#HPMSocial : SEO for Fashion Bloggers

I recently attended my first blogging conference in the form of Handpicked Media Gets Social (#HPMSocial). The conference was a one-day event featuring big name speakers in blogging, PR and print media. The event cost £50 for bloggers but I was lucky enough to win tickets from Handpicked Media, which I am really thankful for. The train prices being what they are I could not have attended had I not won tickets.

The speakers were:
- Gary from Why Communicate on search engine optimisation,
- Rebecca Minskin from Hearst on the future of print media,
- Sháá Wasmund on following your passion,
- Mark Borkowski, PR Guru on
- Jane from British Beauty Blogger on how to build relationships with PRs and bloggers,
- Beauty panel: Fleur de Force, For the Young Dude, A Beauty Junkie in London, Lee from Grooming Guru, Emma from The Beauty Button Jenny Dickinson from Elle.
- Fashion panel: LLYMLRS, Coco's Tea Party, The Very Simon G, Angela Buttolph from Grazia Daily and Joe Barnes from FHM.

The first talk was very technical, and aimed at bloggers and website owners who want to learn tips and tricks about driving traffic to their site. Below are a few notes I took from Gary's speech.

 
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Bloggers

1. The images you use in a blog post can be a good source of traffic to your blog. When you post, for example, about a new fragrance from, say Marc Jacobs, name your image appropriately so that when people search on Google Images for 'Marc Jacobs fragrance' they find your image and click through to your blog.
2. Include alt tags in your image for the same reason. These are really easy to include and image hosting sites like Flickr already include them in their image codes. Sometimes images don't work in some browsers or mobile sites so label your image so that people understand what it is supposed to show.
3. Having a blogroll is good for SEO. When people search for X blog they may find a link to X on your blog and stick around.
4. Make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog through different mediums e.g. Google Friend Connect, Bloglovin, RSS Feed and by email. Don't make it hard work for them to subscribe- they probably won't bother.
5. Make it easy for people to share posts they like, e.g. through twitter, facebook, stumbleupon, etc.
6. Pay attention to your post titles. Don't use poems or song lyrics- they may be pretty but they don't help people to find your content in Google.

Gary talked about a lot more, including Google Analytics, which was really helpful. His presentation, as well as being really interesting, gave a number of tips which as a blogger I can put into practice right away.

amazon.com

The presentation just before lunch was by Shaa Wasmund. Shaa was due to speak on how to utilize free web tools but she said that as Gary had covered a lot of this, she would speak on the fly about how to follow your passion and make money doing it. Shaa's aptitude for public speaking is very impressive. She is an incredibly motivating and inspiring speaker to the point where it's hard to actually relay the content of what she said because it's her energy that is infectious. Shaa spoke about her experiences in business and investment, her mistakes and what she does well. Everyone came out of the lecture theatre buzzing with excitement ready for lunch and the afternoon sessions. Shaa was also giving out copies of her book Stop Talking Start Doing. I was really disappointed to see they had all gone after her lecture, but you can read the first chapter for free online here which will give you a taste of what Shaa is all about.

There was a fairly long break for lunch which allowed us time to network and browse the 'bloggers bar'. I chatted to Sam from Silverbean and Polka Dot Lighthouse, browsed the perfume counter, and had my hair done by Hershesons blow dry bar. I also snapped up some water from Feel Good drinks who had a stand- thank goodness for you ladies when I was parched during the afternoon sessions!

The first speaker after lunch was Mark Borkowski, famed PR Guru, speaking on what PR is, does and what its future might be. Mark was a great speaker and his use of visual aids was very effective and helped keep us engaged. He used controversial examples from history and religion such as using quotes from Goebbels, Nazi propaganda as PR, and PR being a story and Jesus as a great storyteller. Mark also came out with very quoteable gems such as "Everyone in this room would rather have the story than the truth" and "PR is now about public conversation not just public relations".

Jane from British Beauty Blogger

Rules of Engagement for PRs and Bloggers

The next speaker was Jane from British Beauty Blogger speaking on how to build relationships with PRs and bloggers. I think what Jane spoke on should be essential knowledge for the fashion/beauty blogger/PR! She put across so clearly the problems that bloggers and PRs face.
- Many PRs don't understand bloggers- they don't understand how personal your blog is to you. Likewise, sometimes bloggers don't understand PRs- they don't realize that the only reason X PR is being so friendly is to see their brands on your blog and to drive sales for that brand.
- If you don't get invited to an event that you would love to cover and think that you fit their brief, there is no harm in dropping the PR an email. You could say that you enjoyed reading about the event, and that you would love to be considered for the next one. You could also say why your blog is relevant to the event. The PR/brand simply might not be aware of your blog yet.
- When pitching to PRs as a bloggers remember your readers are already engaged. For example, if you have a beauty blog your readers come to your blog for a specific reason, therefore posts with beauty content or beauty ads will be highly relevant to your readers. You can use this to judge your worth/value when pitching to PRs.

Beauty panel: Fleur de Force, For the Young Dude, A Beauty Junkie in London, Lee from Grooming Guru, Emma from The Beauty Button Jenny Dickinson from Elle.

The last few hours of the day were spent asking questions to the fashion and beauty panels. I found the fashion panel really interesting as the different fashion bloggers on the panel all had very different blogs. A 'fashion blog' can mean very different things now; celebrity, personal, designer, high street. Lily made a really good point that her blog is part of the new generation of personal style blogs that are very different to the 'aspirational' blogs like Fashion Toast, that verge on almost magazine-like photoshoots. I think sadly that some people in the audience didn't understand this, judging from something I overheard while the fashion panel were speaking.

Sitting behind me were two older women, probably in their 40s (I won't name them, but they weren't bloggers). Lily was speaking about her blog and saying why she isn't interested in PRs pitching to her about items worn by celebrities, as her blog is about her style only. The women behind me basically started mocking Lily for her blog being all about her. This, all too clearly, sadly illustrated a point that Jane previously made about PRs not understanding bloggers and how personal their blog is to them.

Lily from LLYMLRS, Angela Buttolph from Grazia Daily and Joe Barnes from FHM

LLYMLRS, Coco's Tea Party, The Very Simon G (sporting some nice Versace for H&M)

We also received a generous goody bag full of products I'm looking forward to trying out, including NCLA nail wraps, Lipcote and Shu Uemura body cleansing beauty oil.

Batiste XXL Volume, Kiehl's coriander body cleanser, Shu Uemura body cleansing beauty oil, KMS hot flex spray, Vivo blusher, Lipcote, Green people vitaminfix 24-hour cream, Nail Couture Los Angeles nail wraps, Beaubronz tan + tan removing scrub, Forest secrets travel size set, Primavera hand cream samples, China Doll Boutique necklace, Jean Paul Gaultier classique perfume, Jimmy Choo perfume.

It was a really interesting day- I learnt a lot and met some lovely people. Thanks to Handpicked Media for a well-organised and very informative day! To read more posts on the day, check out Handpicked Media's link round-up post here and follow the HPMSocial hashtag on twitter.

Did you attend HPMSocial? What did you think of the day and who were your favourite speakers?