PureBlogging

Bloggers who are successful at their jobs are people who are good at networking. The pure and simple fact is that blogging requires being able to market your writing to a growing readership. In many cases, your readers are going to be other bloggers. Because of this, it’s a good idea to start putting yourself in the places where other bloggers are located.

Sure, you’re going to do a lot of your networking online through blog comments and social networking sites. But you should also work on meeting bloggers in the real world. Bloggers who attend conventions and expos give themselves the opportunity to meet a number of other active bloggers while simultaneously learning new blogging skills that can improve their own work.

Here are some of the top conventions and events that bloggers may consider booking a ticket to attend this year:

• SOBCon08. Chicago, May 2-4, 2008. This blog convention is hosted by awesome blogger Liz Strauss. In addition to Liz, speakers will include representatives of Technorati and MyBlogLog.
• Blog World and New Media Expo. Las Vegas, September 20-21, 2008. This blog convention is one of the most well-known. It’s not just good for bloggers but also for vloggers, podcasters and social networking divas.
• Web 2.0 Expo. Multiple dates and locations. This one is not specifically for bloggers but more for people who are interested in design and development on the web. Bloggers can certainly benefit.
• SMX Social Media, Long Beach, April 22-23, 2008. Bloggers who are interested in learning internet marketing skills may find that this is a good place to get started.
• Social Networking Conference. Multiple dates and locations. This is an interesting one because it’s got a big emphasis on online dating. However, there are some social networking skills to be learned here and there are certainly people in the industry to meet. It never hurts to know more folks with good social networking skills!

Of course, you might not have an interest in traveling to one of the cities that hosts a blog expo. An interesting alternative would be to host a blog event of your own. A small one-day event isn’t difficult to set up and gives you a chance to market yourself as an expert in blogging. It requires that you put some effort into organizing other local bloggers but that effort will pay off in an automatic network of local connections.

Question of the Day: What blog events have you attended and how have they impacted your blog?

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