I am writing you now from Disney World. Wow. That was fun to say. 😉 The hubs, Amber, her friend Mackenzie and I have been at Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World since Thursday for the Niche Parent Conference 2014. 3 of us had never even been to Florida and none of us had been to Disney World, so to say we are excited to be here is truly an understatement. So, I want to share with you {bloggers} some things that I learned at the Niche Parent Conference 2014 that you might find useful and I want to share with you {readers} some random fun we have learned about Disney now that we are halfway through our stay.

Getting My Blogger Learn On At Niche Parent Conference 2014

Jay and I attended several sessions and we really learned a lot. So much, in fact, that there is no way that we can possibly include everything that we learned. So, we want to share some of our favorite tips and tricks that we hope to be implementing soon on our blogs.

Things I Learned At Niche Parent 2014: There Is An Artist In All Of Us

Well, it turns out EVERYONE can be an artist with Painting With A Twist. We participated in a 2 hour session where we were supplied with everything we needed to create our own work of art – even instructions!

Things I Learned At Niche Parent 2014: Pinterest Rocks!

I must admit, I don’t know much about Pinterest. I pin stuff that I think is pretty or that I want to try later {recipes, crafts, etc.} but I don’t really know much about other people’s habits on the social network. I have no idea really why some of my pics might get 1K+ repins and then one might get 12, lol. So, the hubs and I sat in on a session with @EducatorsSpin, @ABoyarshinov, and @SusanWJackson to hopefully learn more about how to better utilize Pinterest. The first two ladies have a Pinterest account with over 1.5 million followers. Million. With an M. Trust. You want to listen when they speak.

Here are some of the tips that I learned that I will try to focus on very soon.

1. I am going to learn about more collaborative boards.
2. I am going to clean up my boards and try to make them more reflect what we do here on the blog.
3. I am going to move my boards with my most popular pins to the top of my page.

I would love if you would check out my Pinterest and let me know of any other changes that you would like to see in the comments below.

Things I Learned At Niche Parent Conference 2014: SEO Is Your Friend

I attended a session on SEO with @MattWallaert {Microsoft/Bing} and @Momables that I was particularly excited about. SEO scares me. Sheesh. Every time I fill in those info boxes that decide whether my post gets seen by 3 people or 3 million, I have a mini panic attack. What you choose to say to define yourself and your article truly can make or break you.

So, here are some things that I have taken away from their session to implement on my blog.

1. I am going to kick it into high gear on Google+. I love Google+ anyway. Now I love it more.
2. I am going to submit my blog to Bing. Everyone always talks about Google, Google Analytics, etc. But Bing is 35% of web traffic. As Matt said, “Do you want 35% more web traffic.” Yes, yes I do. 😉
3. Make sure all of my pages are being crawled and check my webmaster tools at least monthly.
4. Make sure to fill in “Alt Text” and “Description” info on pics. Those babies are stored, too, you know.

Things I Learned At Niche Parent Conference 2014: Mama Needs A New Car

We have been talking about getting a new car for a while. We have 2 cars that are both getting closer to 200K miles everyday. They are both great cars, though, and we have had basically no problems with either. As proud Chevy owners {shout out to our 2007 Chevy HHR}, naturally we have been talking about the new Chevrolets. I have been eyeballing the Traverse for a while, so I was super excited to find out that we would get to test drive Chevys, and the Traverse was on the list {along with Suburban, Impala, Corvette Stingray Convertible and Silverado}.

So, bet you will never guess which car I test drove. I think Daddy should buy this for me. What do you think? 😉

Things I Learned At Niche Parent Conference 2014: The Hubs Wants To Be A Podcaster

Both I and the hubby have a background in radio, so progression into podcasting seems natural to me. My husband likes sportcasting, so I think he would be a natural on a sports centered podcast. He is completely green when it comes to podcasting, thus he attended a session with @IAmBrandyButler to get the lowdown and see if it’s right for him.

So, here are some goals that he is going to work on to make podcasting happen.

1. Get the right equipment without breaking the bank. Brandy was very helpful in directing us to frugal options for starting up a podcast.
2. Jay is also currently searching around for the right platform for his podcast that he hopes to start within the next few months.
3. Jay also is going to work on setting up an area in our home to tape his podcast.
4. He is also working on refining his vision and goals for his podcast.

So, there you have it. This definitely isn’t everything we learned at our first blogger conference, but these are the highlights of what my husband and I keep discussing. We feel it was definitely worth the drive, time and investment. We also met a ton of really cool people at Niche Parent Conference 2014 that we might not have otherwise ever been able to meet. This definitely won’t be our last conference.

Have You Attended A Blogger Conference? Did You Enjoy It? Learn Anything?