BlogPaws 2012 - Day 2

Photo by Rebecca Jeffs

As I mentioned in my last post, Friday began with a keynote presentation by Betsy Saul, co-founder of Petfinder.com.  Betsy’s presentation on the history of the animal welfare movement and current issues facing animal advocates was both informative and inspirational.

The first session I attended that day was Monetization 101 presented by Rebecca Braglio of ThePhillyDog.com. Rebecca talked about various issues such as: establishing your business as a legal entity, identifying various avenues for advertising income, developing a media kit, packages and pricing.

The next session I attended was WordPress 101 presented by Ryan Hughes of Oodle Tech. Ryan about talked some of the WordPress basics such as deciding whether to use a template or custom-designed theme, how to manage content, and using WordPress plug-ins.

Next I visited the Honor Flag area, which was hosted by my friend Wanda Kruse (@MaggieTKat). Pet bloggers were invited to sit down and craft a flag in honor or in memory of their favorite pet(s), a favorite rescue group or animal shelter, or anything else that might be meaningful to them. I designed a flag in memory of @BunnyJeanCook, who went to the Rainbow Bridge just over a year ago.

Then I took a brief break in my room - one thing I’ve learned by going to four different BlogPaws conferences is that I need to take a break in the afternoon to recharge my batteries. Spending an hour in my room gives me a chance to catch up on my email and write a quick blog post.

Later, I went back downstairs to hear musician Sarah Donner perform, and then I visited the Catification Lounge hosted by Kate Benjamin of ModernCat.net.  Kate had a wonderful room just full of great stuff for cats and their people – and she had handouts developed with the help of Jackson Galaxy about creating feline-friendly environments.

After partying at the Catification Lounge, a group of us went to the hotel bar to relax. Eventually I made my way back to my room and fell into bed wondering how I was ever going to make it through another day!