2 YEAR BLOGAVERSARY + GIVEAWAY #1

PIC

It's been two years since I did my official serious post into bloggerhood. I started in 2005, fell off, and stumbled along the way till September 22nd, 2011(HERE) when I realized my blogger purpose.

Recap: BLM Experience NYC - #BLMGirls

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

New Look On Le Blog

Photo by Cyrience Creative Studios

After spending 2 days and seeking the advice of some BLM(Bloggers Like Me) Ladies I've come up with a new look. My old layout was very busy so I:

-replaced the social media widgets with plugin buttons
-removed some of the blogger network widgets and badges(y'all know I kept BLM    badge right?)
-designed a new picture/text header. The last one was text only.
-added labels and modified my page tabs
-fixed up my Pinterest
-added new pages and pictures to some pages
-plus some other stuff, I may be missing some things.


This new look ties in with what I said in this post about expanding my blog and featuring fashion and lifestyle topics along with my hair topics. The recent evolution of my life warranted a change in my blog as well and I think I like it. Shoot, I better like it after spending two days working on it.



Do you like it? Tell me what you think.