Early bird tickets to the conference sold out in record time, and sales are continuing steadily more than five months out from the event.

Billed as an event for bloggers, by bloggers, the Digital Parents Conference gives Australia’s ‘mum bloggers’ (plus their dad counterparts) and those who tell their personal stories through posts, the chance to leave their online personas behind and network, learn and share.

A host of speakers and panelists have already committed to the conference, including ProBlogger Darren Rowse, Valerie Khoo from Sydney Writers’ Centre and Nicole Avery from Blog Coaching Boost. Excited about the opportunity to harness the buzz that is hundreds of bloggers in one place, Digital Parents founder Brenda Gaddi said the day had been planned with content for experienced and new bloggers.

“It’s a day for learning, no matter whether you’ve been blogging for a day or five years,” Brenda said.

“The aim of the conference is to encourage all bloggers to be the best they can and encourage relationships to blossom offline as well as online,” she said.

The Digital Parents conference at the Sebel Albert Park, Melbourne, includes keynote speakers, panels, workshops, networking and a trade expo.

Melissa Gassman from Kleenex Mums said the community site was sponsoring the conference after great success at this year’s conference in Sydney.

“Kleenex Mums is proud to be the platinum sponsor of the Digital Parents conference for the second year running. Our community is based on sharing the collective wisdom of Aussie mums and dads, and what better way to achieve this than thorough blogging!” Ms Gassman said.

“This year’s conference was an unprecedented success. Not only in terms of social media buzz, but in terms of learning, sharing and connecting. The upcoming 2012 conference will no doubt be even bigger and better,” she added.

Negotiations are currently underway with further sponsors for the conference.

Blogger tickets are available until sold out at $179 for the conference, dinner and dance. Tickets are also available for PR/Brand/Company Delegates for $209. Accommodation can be booked with the Sebel Albert Park separately.

For more information about the conference or to find out about sponsorship visit http://digitalparentsconference.com.au/

The event is sold out, however organisers are planning on making proceedings even bigger by adding to the list of sponsors. This list currently includes Kleenex Mums, Disney, Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence, Rubbermaid, Guardsman and Billie B Brown who have grabbed prime spots to target and engage with Australia’s mum, parenting and personal bloggers.

Organised by five successful Australian bloggers sick of waiting for a conference like BlogHer to come to Australia so they just did it themselves, The Aussie Bloggers Conference has all the ingredients of a great online success story.

Aussie blogging heavyweights Sydneysider Brenda Gaddi, Tasmania’s Veronica Foale, NSW South Coaster Tina Gray and Melbournites Nicole Avery and Karen Andrews joined forces to launch a conference for bloggers from all over the country.

Brenda said the conference organisers were thrilled tickets had already sold out because the day was all about sharing knowledge and experiences and meeting up in person.

“There are so many bloggers across Australia who communicate online and have fantastic communities, but want to be able to add to those networks with some real-life meetings. This conference is the chance to do that and more,” Brenda explained.

“Our panelists include some of the country’s most respected bloggers who have built up communities that hang off their every word. These people really own their online space, know the secret to networking effectively and are able to make an income from their writing,” she added.

Topics for the Aussie Bloggers Conference includes creating content, social media, sharing stories, monetising blogs, building a community and live blog readings followed by a dinner and dance into the night.

The conference runs between 9am and 5pm on Saturday, March 19, at Bayview Boulevard Sydney, 90 William Street, Sydney.

For more information about the conference visit www.aussiebloggersconference.com.au. To find out more about sponsoring the conference email info@aussiebloggersconference.com.au

More than a day out for the ‘mummy bloggers’, the conference is the first to focus specifically on the mum, parenting and personal bloggers who have taken the online space by storm.

Envious of the women bloggers attending BlogHer in the US, five Aussie bloggers got sick of waiting for something similar here – so they decided to make it happen themselves! And the date has been set for Saturday, March 19, 2011.

These five passionate women and successful bloggers – Brenda Gaddi, Veronica Foale, Nicole Avery, Tina Gray and Karen Andrews – between them share their experiences with thousands of devoted readers every week.

The conference will run between 9am and 5pm on March 19 at Bayview Boulevard Sydney, 90 William Street, Sydney, finishing with a dinner and dance event that night.

A host of speakers and panellists have already committed to the event with the aim of sharing their knowledge and teaching others about blogging, networking, and how to create content people want to read.

