Join Me at Blog World Expo

August 31, 2009 by 1 Comment

I’m going to Blog World Expo in October, and if you’re serious about promoting, monetizing, and growing your blog, you should be joining me. I’m looking forward to networking with bloggers from around the world, while attending some great sessions and meeting a bunch of really smart people. There are tracks and sessions around monetization, content creation, video, audio, and a bunch of sessions surrounding community, social media, and social networking. Plus, last week we learned there will be a full WordCamp: Las Vegas happening on the expo floor.

I hope to see you there… hit this banner to register, and you can also use discount code BWESEP20 to save an additional 20%:

Join the top bloggers and new media experts in the world at BlogWorld Expo 2009

I’ll be heading down on Thursday afternoon, kicking things off on Thursday night, doing the conference on Friday and Saturday, and then using Sunday to relax a bit, follow up with people I met, and take some photos. That banner is an affiliate link, but I wouldn’t be promoting it if I didn’t think it sounds great.

Speaking of photos, here’s Las Vegas at Night as photographed in January:

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I’ll Be Speaking at WordCamp Seattle

August 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I mentioned it on the air last Friday night at Strange Love Live but haven’t written about it until now. I’ll be speaking at WordCamp Seattle on September 26th. My talk is tentatively titled “35+ Steps to Launching a Blog” and will be loosely based on a blog post about the steps in launching Social Photo Talk. I’m hoping to gloss over the obvious stuff (like buying a domain name) and go into some detail about the plugins and order of setup and launch.

The rest of the WordCamp Seattle speaker lineup looks great; I hope to see some of you in Seattle!

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Contact Forms: They’re Kind of Selfish

August 1, 2009 by 2 Comments

Does your blog or website have a contact form, or do you simply publish your email address for those who want to write? I hope that with very few exceptions you’re simply allowing folks to send an email.

Why? Because contact forms inconvenience the reader. Email is a far more flexible option for someone wanting to make contact. Individuals have an email system they’re used to… maybe they prefer webmail. Perhaps they like using Outlook, Thunderbird, or Mail.app. Forcing readers to use a contact form means they sacrifice their comfort and customizations.

If you’re part of the contact form crowd, I probably know what you’re thinking right now. You’re thinking “But if I give out my email address, I might get spam!” You’re totally right. But that’s not your readers’ fault. Don’t inconvenience your reader because your email system can’t deal with spam. It’s not about you, it’s about your reader.

What are the “very few exceptions” mentioned above for which I think a contact form is appropriate? There are two:

  • If you require more than 4 pieces of information (specific data that goes beyond name/email/message and such). An example would be if you’re soliciting input about a complicated product and you require several categories of information in addition to the message.
  • If you’re using the form as a front-end for an automated ticketing system.

Make it easy for your reader. Let them use the email system of their choice to get in touch.

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