7 Things I Learned at Camp

We’ve all been to professional conferences. Some are great and some are… less great.

Today I went to a great conference and though I can’t share the networking benefits with you, I can at least share 7 practical tips and inspiring ideas that I learned at WordCamp Jerusalem 2011:

1. We all keep hearing that mobile apps are the current frontier of web marketing but not many of us can find the energy or cash to develop one. That’s why I was excited to see one of the developers of UppSite demonstrate live on stage how his plugin can turn your website (WordPress or otherwise) into a mobile app with just the click of a button. The plugin even automatically uploads your app to the android and apple app stores, effortlessly resolving some annoying stumbling blocks along the way. Depending on how much mobile traffic your site is getting (and you can check this in Google Analytics) it may be time for an app for your site. And unless you happen to love working with developers, UppSite might be perfect for you. (Please note: I hope I sound like I know what I’m talking about because I personally know very little about mobile apps since I don’t have a smartphone – but that’s another story)
2. Gal Mor, founder of HoleintheNet.co.il, the Hebrew TechCrunch,  showed us how his site gets close to 50% of its 200,000 monthly visits via Facebook. Apparently, each click of a Facebook “Share” button on your site will haul in an average of 3.31 extra visits! People who came to your site via Facebook are likely to also click “Share” once they are there, and what can result is a big Facebook Share-fest and an avalanche of traffic to your site. This aspect of social media marketing should be implemented by everyone with a website, even if you are not ready to plunge into the more proactive methods of Facebook marketing for religious reasons (which I examined in this post: The Halachas of Google and Facebook).
3. Hanan Weiskopf, VP of Biz Dev at illuminea, spoke about  How to Change the World with a Blog. He gave many examples of how blogs have resulted in social change here in Israel – better public bus services, amendments to laws, creation of parks, etc. He said that the best thing to do for your business is get publicly involved in a social cause that you are passionate about – and that the best way to do this is through a blog. I found this talk pretty inspiring because I also have secret designs on changing the world through this blog. The cause I have always identified most strongly with is helping other Jews find their parnasa, and it is my sincere hope that this blog will one day help me achieve that goal. As I listened to Hanan’s talk, ideas whirled in my mind for all the things I would love to do with this blog to help people improve their parnasa. So much to do, so little time! With G-d’s Help! (Disclaimer: Though I don’t get paid to write this blog I did recently make a little money off it when a reader signed up for odesk through my affiliate link on the Products I Love page. Whoever you are, my Rosh Hashana budget thanks you!)
4. Yehonatan Klinger, an attorney and blogger specializing in law and digital media, really he knew his stuff. He stressed that any agreement related to web development and marketing should be as detailed as possible, covering: copyright issues, exit clauses, milestones with a specified due dates for each one, required actions by both parties, provisions for non-payment, etc. He also recommended getting any agreement signed on paper (rather than relying on email confirmations). My favorite advice he gave was that when making an agreement, when should separate between the planning and execution stages, with two separate agreements, since really you never know what you’re getting into before the planning stage! There is no doubt that at least when working on larger projects where serious money is at stake, a sound agreement is essential!

After that we took a break for lunch and enjoyed the view – so you should too!

 5. Miriam Schwab, CEO of illuminea and the organizer of WordCamp Jerusalem, gave many interesting tips in her presentation on how to optimize your site for traffic. The tip that stood out for me was her demo of Yoast WordPress SEO plugin, and the ways that it beats out all other SEO plugins. I took her word for it and installed it on this blog (which you may have noticed is currently at the ugly point of its makeover). And I must say that I am totally impressed by all the features it has rolled into one plugin: SERP listing preview, keyword suggestion, page analysis, no follow/no index, 301 redirects, and lots of other extremely geeky concepts made simple! Miriam also mentioned connecting your your Facebook to your website using Domain Insights to improve your understanding of how the traffic is flowing. There are instructions on how to do that here. Incidentally, Miriam was featured at one of the 7 Jewish Business-Women who Inspire Me.

6. Ariel Hochshdat, Director of Business Marketing at Google, showed us around some interesting Google products for improving your Website’s performance: Website Optimizer to lift conversion rates. Google Insights for Search to reveal the changing trends of popular interest. There was also Google Trends for websites and of course, Google Analytics but by that point of the afternoon my brain was too fried to absorb much info! The main thing I got out of Google was a really cute spiral-bound notebook with their logo on the cover, and I thought it was cute that Google (of all entities) thinks that people take handwritten notes at this kind of conferenc

7. I said I would tell you 7 things I learned at WordCamp Jerusalem that the only other one I can think of now is that I miss my kids when I have such a long day away from them!

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