The Smart Planner Blogging Bootcamp SF

Recently I attended The Smart Planner's Blogging Bootcamp by Liene Stevens held at the Hotel Monaco in downtown San Francisco. To answer the first question you probably have her name is pronounced "Lynn." :)

There were 14 of us who signed up for the bootcamp. All women. Guys? Where were you? I know some of you want to learn this stuff!

Topics included: your blogging voice, how to create killer content, long term goals, analyzing your stats and traffic, how to increase readership and more.

The Blogging Bootcamp wasn't about why to blog, but about how to blog. How to be effective in both your marketing message and from a web savvy, geeky POV. Liene's own blog receives over 3000 visitors per day. I don't know about you but my blog doesn't receive that much traffic so I knew there were things I could learn from her if I signed up.

Liene Stevens is a wedding planner based in Arizona. I first began reading her wedding business blog, the Blue Orchid Blog, years ago and watched as her readership not only took off but soared. When Michelle of MB Wedding Design and Events told me that Liene would be coming to SF for one of her signature "Blogging Bootcamps" I was so excited to attend and learn from one of the wedding industries best.

Lunch

I have to say that it is a common misconception that if you do something well, you don't have to continue to learn how to do it better. This may hold true for say, learning how to play one song on the piano or mastering a great mac and cheese recipe. 

I'd received quite a few comments from people who were surprised that I would want to take a day long class about blogging because they thought I already knew enough. All I could say in reply was: I may know what I know but blogging is one of those technology related fields that is constantly changing and ever evolving. So to become and stay successful one has to be willing to make the commitment to constantly learn and improve.

Our thanks to Ashley Dicksa who facilitated Liene coming all the way from Scottsdale to San Francisco to lead the workshop.

MB Wedding Design and Events, Janae Shields, Jewel Savadelis and Catie Ronquillo

And to close things off Liene did a short session all about Twitter. Since I am only just beginning to understand how Twitter works and doesn't work this part of the workshop was really helpful. To be honest I've become more interested in learning about Twitter to help my cousin Tami find a bone marrow donor then for wedding purposes. I've found it's a really great way to reach out and connect with others to broadcast important news, not just where I personally  am or what I'm doing at any given moment.

I'd like to thank Liene for the great day and information. I've already begun implementing several of the suggestions she made that day here on my Fun and Flirty blog.

If you want to go for the full on Bootcamp experience you can view her upcoming tour schedule by clicking here.

If you want to learn what we learned but can't attend a bootcamp in person be sure to visit Liene's Smart Planner Blog. It's full of great advice about blogging and web-internet-tech related content. It's a gold mine of information.