Not just for experienced bloggers, new bloggers are also welcome to attend, Brenda said.

“The Aussie Bloggers Conference is a conference by bloggers, for bloggers,”

“We want to have a day filled with knowledge, networking and fun. The Australian blogging community spans such a wide expanse – both in distance and topics – it will be wonderful to get everyone together in person,” she added.

The Aussie Bloggers Conference is sponsored by Kleenex Mums, Disney, Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence, Rubbermaid and Billie B Brown.

Tickets are available until sold out at $99 for the conference only and $149 for the conference, dinner and dance. Tickets are also available for PR/Brand/Company Delegates for $169. Accommodation can be booked at the Bayview Boulevard.

For more information about the conference or to book, visit www.aussiebloggersconference.com.au. To find out more about sponsoring the conference email info@aussiebloggersconference.com.au

I anticipate 2009 will be a pretty major year for me – both personally and professionally.

As I write this post I only have about four weeks to go until my second child is born. I am already mum to a very active and determined two-and-a-half-year-old son and this new baby will make four of us.

After launching Strawberry Communications in 2007 following freelancing for years, I used 2008 to consolidate my client base and stamp my expertise on writing and public relations for businesses.

I also started blogging for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Essential Baby about parenting.With only a few days of 2008 left, I am excitedly (and nervously) looking forward to the next month and next year because I have some big plans. Here’s what I’d like to achieve:

1. Lose weight – this has been my perennial New Year’s resolution for more years than it hasn’t. Instead of saying I want to be a certain weight or size, I’ll be realistic and say I’d like to end 2009 weighing less than I did in 2008.

2. Become better organised – with two children and a business to work around I need to be better at time management. I have improved this year and I intend to build on this.

3.  Build myself an office – as I will soon be losing my office space to a tiny being, I intend to convert our unused garage into a proper office so I can still work from home, but also switch off at the end of the day.

4. Spend time educating myself – it’s been years since I was at uni and I really enjoyed the few courses I did this year so I want to continue with my professional education.

These are my major goals for 2009. What are yours?

1. Encourage Web Browsers to Stay
Ensure your website is eye-catching and easy to navigate, giving browsers – or potential customers – every reason to stay and have a good look around.

2. Call to Action
This term is used often, but it works. Supply great content on your website and then encourage browsers to contact you via email or phone or, better still, buy!

3. Let Them Know You’re Real
Internet fraud is a huge concern, so people visiting your site need to know you are a credible business.Prove your reliability with:

• A physical address and landline phone number;
• Photos of you, your staff and premises;
• Testimonials and case study from happy customers;
• Consistent follow up of all enquiries.

4. Use Search Engines
There are ways you can jump the queue when it comes to search engine rankings:Search Engine Optimisation: include key words relevant to your business so your site comes up at the top of the list, ie if you sell hand-made furniture then make sure the words “furniture”, “custom”, “hand made” and “bespoke” appear on your site.Search Engine Marketing: if you don’t want to leave it to chance, try Google AdWords and pay for your site to appear at the top of web searches.

5. Email Marketing
This is a cost-effective way of getting your message out to your whole database of contacts and an excellent method of building relationships with your customers through enewsletters, special email offers and targeted personal messages tailored to their interests.

For more information take a look at my colleague and friend Belinda Jackson’s website: www.webchameleon.com.au.

6. Links and Advertising
Get your name out there by linking to related websites and getting links back from them too.Easy ways to do this include:

• Submit articles to other websites;
• Submit your site to online directories;
• Affiliate with complementary businesses, ie have a link to your legal website from a real estate agency.
• Use banner advertising on targeted websites.

7. Competitions
Your new and existing customers will love an online competition, which is a great way to build interest in your website. Consider partnering with another business for the prize and share the contact information you gain from the entries (with the entrant’s permission of course!).

8. Public Relations
It would be remiss of me not to mention public relations in this article, but PR is another cost-effective method of promoting your business online. Do this by letting your target media and customers know when you introduce a new product, relaunch your website or add new content.

9. Blogging
What better way to tell your customers about yourself and your business than through your own blog, just like this one. Position yourself as an expert on your given topic and write to your heart’s content. It’s an easy way to tell your customers what they want to know.

10. Tracking and Updating
Keep a close eye on all the statistics your web host gains from visitors to your site, including the search terms they use, where they are coming to your site from, how long they stay and which pages they like. Use this information to constantly improve your site.