Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Eat Drink Blog Conference in Melbourne. A day filled with like-minded bloggers, great panel discussions, tips, hints, debates, photos and, of course, food.
The conference was held upstairs at The Essential Ingredient in Prahan, a cosy space where they normally run cooking classes and demonstrations.
The day was filled with topics presented by local food bloggers, with time for Q & A and panel discussions following.
The lovely Zoe (a fellow Canberra blogger) sharing her views on why she blogs.
The wonderful Ellie sharing her tips for food photography and presentation.
We took a break for lunch, with sandwiches generously provided by St Ali.
It was really wonderful to be able to share blogging experiences with each other, and to meet people with such passion for food, photography and writing. It seems that although we may each have different reasons for blogging, we all enjoy this unique avenue as a means to share our voice.
Some interesting points from the presentations and panel discussions for me were:
How and why we blog
- Writing and cooking can be a craft - which is both fun and engaging.
- Blogs can provide what the traditional media forms cannot.
- Blogs can be effective across age, class and cultrural barriers.- Be fair - but own your criticisms
- Be wary of the PR 'lure'.
Practicalities of photography
- Use Flickr.
- Read your camera manual and consider enrolling in a photography course.- Focus and light - the two essentials for great photos.
- Feast with your eyes before you eat.
- Effective blogs have 3 important elements - a great story, great writing and great photos.
- Set up the photo 'scene' before the meal has finished cooking. Then all you have to do is "plate" and "snap".- Thrift shops can be a great source for unique yet cheap 'props' to compliment your photos.
- Make extra helpings so that you can photograph your food later (so as to avoid your dinner getting cold or your dinner guests getting impatient!).
- Don't be afraid to develop your own style of photography.
Copyright , ethics and legality
- Make sure you disclose any 'freebies' so as to avoid misleading your followers.
- To disclose effectively, follow the rule of the 4 P's. Prominence, proximity, placement and presentation.SEO and how to be social
- 5 steps of being "social" - create, share, comment, participate and join.
- Be social online and offline.
- Increase links to your blog = search engine optimisation.
- Title text is important, as are title and alt tags.
- Geographical tags are another great way to improve contextual relevance.
- Consider contributing to aggregated sites with the added benefit of links back.
Making money through blogging
- Ads and affiliate sales can be a great way to make money from your blog. But be wary with ads.
- Consider putting together a media kit if you are looking to include ads in your blog.- Be wary of people that want you to contribute to their site or project for free, but will make money from your contribution.
What I learned from the conference...
- Apparently I am one of the only people who isn't on Twitter. Must fix that asap.
- Apparently I am also lacking in the I-phone department - must also fix that!- I need to work on my photography knowledge ... lucky I am enrolled in a class that starts this week!
- Consider switching to wordpress....
A big congratulations to the event organisers and presenters for creating and running such a wonderful event (and allowing me to be a part of it!).
And a huge thankyou to the generous event sponsors.
* SBS food
* St Ali
* Der Raum
Part 2 to follow....Cocktails, photos and St Ali delights. Stay tuned.
Happy baking :)
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