Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Recap: BLM Experience NYC - #BLMGirls


(from the left)Molina Jean-Louis, Shawna Kaye, Eileen Campos,
Me(Julian Gravesande), Monet Curls and MoArshiya Kapadia


Christa Myers aka Beatrice Clay our host.



On Saturday August 31st 2013 I attended the BLM Experience in NYC which was hosted by fellow BLM Girl Christa Myers aka Beatrice Clay at the Columbia University Saltzman Seminar Room. BLM or Bloggers Like Me was created Leslie Young of FashionDuJourDaily.wordpress.com, it is a "community of women bloggers dedicated to the positive exchange of ideas, tips and advice about FASHION, BEAUTY, RELATIONSHIPS and FAITH through blogging, meet ups and social networking." The BLM Experience took place simultaneously in New York, Atlanta, Washingtom D.C. and Los Angelos. This way members from each area were able to attend. This year it was time for us to have a themed meetup and the topic was about Building and Growing your Brand by building REALationships; learning how to genuinely network with your fellow bloggers while supporting each other and sharing resources. I was also a lucky ticket winner!! Thank you Leslie!!!



Everybody mingling. Well, Monet posing.

Monet & Arshiya


It was 5 hours of bonding, learning, and REALationship building in an intimate environment. I will now be implementing what I've learned in everything I do. My passion for blogging has been renewed. Christa was so inspiring and brought out so much that was inside of us. Some important points I came away with:

- Your fellow bloggers in your niche or otherwise are not your competition, they are your neighbours. So network with them.
- Your network is only as good as you. If you're not genuine it will show.
- Ask people what they feel when they visit your blog.
- Ask yourself what you want them to feel.
- Tell your story. People want to know and will connect to you even more.
- Make sure your posts are indexed in Google Webmaster Tools. It will improve your ranking in search engines.
- Back up your blog. (I need to back mine up)
- Twitter sharing ratio of 3:1. Share 3 tweets of someone else's work and one tweet of your own.
- Own your niche, become an expert. Some don't like the term 'expert' including myself but there is a way to be an authority in what you blog about without being snobbish about it. That's where being genuine comes in. 
- Figure out what you want to blog about and stick to it. Anything else can be shared on social media. You don't have to blog about every thing that comes to mind.
- Figure out a weekly blogging schedule. Don't overwhelm yourself with blogging everyday if you won't be able to keep up with it.
- A good time to post is in the evening when people are home from work. I normally post at 11am. Who's really trying to read at 11am? People are at work.(lol) I'll start experimenting with 4pm.




Me & Eileen

I think I was going on seconds here. Christa got us delicious
assorted wraps, assorted fruit and water. Loved it!


Take us to school Christa.


We also got crafty by building a 'blog board' where we cut out magazine pictures, words, colours, and letters that represented what we wanted our blogs to look like and feel like. It's exactly like a vision board but for your blog. By doing this Christa actually helped me to figure out another topic for my blog. Thanks Christa!!! 




Molina & Shawna looking serious.

Molina's colours










Shameless plug of the fro.



Things I learned about myself and my blog. I need to:
- Step up my game on the twitter interaction/followers. Well, social media as a whole..
- Do youtube videos for Moruka Designs. Well I have one up from 6 months ago but...0_0
- Dig deeper into my blog categories and figure out some more topics.
- Figure out which social media platforms are good for me.
- Develop a blogging schedule.
- Only one of my blog links was indexed with Google Websmaster and it was my feedburner. 
- And some other stuff I can't remember at the moment. I'll update as I remember.


Here is the list of attendees and their blogs. Some of them are new to BLM. 

Christa Myers(hostess) of Beatrice Clay
Molina Jean-Louis(new) of Molina The PT 
Eileen Campos(new) of Mommy Teaches
Arshiya Kapadia(new) of Gotta Have, Must Have
Shawna K of Blissed out Belle
Julian Gravesande(me) of Guyanesesista






My blogger board






So tell me what you think! Were you at the BLM Experience? Did you have a blast? Tell me! 

#BLMGirlsRock

19 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good investment of your time. I wanted to attend one of these events but we celebrated my Moms 90th Bday the same day. Looking forward to attending the next one.

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  2. Awesome!! What a great milestone for your mom. Girl that was time well spent.

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  3. I love the idea of telling your story. I have been hesitant to get too personal but I think my blog is missing my personality. Great post, thanks

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  4. Aww it looks like you guys had a blast! I wanted to make it out, but as of lately I've been on an intense budget as a new car & apartment are in my near future.


    Maybe next time tho! And you shared some interesting points.. At this current moment I still post things starting at 8AM and span them throughout the day. I know there are some people that like to read before work, or during (like me lmao). The latest I tend to post is either 2PM or 4PM and then I have a daily digest go out to my subscribers on all the post of the day.. just in time to get home and read!

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  5. Demetra I've been feeling the same way about getting personal but I figure we'll be good as long as we don't over share.

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  6. I think I'll experiment with different times and document the stats. I've been thinking about doing mailchimp for my blog.

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  7. Great post! These are all really great points. I love that last bit about when to publish your blog posts. I am gonna give that one a try. I wanted to attend this also, but my travel plans have put me on a super, scary tight budget.

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  8. Great Post, Looks like you guys had a blast and lots of knowledge to be passed on.

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  9. yes! I'm not going to tell EVERYTHING! LOL. I'll leave a little to the imagination

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  10. Glad I could help pass on some knowledge. Hope you find a good posting time.

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  11. Great recap of BLM NYC! I'm loving all of the recaps from the BLM Girls over the country! I like the idea of the blog boards!

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  12. I probably need to post later on in the day too. I usually post at 6am and don't end up getting feedback until the end of the day too... Thanks for sharing. Ohh, you look too cute too!

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  13. I wish I had known about this. I hope there will be another one soon. I also hope there will be some events in Chicago. Great Blog!!

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  14. Yes I had never thought of it before.

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