We are thrilled to announce the dates and location for the 2011 Savvy Blogging Summit!  While we absolutely loved Breckenridge, we have decided to move the Summit a little way down the road…

The 2011 Savvy Blogging Summit will take place from July 14-16 at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in gorgeous Colorado Springs, CO!!!

We will be asking for applications again, as we received fantastic feedback from both attendees, speakers and sponsors concerning the application process. Applications will open in February 2011, will close in March 2011, and attendees will be notified of their acceptance no later than April 1, 2011.

Savvy Blogging Summit Alumni who choose to attend the 2011 Summit will not have to go through the application process again.  Alumni will be asked to confirm their attendance with a 50% deposit, on or before March 1, 2011.

Speakers, course list and descriptions, and the agenda will be announced before the application process begins. Once again, we will bring you professionals in their fields.  We will be offering a variety of new classes for everyone, as well as some “old favorites” for newbies and more advanced classes for Alumni.

The cost of the Summit will be $250, with early bird discounts to be announced at a later date.  Standard (4 person) hotel rooms will be $159/night, which includes free Wi-Fi!  The hotel offers round-trip transportation from the Colorado Springs airport for $30/person, or $15 each way.

Colorado Springs is home to the amazing Garden of the Gods, the US Air Force Academy, the headquarters of Focus on the Family, and the US Olympic Training Facilities.  It sits at the base of the famous Pikes Peak and offers a wide variety of outdoor summer fun!

If you have any questions about the 2011 Savvy Blogging Summit, feel free to ask!

We look forward to bringing you another of the best and most focused blog to business event!  We want to help you take your blog to new heights!!!

If you aren’t sure if the 2011 Savvy Blogging Summit is for you, we are offering the 2010 Savvy Blogging Summit Audio recordings for 50% off the regular price of $97. Audio recordings also come with corresponding class notes and power point presentations. That’s 13 sessions, plus notes for only $48.50! Hurry, this one day sale ends Friday at 12pm EST. Use the code CHEYENNE to receive a 50% discount when you purchase the entire Summit audio package.

Image via Wikipedia

As a blogger who has had to take a crash course in food photography in order to keep people coming back to the site, I was quite impressed with how much I learned from the photography session.  I have taught myself a great deal about taking photographs of food, and am still learning quite abit about the styling of this food.

David tweeted and asked if we wanted to learn a little about the technical side of photography…to which we replied, yes!  And I’m so glad he incorporated that into the class, as I had many “lightbulb moments” as he shared about f-stops, ISO and white balance.  It all came together for me after his class!

Not only did he talk about the technical aspects of photography, he used pictures that attendees submitted to teach some valuable lessons about composition, angles, and color schemes in photographs.

He also shared some tips and tricks for how to take great photographs with a point and shoot, and not a fancy schmancy camera that you see above.

I was totally inspired after he session, have been playing with the settings on my camera and came out with this shot recently!  Thanks David!!!

If you’d like to learn more about the practical and technical side of photography, you can download the audio recording from the class…

Photography

Taught by David Mejias

Share tips to get the best pictures regardless of the quality of camera being used. Focus on results for various types of objects. Discuss ways to incorporate photos into posts. Learn general photo critiques to make your photos better. You will receive a link to corresponding worksheets and/ or power point presentation after you purchase the recording.

$10

We are excited to share with you a recording of our opening keynote from the 2010 Savvy Blogging Summit. This keynote was delivered by J.D. Roth, author of the blog Get Rich Slowly and the book Your Money: The Missing Manual.

In the spirit of community we have decided to make this recording available for FREE. Other 2010 Summit recordings are available for purchase through our website.

Download J.D. Roth’s opening keynote for free by clicking the button below.

The Business Law Class, titled Legal Considerations for Blogging as a Business, was taught by my dad, Jim Summers. He has helped behind the scenes as I transitioned $5 Dinners into a blog business.  He understands the world of blogging and how it relates to the law of the land.

The Business Law class was divided into 5 main parts and was jam-packed with useful and practical information.  It began with an overview of the different choices that bloggers have when it comes to what type of legal business entity they would like their business to be…an LLC, LLP, sole proprietorship, etc. He gave a run down the various steps required to become an official business, including how to file paperwork with the Secretary of State, set up bank accounts and the basics of bookkeeping.

As we begin to work with PR firms and major corporations for reviews, giveaways and even consulting work, it is important for us to understand the different types of business agreements that we might encounter in our work.  He went over the importance of non-disclosure agreements, engagement agreements, and employee or independent contractor agreements.

A consideration for us as we disclose our blog’s statistics…do we care if PR firms and companies use these numbers and share them with other people?!  If you wish for your numbers and statistics to remain private, then you’d need to ask the PR firm or company to sign a non-disclosure agreement. (This I had not considered before.)

