It’s over. (What I learnt at Britmums Live)
That’s it. It’s over.
I connected with old friends and made new ones.
I hugged, I squealed, laughed, I cried, I learnt.
Now the case is unpacked. The goodybag has been scoured by my daughter and trodden on by my son.
I’ve made my ‘to do’ list and started putting my plans in place.
I’ve followed, friended and pinned.
I’ve smiled at all the wonderful memories that will last me for another year.
I’ve breathed out.
Britmumslive is over for another year.
I came, I saw, I hugged, I squealed, I laughed, I cried. Thank you
— Bod for tea
I wish I could have bottled the energy, the enthusiasm, the sheer exuberance created by a room full of fabulous bloggers and brought it home with me.
Because suddenly the air’s escaped from my Britmumslive balloon and I feel deflated. I miss my curly sister Sophie from Franglais Mummy (and her gorg hubbie Ben), Jennie from Edspire, Tinuke from Circus Mums, the vivacious and always glamorous Vicki from Honest Mum and new pals Zaz from Mama and More and Katie from Pouting in Heels (we are totally going to work together ladies).
Katie (Pouting in Heels) and Zaz (Mama and More)
So I throw myself into action. Improving, understanding, consolidating. Is Hootsuite better than Sprout Social? What is my Google+ strategy? Will I sign up to Lipsyn and buy a snowball? Will I get arrested if I steal samples of wallpaper to keep as photo backdrops in my handbag?
I feel like I truly learnt a lot at Britmums Live this year. Last year I only went on the Saturday and as Little Man came along for the ride I spent most of the day in The Hub drinking coffee while other people had a cuddle with him (thank you Ben) So here, in no particular order, are some of the tips I brought back to Bod Towers with me – feel free to use them with your own blog and share what you learnt at Britmums Live this year in the comments:
#1 Align your images and your text for better readability (Capture by Lucy)
#2 Make sure your About You info is available on every page of your blog and add your contact details to your footer (Capture by Lucy)
#3 Learn about Google+ authorship and publishership to maximise your use of this still new-to-most-of-us-not-sure-what-to-do-with-it channel ()
#4 If you want to work with brands analytics are your friend – whether you use Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Clickystats. () If you don’t? Write from the heart and sod the stats.
#5 If you’re interested in podcasting you don’t need lots of expensive equipment and you don’t have to sit in a cupboard to cut out the sound of your best china hitting the floor while you take your eye off the ball. You do have to have a microphone (like a snowball) and a way to store your podcasts (like Lipsyn). (John Arnold)
#6 Start a Pinterest blogs-I-love board for inspiration and use the colour palette at colourlovers.com to find complementary colours for your images (Captured by Lucy)
#7 Design error pages for the most common 404 and 403 errors that send your readers to your key content rather than losing them out the back door (me!)
#8 Use Google ripples (I’ll tell you more about it when I know myself) ()
#9 If you’re going to be in a photo stand with your weight on the leg away from the camera, turn to the side and push your chin out and down to minimise that neck jelly (Julia Boggio)
#10 And finally, display your less crisp images (like most of the ones I took over the last two days) in a collage like this (Captured by Lucy)
Have you seen these?
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Hello I’m going to Brit Mums Live
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I’m going to Brit Mums Live 2014 – are you?
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For years I hated the way I look on top…
Love these tips! Thank you for spreading the love to those of us who couldn’t make it to BritMums <3
it was so blooming lovely to see you honey
next year we are going to have a longer chat!! xxx
….. and it was so lovely to see you again but only really briefly :o(. It’s so hectic isn’t it? I found I only got chance to spend five minutes with people sometimes. Lovely to read you gained so much from it! X
Great pics and great tips! I’ve still got to go through all my notes from the weekend. It was so lovely to finally meet you and to get to spend some time with you. Thanks for sharing the pics of Ben and me on your blog
If you get a chance could you send them to me too? Let’s meet up again soon xx
Such a great roundup of tips
Ha ha, neck jelly! What a great haul of tips, thanks for sharing! I was in the Google+ talk but it was so crowded I didn’t spot you – what a shame to have missed the chance to meet you.
Fab to grab a quick hug with you, I have not even really started to process yet! Mich x
Lovely to meet you and great roundup!
A great roundup of tips – especially as I couldn’t get to every session I wanted to, invariably two always clashed for me! Here’s my experience of Day 1 x
Gorgeous round up-love the way you write (as you know) and always so fun to see you, a blogging and real life friend! Here’s to next year-what a poser I am working that pose in your pic! Ha! x
Some great tips, and great to see some from the sessions I missed.
Really really really great to have spent so much time with you!
Loved your tips, I never thought about displaying the less than crisp images. Loved the collage. Thank you for the publishership tip, I scrawled the word so fast that I couldn’t make it out in my notes and it had been bugging me all morning as I knew I wanted to look into it more.
Lovely to know that the sessions left you with loads to think about and action. I’m brimming with ideas too!
Sounds like you had such a great time and learned so much!
It was lovely to finally meet you, glad you had a great time. xx
Glad you had such a good time!
What a great round up to a packed weekend full of amazing adventures, learning and meeting new people. It was so so lovely to meet you and I love the new blog look too hunny. I have just wrote my BritMums Live experience too. I can’t wait until next year. Hopefully get to catch up more there!