Imaginif

The Australian Blogging Conference on Friday 28th September, 2007, was blogatastic. Approximately 100 eclectic and competency spread Australian bloggers visually and auditory vouyered the emerging Aussie blogging culture in a lecture theatre at the Queensland University of Technology. Whereas the Culture of blogging in the U.S has led the field, move over cowboys, because the Aussie cavalry has arrived.

We Aussies are great at inventing and developing things that aid other people and community: the Black Box, the rubber Glove, the inoculation against cervical cancer and the fair dinkum back yard barbie (no, not that blond busty divorced bimbo that comes with Ken’s accessories). The ambiance of the day smelt of a lemon myrtle grilled Aussie blogosphere, slow cooked and lovingly turned, hand basted with the juice of bourbon flavoured beer and a hint of organic reef and beef. The smorgasbord of workshops offered something to every palette.

There is no mistaking that our love of blogging has been inherited from our global cousins in the U.S. However, just as we do not celebrate Halloween in the same manner, nor do we celebrate blogging in quiet the same vein. Aussie bloggers appear to be a more professional set - a cohort who can articulate their reasons for blogging and their required remuneration  for their efforts. Remuneration does not always equate to the greenback (or our beautifully coloured notes). Rather, the Aussie remuneration for time spent blogging parallels our national value of mate-ship: a triple bottom line of helping others, showcasing our skill/diversity of country and closing the geographic isolation between us.

Blogging to help others improve their life and to raise collective consciousness was a concept I heard repeatedly voiced over the day. This pleased me because Imaginif blogs are clearly about the greater good and raising consciousness around child abuse issues. We do not blog for any selfish or arrogant reasons - we do not blog to fill in time or publicise our lives - we blog to help and share - we blog to give a voice to the silence of child abuse. Certainly in the Blogging and Research workshop that I attended, the definitions of what a blog is and does created a degree of audience thought. A blog is so much more than an online personal diary, it is a diary open to replication, scrutiny and creating a tool that others can learn from or use. But, just as all good doing has a theoretical framework and clear methodology, what is the methodology of your blog? I LOVED this workshop. Thanks Mellisa, Jean and Axel.

Meeting and discussing the seriousness of our blog life with my cohort from Bumpzee was a highlight for me. Bumpzee is my chosen social networking site. The Aussie contingent there is large, diverse and incredibly helpful to each other. Recognising Bumpzee attendees was made all the easier via the photos they use as Avatars. Des Walsh from Thinking Home Business, Suzie Cheel from the Abundance Highway, John from SEO Blog, Christine Parfitt from Semfire Search Engine Marketing and Duncan Macleod from Duncan’s TV Ad Land were the members I instantly recognized and spent some time with (there were other Bumpzees there but I didn’t get to meet them). The networking was invaluable and far more palatable than boring, same old cocktail business network meets.

Interesting blogging tips from the day:

• The average blog will not, ever, reach 500 hits per day.
• A full calendar year is required to give your blog credibility and longevity. Don’t even plan on making any money from Google or affiliate ads until after this time has past.
• Yaro Starak (blogging guru) looks exactly as he does on his video pods: bad hair, understated, and affable. It was great to meet you Yaro. Thanks for spending some time chatting with me.
• Pay per Post as ethical practice and monetization of blogs has polarised views. Some have no problem with it while others view it as abhorrent practice and blog soul selling.
• Reciprocal blog roll links are not always favored by the Google Gods. Link to others as a reward for their good writing or your interest in their subject material. Blend the links into your posts and do not expect that person to link back to you. If you link freely and fairly, others will also do the same if they value your writing (aka Blog Karma).
• Andrew Bartlett (Democrats) is the only Federal politician that blogs regularly. What a sense of humor the guy has too. I was rather taken with his plenary session. Check out his account of the day at Blogging on blogging Conference. Andrew, if you followed Hetty Johnston’s example and took up child abuse prevention and intervention as part of your political platform I am sure you’d receive votes that you haven’t already got.
• Editing blogs once posted is not an acceptable or professional practice. Bloggers are notoriously ethical - editing first assists in Australian bloggers maintaining our ethical status.
• Do not have cute titles. Use your key words in titles. This assists search engine optimisation.
• Submitting blog rewrites (do not repost word for word - Google does not like that) to places like Ezine Article Submissions can assist in further drawing traffic to your blog and in establishing your credibility as a trade specific writer.
• Be careful with copying pieces across that you may also have on other blogs. The may be read by the Google spiders as stolen copy. Change some words and include a sentence at the bottom acknowledging that the blog is a reprint from elsewhere.
• Stay ethical. Blogging in Australia will explode and ethical bloggers will lead the way.

The Australian Blogging Conference will become an annual event. Duncan Riley, who flew in from Perth especially for the conference, has requested that next year we hold it in the west. No matter where it is held, I will be attending the second Australian Blogging Conference. To Microsoft, GetUp! and Kwoff, thank you for sponsoring the Australian Blogging Conference.  It was simply blogatastic. Ensuring the day was FREE (and the free lunch was superb - well done on the catering) made it a conference that every blogger could go to.

Article by Megan Bayliss

Further Australian Blogging Conference posts (not already included as links within this post):

Australian Blogging Conference
Australian Blogging Conference – Morning Panel discussion
Reflections on the Australian Blogging Conference and Blogging in Education
Australian Blogging Conference – Citizen Journalism
Australian Blogging Conference – The Politics of Blogging
Australian Blogging Conference Highlights
Political Blogging
Business and Corporate Blogging
Rough Notes: Australian Blogging Conference, Business Blogging
Australian Blogging Conference: Building a Better Blog
Blogoz: Promoting your blog
The Future of Blogging

Leave me a comment and address if you’ve also blogged on the conference. I would like to see the variety of thought. Has anyone posted on the blogging and research session? I am keen to see what you got from it.