He also discussed the importance of trademark and copyright protection, as well as the evolution of Internet Law, the importance of addressing Cyberstalking and the laws surrounding that matter.  He stressed the importance of proper bookkeeping and maintaining organized records of your blog business’ finances.

A few other highlights from the Business Law talk:

• All review products of “certain” value must be claimed for their fair market value on taxes.
• The fair market value of a paid business trip must also be claimed as income on taxes.
• Avoid oral contracts at all costs…a written email exchange and agreement is a viable contract, but an official (signed by both parties) is essential to successful business.
• Contracts define the rights and obligations of your business.
• Straight copying and pasting of another blogger’s work is ILLEGAL. It is a copyright violation.
• Have business plan in place…it is the roadmap that describes where you’re going and how you’re going to get there…it will guide you as you work towards achieving your goals.

The complete audio file of the Business Law session along with the power point presentation and corresponding notes is available for purchase. Click the button below to purchase the Business Law session recorded live at the 2010 Savvy Blogging Summit.

2010 Savvy Blogging Summit Business Law Session

$10

Erin Chase is the author of The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook and founder of $5 Dinners.com.  When not whipping up new recipes in the kitchen or chasing after the little people, she enjoys scrapbooking, running and being outside. She lives in Ohio with her husband and 3 little men.

We’ll be summarizing the Savvy Blogging Summit sessions over the next few weeks, but we thought it would be great to read the attendees’ posts as well. Link up your Savvy Blogging Summit recap posts below. Make sure you use your keywords in your link!

This weekend was an amazing experience and we hope to recap it here on the Savvy site over the next few weeks for those were unable to attend this year. The speakers, attendees, and partners were all amazing. It was their dedication to the Summit that made it a huge success.

For those who are on Twitter, you can read through a transcript of the #sbsummit tweets. Here are some of our favorite takeaway tweets from the classes taught by J.D. Roth, author of the website Get Rich Slowly and book Your Money: The Missing Manual. J.D. is an amazing teacher and his insight, gained from over ten years of blogging, was invaluable to the attendees and partners.

mommysnacks: Everybody has an interesting story to tell via @jdroth #sbsummit

amnichols: @jdroth Blogging is WORK even if you love it. #sbsummit

phollows: assume nobody is reading your Blog – and that everyone is. (via @jdroth) #savvyblogging #sbsummit

hollyk: Don’t just be an echo and blog about what everyone else is writing about. Get outside your niche now and then. Per @jdroth #sbsummit

Frugalbonnie: producing good, quality content makes people come back for more-JD Roth. #sbsummit

HappyHousewife: A blog is not a democracy. You are a dictator – you can be a benevolent dictator, but you are one. #sbsummit (via @jdroth)

SavinFamlyMoney: RT @HappyHousewife: Contests don’t build community. #sbsummit via @jdroth

Angie76: Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things. ? David Ogilvy (via @JDRoth) #SBSummit

KeeperHome:Too many ads on your site makes it cluttered and distracts your readers, making it difficult for them to make ad decisions. #sbsummit

AmysFinerThings: Test your ad positions. Which are most effective? #sbsummit

Bucksome: If the advertiser agrees to your price readily, it might be too low @jdroth #sbsummit

Tomorrow we will be hosting a linky so you can link up your Savvy Blogging Summit recap posts. Thanks again for your participation in our event.  You are all amazing bloggers!

A big thank you to all our regular readers, subscribers, and Twitter followers. Savvy Blogging exists and thrives because of your contributions to the site, Twitter stream, and BlogFrog community. We truly feel like this is a team effort.

As many of you know, the Savvy Blogging Summit is one week away. Since the Savvy Team is busily working on last minute event preparation we decided to take a two week break from the website. There was just no way we could contribute quality content and finish up all the details for the Summit.

If you are unable to attend the Summit this year, follow the #sbsummit and #savvyblogging stream on Twitter, visit our BlogFrog community, and check back here in a few weeks for lots of great new information. We can’t wait to share with you all the tips we learn at the Summit!

Breck or Bust!

The Savvy Team

Facebook fan pages (now just called “pages”) are incredibly powerful marketing tools to reach your blog readers and keep them coming back to your site. But if you don’t actually engage your Facebook fans on a regular basis, you won’t get near the marketing “bang for your buck”. In this blog post, I’ll share some tips to increase engagement and help you understand how Facebook’s algorithm really works.

