will spend months implementing what I learned.

Here are a few lessons I took home with me.

29 Random Lessons From Mom 2.0

From The Blogging Elite

Does that sound snooty? It’s not. Mom 2.0 attracts serious bloggers, and people I admire who started this business in the early 2000s. They are the people who continue to shape the industry. Elite or pioneers.

SEO and technical stuff

These first tips were from this lady: AshleeMarie.com. She was fabulous and you should follow here on Twitter and Facebook. I have summarized what I got from these social media smarties.

1. Don’t ignore Google Plus.

It is still every bit as relevant as it ever was and google favours it still in search. So if you write, you still need to be sharing all those posts to Google Plus. It helps in the search engine ranking.

[tweetthis]Don’t ignore Google Plus. #mom2summit lessons.[/tweetthis]

2. Google Analytics

Everything that can be enabled on Google Analytics should be enabled. Double check that. The more you know about your reader, the more that helps you to determine what to write, and when and how to share it.

3. Once a Year…

Make it a habit once a year to adjust the date options for your Google Analytics search (Jan 1. to December 31st ) Determine which posts were your top ten posts for that year. It might surprise you and will tell you a bit about where you need to focus your writing for the next year. Write a list post about it. Here are my top five posts about parenting tweens. 

4. Check Referrals:

When you run that list of ten at the end of the year each year and you check your Google Analytics for other things, you should also check referrals. Find out who were your top ten referrers. So if one particular blogger was one of your major referrers that year send her a thank you email and a Happy New Year email or something like that. It’s smart.

5. Stay on Top of Relationships

If you change your domain name or rebrand also send emails to all those major referrers. Let them know that you have changed and they might want to redirect and change the links too. That helps everyone in search whereas dead links hurt both of you.

The following tips are from Angela England, a blogger I truly respect.

6. How to Name a Post – from Angela England

(Untrained Housewife and Renaissance Woman) and on twitter too @untrainedhw and here @AngEngland Don’t overthink it. If your husband walked into the room and asked what are you writing about that’s probably close to what the title of the post should be.

7. Tags

Don’t overuse tags on your posts. It doesn’t help search engines to find you and it does your reader a disservice.

[tweetthis]Never overuse tags. Point number seven #mom2summit[/tweetthis]

8. You don’t need 101 categories either.

The categories should be like the chapters of a book and the tabs at top of your site should reflect those categories. (That means I need to rid myself of many categories and tags actually)

9. Affiliates. Affiliate marketing. Do it.

Bloggers don’t use them enough. (this from a woman who stated that a post from 2009 which contained an affiliate link made her $6,000 and continues to earn.) She did not elaborate on what or who and the session was short so I really need more details about affiliates.

And From The Parenting Editors at BUZZFEED:

10. Have an extra outlet where you publish.

You can submit content to Buzzfeed parenting section on your own.

[tweetthis]Tips from the parenting editors at Buzzfeed #mom2summit[/tweetthis]

11. No Duplicate Content

Buzzfeed parenting section will not publish posts that have already run elsewhere (not even on your blog.)

12. Don’t Swear!

Swear Words Don’t Share Well. Ever. Don’t Swear Ever, especially in the title of your Post.

13. Listicles

Lists work well and share beautifully. (especially on Buzzfeed)

14. Odd Numbers are Better than Even.

Lists share best when they are odd number lists. No More 5 Lessons Learned from X. 19 Lessons Learned from Mom 2.0 is much better. 21 Lessons Learned from Mom 2.0 also great. 27 is okay and so is 9, 11, 13 etcetera.

15. Use 29

29 is the most successful list number historically at Buzzfeed.

16. Readers hate slide show lists and find them annoying.

They see through the fact that you are only using them to generate more clicks and they leave the page fast. So for instance there are numerous entertainment sites that use gimmicky posts such as 15 worst roles for young female actors and you see just the first one but need to click an arrow each time to get to the next one. That is overused and annoying apparently.

17. Never annoy the reader.

Make things simple for them always. Loyalty is important.

RANDOM STUFF FROM BRANDS:

18. Apple juice.

Apple juice is the least acidic of all the juices. (Important if you have weak enamel on teeth or an acidic stomach already. ) @juicecentral

19. Kia

Kia has a minivan and their prices are really affordable as compared to other vehicles. They also have some cute crossover styles I like. WANT.

