Top takeaways from the Haven Conference

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My top takeaways from the Haven Conference .

Now that I have returned home from the Haven Conference and have had the chance to process all the things, I wanted to share my top takeaways with you.

If you have never attended Haven you may be wondering exactly what it is.

The Haven Conference is a place where DIY and home decor bloggers, influencers and brands connect.

A place to connect and learn how to build an online business, while creating meaningful and lasting friendships.

Here I will mention what I felt to be my top takeaways from the Haven Conference.

Developing your tribe

According to the Dictionary.com, “tribe” is defined as a social group with similar values or interest and having a common leader.

Creating and developing your tribe is important in having a community of bloggers that you continue to learn from, teach, encourage and receive encouragement.

It is important that not everyone in your tribe be your exact style, be sure to have variety in levels and design styles.

Your tribe should consist of those whom you connect with on a personal level as well.

Blogging can be very lonely and your tribe can be an integral part of your success and growing you brand.

Growing your brand

For most bloggers the goal is to monetize your blog by growing your brand.

Not only is that done through developing your tribe, but here are some steps you can take to help you grow.

• consistency – I have to say that this has been the hardest for me, I work outside the home, have three children, one with special needs and life gets super crazy sometimes. In order to grow your brand and have your followers know they can depend on your post you must be consistent.
• planning – creating an editorial calendar so you have a plan of content to create helps with your consistency.
• treat your blog like a business – creating office hours and work days will help you to process that editorial calendar you created. If you are doing this as a hobby that is fine, but for those that are planning on this being their full time job you must treat it as such.

Working on SEO

Search Engine Optimization

As a blogger I am sure you know of SEO, and know how important it is to each post created.

In order for your blog to be seen, you must pay attention to SEO when creating post.

The Yoast plug in is an amazing tool to have on your site that can assist you in ranking your post.

Here are a few things to focus on:

• use the Yoast plugin – assist in making your site search engine friendly
• creating your keyword title -choose a subject, core word and supporting word
• meta description – summarizes the page content
• using alt tags on photos – used to describe the image
• internal linking to your own content – links to other post on your site

These are a few important factors of every blog post you create. In order for your post to rank you need to be working on these items to create well written and compelling content.

Of course there is so much more that can be said about SEO, but I am still in the learning stages with it.

If you would like to know more just google it.

There are a few more important takeaways from the Haven Conference, meeting the vendors.

Connecting with vendors

In between your classes there is time to meet the vendors.

This is another fun part of the conference. You get to meet face to face with the vendors to see and use their products.

Prior to the conference it is important to find out which vendors will be attending and decide which ones you would like to talk with.

Before speaking to those that you chose, it is important to research their products and work on your particular pitch so you are ready when you connect face to face.

While you are visiting with them it is prime opportunity to introduce them to your brand and discuss what you could offer their company.

Describe to them up coming projects you may have that fits into their brand or product.

Often your mentor leader will tell you which vendors are great to work with and the best way to approach them.

Mentor groups

Another great part of the Haven Conference is that every attendee is assigned a mentor group.

The group offers support to the members, discuss any questions that you may have about classes, blogging, and collaborations.

Leslie, from My 100 year old home was my mentor leader. She was so kind and honest with the things she shared with our group.

We were able to ask her questions that we may not have otherwise not asked in a particular class.

So much can come from the mentor groups if you really treat it like a class and take advantage of the smaller group setting.

In our group I made some amazing new friends and am excited to develop another tribe with some of those women.

Takeaway wrap up

If you are on the fence about whether or not you would like to start a blog or if you should go to the Haven Conference, I would say definitely go and see what it is all about.

You will either decide blogging is for you or it is not, but either way I can honestly say that you will have an amazing time and meet some fabulous women and maybe a few men.

If you decide to go next year, let me know I would love to meet you.

Till next time

Xoxo

Sonya

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