Facebook uses an “engagement” algorithm to decide what users see on their news feed when they go to the Facebook.com home page. Users see updates from friends, apps (like Farmville), and pages they have “fanned” or “liked”. But they don’t see everything by default. Facebook tries to only show the most relevant and interesting updates. So your job is to make sure your updates are making it on to your fans news feed. Here are some things that affect whether or not an update shows up in someones feed:

• Visits - When you visit someones profile or a page it tells Facebook you are interested in that person/page. Your job as a page owner is to make sure people visit your page every once in a while so that Facebook knows they are still interested in you.
• “Likes” – Probably the most powerful indicator Facebook uses is the “Like” feature. When you “Like” something, you’re telling Facebook you want to see more from that person/page. When other people like something, it tells Facebook that it’s interesting and relevant. So when you can get people to like things on your page, it has a higher chance of appearing in their news feed.
• Friends - You may have noticed when people leave comments, or like something, Facebook will show something like “[Your Friend], [Your Other Friend], and 5 other people like this”. Facebook uses your friends as an indicator of what you may also like. If you have a friend that also shares 5 other friends in common with you, Facebook can discern that from your friends and will display their updates more than someone who doesn’t share any other friends in common with you.
• Interaction - The new engagement algorithm no longer displays things chronologically. There is a tipping point of sorts that will “promote” an update to your news feed that might have been posted yesterday. This is because some updates for people or pages you don’t frequent or haven’t liked much/any won’t normally show up, but if all of a sudden there are a lot of comments, or “likes” from a couple of your friends, then Facebook will promote it to your feed.
• Ratios - If you have 10,000 fans, but only 25 people regularly like, comment, or interact with your page, your post quality will be lower than if you have 100 fans and have 25 that regularly participate. You want as many people participating as possible, not just a few of the “regulars”.

As a page admin, you’ll notice on the left side of your page is an “Insights” box. This displays “Post Quality” and “Interactions This week”. The “Post Quality” is part of the engagement algorithm and uses all the things I mentioned above. I’ve seen qualities from 1.0 all the way up in to the 50′s. The higher the post quality, the higher the chance of getting your update on someones news feed. Now here are some tips on how to actually improve engagement and that “post quality”:

• Ask A Question - As an affiliate manager, I often visit my affiliate’s sites and fan pages and see many of the updates are auto-posted using some sort of bot/script. This is a sure way to destroy engagement and lower your post quality. Ask people open ended questions that use the words “you” or “your”. For example “What’s the most you’ve ever saved at the grocery?!”
• Comment Yourself – Your comments are important to post quality. If people comment on your posts, thank them, and answer any questions they have quickly in the comments. Each of your comments adds to the quality of the post and improves it’s chances of showing up in people’s feeds.
• Links & Updates – Don’t just post links. If you post a combination of open ended status updates along with links to offers/blog entries, you’ll notice the post quality will improve and you’ll start receiving more traffic from your Facebook page.
• Show Some Love – The people on your Facebook page have “fanned” you or “liked” you. Thank them from time to time and you’ll be surprised how many “likes” you get.
• Be Quick About It – Remember one of the factors is “interaction”. If you post an update and then take 2 days to reply to any comments, it won’t show up on peoples feeds because it’s not “fresh” anymore. You want people to “like” and comment on your posts within 24 hours or it may not ever get promoted. Sometimes asking a couple friends to comment on your entries right after you post them doesn’t hurt.
• Be Consistent – This is probably rule #1. If you post a few updates, then go back to your normal ways for a couple weeks, you’re going to lose that “quality” score which is a sliding week. I would suggest at least 1 post every other day, if not every day that has an open ended question that you think will get people to “like” it or comment on it. Then you can post 1 or 2 links in between those updates. But whatever you do, keep doing it on a regular basis.

Chris Kenworthy is an affiliate manager with the Escalate Media Affiliate Network. He works hand in hand with some of the top Mommy bloggers and women’s related web sites to help them earn more from their sites. The Escalate Network is a leading affiliate network that partners with publishers in the women’s niche. They are proud to provide affiliates with brand name offers, high payouts, responsive affiliate managers, and Net 15 payments. Signup today at http://www.escalatenetwork.net/signup/

At some time or another you will get PR pitches that are either poorly written, not a good fit for your site, or something you aren’t interested in promoting. It is easy to hit the delete button and move on. But, I have found that many times the person who sent the pitch represents numerous companies. Rather than delete, I send a polite email declining the pitch.

Dear PR Professional:

Thank you so much for considering me for this opportunity. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like it is a good fit for my site. Please feel free to contact me if you have another opportunity that may be a better fit. Topics that are a good fit for my site are (insert blog topics here). I have attached a copy of my review and giveaway policy for future reference.

Sincerely,

Suzy Blogger

or

Dear PR Professional:

Thank you so much for considering me for this opportunity. Unfortunately, my blogging schedule is full for the next few months. Please feel free to contact me if you have another opportunity at a later date. I have attached a copy of my review and giveaway policy for future reference.

Sincerely,

Suzy Blogger

I use a form letter and store it in drafts. It only takes a few seconds to respond and you never know what doors can be opened by a short polite response. Some of my best blogging opportunities came because I declined something first. Unless you are getting 100′s of pitches a day, spending a few minutes returning these emails can really pay off.

Didn’t make it to the Dinner at Blissdom?  Well here’s a quick video recap!

Click here if you are having trouble viewing the video.