The Benefits of Attending a Blogging Conference + Announcement

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Today’s post is not beauty related, but hopefully helpful information for my fellow bloggers. I’m sharing three benefits of attending a blogging conference and sharing a little news about a blogging conference endeavor of my own.

I started my blog in 2012—crazy to think it’ll be seven years in February! When I started I knew nothing—literally nothing about blogging, but like most challenges, you learn as you stumble through it.

Within my first year of blogging, I realized this was a viable side hustle and I needed to treat my blog as a business. I started making money off affiliate links, sponsored posts, Google Ads, and hosting events in D.C.

Over the last several years, I’ve learned a lot about the business of blogging but I didn’t know everything and that’s when I started to invest in furthering my education and network—going to blogging conferences and workshops.

Attending a blogging conference can be expensive. I know because I’ve attended several over the last few years. But I also know I look forward to going every single conference and I always walk away feeling inspired and rejuvenated to take my blog to the next level. It’s the best money I spend on myself every year (and I say that as a huge product and handbag junkie—ha!).

Generally speaking, here are three benefits of attending a blogging conference that I consider to be invaluable (and hopefully you’ll see why its worth the investment!).

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Invest in Yourself

I know this may sound obvious. In the blogging community, we spend a lot of time talking about knowing our worth. Investing in blogging education is part of that. At the end of the day, no one is perfect at blogging and certainly no one can predict what the future holds, but that’s why attending a conference and learning from like-minded individuals will help us with the ever-changing learning curve. Simply put, it’s an opportunity to get better at what you love doing.

Connect With Other Bloggers

As a blogger, I spend so much of my time behind a computer commenting on other blog posts, connecting with people on Instagram and responding to emails from my readers. Having face-to-face conversations with other bloggers keeps me inspired. And if you’re lucky, you will make some new friends too. I met one of my closest friends at a blogging workshop two years ago. We meet for lunch and coffee dates on a monthly basis. It’s also refreshing to be able to share the struggles of blogging with someone that truly gets it.

Gain Valuable Tips, Resources & Strategies

Going to blogging conferences has always helped me continue to define and refine my brand. Through expert led sessions, I’m always gathering new tips and strategies that I can implement with my own blog.

As someone who is risk adverse, I like to ensure I’m getting a return on my investment when I attend conferences. It’s important to remember what you put in is what you get out of it.

I always go into every conference with a list of objectives and goals. From there I’ll diligently take notes during sessions and jot down actionable insights; and then when I return home, I make a to-do list to make sure I follow through on those tips and strategies I learned. If you’re able to execute a similar method, then it’s safe to say you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

Now, for my announcement…

For the past two years I’ve attended The Blog Societies Conference as attendee but this year, I’m so excited to announce I’ll be attending this year’s TBSCon as a workshop leader!

My workshop is titled, How to Leverage Email Marketing for Better Blog Readership.

I know most bloggers are consumed with their own website and Instagram these days. SEO rules are updated constantly, social networks rise and fall, and even the way people look for and digest content is changing. However, the silver lining is that we all have at least one email account and the majority of people check it every single day.

The objective of my workshop is to share with bloggers how they can utilize email marketing to drive traffic to their website, increase conversions on affiliate sales, and continue to learn more about their readers and how they like to consume content. From sharing ways to grow your opt-in list to writing powerful subject lines, I’ll cover all of this and more in this workshop. I hope you’ll join me!  

This year’s TBSCon is open to members and non-members so if you’re a blogger, I hope you’ll attend! I published recaps on the previous years I attended TBSCon as an attendee which you can check out here and here.

UPDATE: The founders of The Blog Societies & TBSCon have graciously offered a discount I can extend to my readers who would like to attend this year’s conference. To get 15% off the full non-member ticket price, readers can use code BFF15 at checkout. 

Photography by Colleen from xxiii Photo Studio