Dominate Your Local Market!

I attended WordCamp/PodCamp Columbus in Columbus, OH this past Saturday and as always, there was way more to learn than time to learn it. Trying to be selective when making decisions on which five of thirty-five sessions to attend was as difficult as it could be.

Every session covered subjects that would interest me and every session I attended was first-rate. I’d loved to have attended every session, but I guess that’s what keeps people coming back for more. I know now that I’ve had my first taste, I’ll be attending a lot more WordCamps and PodCamps in the future.

Not only do these “non-conferences” offer a wealth of information for attendees, they offer sponsors a great chance to get their name before a very appreciative audience.

Sponsors of this event included Ohio State Univ. Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing, Blip.tv, Blubrry.com, Spaceblue, Circle of Seven Productions, and Skyline Chili who fed a magnificent lunch to all who attended.

So my choice of sessions was:

1. Social Media – NOT a Revolution – Michael Loban
   This was a great one to start off the day. The first thing Michael did was say he wanted the session to be more of a discussion than a presentation and that’s exactly what he got. Input from various attendees livened the session and produced a great deal of new knowledge that I can use on behalf of OrangeCat clients.
2. Designing a Killer Theme in WordPress – Todd Santoro
   Todd did a great job talking about some of the procedures he uses to design a WordPress theme for his clients. Very similar to the process we use here at Orange Cat Productions, but he threw in a few gems that will make my theme designs more useful to clients – and that’s what its all about!
3. After lunch, I pencilled in a session called SEO Best Practices & How They Relate to WordPress. The scheduled presenter couldn’t make it, by an ad hoc session with four SEO-savvy participants proved to be a worthwhile session. While validating pretty much all of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques that we use at OrangeCat.com, there’s always that one pithy gem that you might have never thought of – and this session was no exception.
4. Making Money With Your Podcast – Cliff Ravenscraft
   I had a very tough set of choices for sessions 4 & 5, but it took care of itself. I decided to attend this session as we are producing a daily Podcast of Industry News at Noon on MHMSM.com. I figured I could learn something. Cliff runs several podcasts from his Generally Speaking Production Network. After a brilliant presentation by Cliff, he offered to make use of the room which would be empty for Session5 by staying an extra hour and answering our questions. I took advantage of that and it was extraordinary. Thanks, Cliff for putting in the extra time to answer our questions.

Well, that’s a wrap-up of my day at Columbus WordCamp/PodCamp. It was my first and certainly won’t be my last. I believe in constantly learning all I can to serve my clients better. So I’m scanning the WordCamp and PodCamp sites for the next event. Right now, I’m looking at WordCamp Birmingham (9/18-9/19) and certainly WordCamp Louisville on December 4.

I’ll be presenting at tomorrow’s Small Business Conference sponsored by the Danville/Boyle County Chamber of Commerce, along with the Mercer County and Lincoln County Chambers.

From 4:00-4:30 PM I’ll be talking about how you can best use the Internet to grow your local business. What used to be a simple choice – market online or not – has become an absolute “must do.”

80% of home sales start online and 61% of those using local search for other products and services eventually make purchases. That is because when someone searches online for a specific item, they are usually ready to buy. You need to be more visible than your competitors at that crucial moment. We’ll show you how.

The Small Business Conference will be held at the Bluegrass Community & Technical Center in Danville on Tuesday, June 30. The event will take place from noon until 7 p.m. and will include seminars on topics relevant to current and potential small business owners. Exhibitors providing information pertinent to small business owners will also be on hand from noon – 5 p.m. This event is open to anyone interested in owning their own business, as well as current businesses, and who wants the opportunity to network with organizations that can assist them with business issues.

Register for one – or all – of these seminars. The event is FREE. If you haven’t already, contact the Chamber at 859-236-2361 to register!