20. Dove makes some products for curly haired girls now.

Woot!! Plus their self esteem workshops are really so wonderful for young girls. I attended one at the conference. It was different than the ones we conducted up here last year in Ontario. They did such a great job as title sponsor at Mom 2 summit both years I attended. They curled hair and did makeup and I think they might have done skin consultations. Such a class act all the way.

[tweetthis]Dove is a class act every year at #mom2summit[/tweetthis]

21. Lindt Chocolates have some crazy delicious calorie free chocolates (PSYCH!)

No they don’t. But they have a key lime flavour truffle that is so delicious you will want to throw caution out the window and eat a bunch of them. They featured several new flavours of chocolate truffles. So good. One was coconut. But they need to be packed in your suitcase if you take any home because apparently many people had them taken at customs. I packed mine and ate them for four days. YUM!

22. Golfing for women can be a crucial business skill.

I never thought about that before sitting down with a representative from PGA of America. Where do men often make all their big networking deals and connections? The golf course. Don’t be left behind.  The PGA also offers many learn to golf clinics.

23. Baby food has come a long way.

We sampled some BeechNut baby foods and it was extremely good.

24. Breyers ice cream…

This brand, which I had never ever tried before, is rich and flavourful. Thanks for the free coupons because I would never have known how good this brand is without sampling it.

25. Adobe Photo Shop Elements

Adobe has video editing software that comes geared to several different levels of experience. I might need to get this because I am not great at editing videos. Also it’s not that expensive and you can claim it anyways on your taxes.

26. Face Time:

The conference experience is always worthwhile even when it’s not as rocking awesome as Mom 2.0. When you have a chance to connect face to face with people you admire and talk to on line all the time, then you should try to seize that opportunity. It deepens your connection and makes it that much more meaningful.

27. Special Needs Travel Tips or Accessible Travel:

If you have special needs kids you can call ahead to the airport sometimes and TSA Cares will help you get through security. That was something I learned from @iamthemaven Kerri Jablonski tweeted it at the Embassy Suites Tweetathon/ Tweetup. Smart information! Who knew? As a parent of a child with special needs I didn’t know that information.

28. Mohawk Flooring

Mohawk Flooring is also in Canada and they make a wide range of products. This matters to me because we are looking at some cosmetic renovations here soon. They also have a product that you can get stains out of easily.

29. It’s Blue and Black Not White and Gold.

OHStephanieSM wore the dress to the IRIS Awards and it is Blue and Black. There is no other way to see it. (I actually saw white and gold on Facebook originally so I am baffled.) (See picture above in lower left corner. It is very blue.)

Mom 2 Summit is My Favourite

There are many other brands that helped make the conference rock. Kudos to all of them and to the organizers too. I am sure I will be bringing you news about many more brands over the next year. See you at Mom 2 summit next year. Will you be there?

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

13 Comments

  • Christina Aliperti

    It looks like you had an awesome time and learned a lot. I didn’t know Dove made products for curly hair! Gotta try them!

  • Winter White

    These are some great tips! I went to my first blog conference this year and didn’t get nearly as much feedback as I would have liked. I still have such trouble with how to use GoogleAnalystics so I really need to brush up o that. Can you suggest any training tutorials on it?

  • Jennifer (momvstheboys)

    sounds like a great time, I’ve never been outside of Canada for a conference before. Mainly cost and time away from home are factors, but they sound really fun! Thanks for sharing all your insight into the event!

  • Ladena

    These are SUCH great tips. Thanks for sharing. I have to absolutely pay more attention to my analytics. I also have to cut down on some of my tags when publishing a post. Sometimes I only have a few, other times I can have 10+. I love the tips from brands. Who knew that apple juice was the least acidic of all juices! 🙂

    • Paula

      I am still trimming my tags. BIG time. When I switched over to WordPress I realized I had over 1000 categories alone. Not cool. My tags were also out of control Ladena!

  • Suzanne Rudge

    This is an awesome list Paula and I am totally book marking it for future reference. I would love to attend Mom 2.0 someday; it sounds absolutely fabulous!!

  • Ashlee

    Love this list, and that you had so many take aways! I need to sit down and write out my takeaway’s too , it always helps so much to do that!