THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR ESSENCE IN BLOGGING SUCCESS

THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR ESSENCE IN BLOGGING SUCCESS

This guest post is by Alden Tan of Alden-Tan.com.

So you got your blog started up. It’s time to put everything in place.

You start to study the market and conduct all the research needed. You read up on other blogs, scout forums, and buy an ebook that’s supposed to help you succeed.

Having bought into the hype, you actually force yourself to apply all the tactics you learnt, even though you don’t have a good feeling about them.

You’re basically basing your work on others’ success!

Already you’ve fallen into the category of tired bloggers who’ve tried everything and yet not seen any success. And then you’re attracted by other “gurus” who advertise “the real deal”. It’s a vicious cycle.

What’s lacking? What is that one, invisible quality that the top bloggers all seem to have? You may be spending too much time doing what others are doing, when the real problem is this:

How much energy are you expending on your blog? I don’t just mean writing, designing, optimizing SEO, or using social media.

I mean how much of yourself are you putting into your blog?

The power of your self, injected in your blog, can take you far. It’s about bringing forth your beliefs to the world and sharing your vision with people.

And it all fuses together to create your “why”.

The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”—Simon Sinek, Start with Why

This attitude goes beyond merely following your passion and showing people you’re doing what you love. It’s also a step ahead of putting personality in your writing.

It’s the belief and vision you need to create your purpose. And with purpose, you’ll never be lost again.

In order to find your blog’s essence, you’ve first got to find your own purpose in life.

Remember, your blog is you. You aren’t a ball of marketing tactics and business strategies. You need to continually express yourself in your blog to get all that essence out there.

I found and fine-tuned my purpose with this little exercise I did at RyzeOnline. This powerful exercise can help you to zoom in on your very being, building the strong roots needed for both yourself and your blog.

Furthermore, one of the things the exercise teaches is to be fully proud of your essence and loudly proclaim it to the world. You can easily do that by writing and portraying that on your About Me page, and in all your articles.

Ever since I completed this exercise, I’ve only written with purpose. To put it another way, I don’t write if I’m not inspired. I stopped churning out content just for the sake of having an update for my blog. Not only does it feel a lot better, but my articles have been receiving greater response in terms of comments.

Do the exercise now to create your blog’s roots.

Now, with your purpose and essence found, you need to as yourself: who will I bring this to?

Forget about finding a target audience or a demographic. Ask yourself this:

“Are you being completely you when having an intimate conversation with someone or when you’re addressing a large group?” You should be.

There is a fantastic article on finding your one person (or customer) over at Firepole Marketing, complete with a free worksheet.

Finding your one person makes it a lot easier for you and your blog to communicate your essence. It relieves the pressure of marketing and managing your entire blog.

For me now, when I write, everything is directed to my one person. And combining it with the first point—my why—I know for sure I’m on the right track.

So find your one person now, and write, blog, and talk to them.

Every blog has a layout and design—otherwise it’s just a wall of words.

But does your blog visually scream your essence?

Good marketing for a blog would mean readers would know what you’re all about within just three seconds of landing on your page.

Your content and writing definitely plays a big role, but the fact is, people’s attention span fluctuate a lot, so you definitely have to get your blog’s look alone to grab attention. And when you do grab it, make sure the right messages are going through.

Zenhabits has a minimalist look and it works wonderfully. Firepole Marketing, with its tagline, “Marketing that works” easily tells us of the brand’s speciality in marketing.

I just went through a blog revamp myself. When I started out, I thought of taking pretty pictures of myself with a good camera, thinking that it would look good anyway. Now, the pictures of me easily tell of my life. Let me know if you get that.

Does your blog visually tell your story? If not, tweak it!

When I started my own blog, I just thought I’d write and see what comes along, because I knew I was a good writer. But I ended up writing random articles that were at most entertaining.

It was only when I dug deeper into myself and find out why I wanted to blog that I found real purpose in blogging.

Not only does it feel good doing what I do everyday, but people eventually recognized me for that. I got personal emails from readers asking me for real advice. And all my “winning” strategic platforms thrive on their own—now I have more Twitter followers, more Facebook likes and more opt-ins.

Are you a little sceptical in the importance of essence? Essence is not some magical, cosmic energy at work in which the universe rewards you for the passion you have. It’s just building a strong foundation in your blog or business.

Remember, with strong roots, your blog will bear great fruit. And what better way to build your roots than by being yourself, being passionate, and being original?

Alden Tan is a rock star blogger who writes about personal development, passion and inspiration. He gets most of his essence from doing what he loves despite what others think of him. If you want to learn how to get your own essence out, check out his email series on learning how to stop caring about what others think and start living!


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WHAT IS SEO, AND WHO CARES

WHAT IS SEO, AND WHO CARES?

what is seo

Unless you don’t have a blog or a website of your own, chances are,  you have heard about the term SEO (search engine optimization) before. SEO is the process of improving a sites online visibility on search engines results. That really is the simple and short version of what SEO is all about (here’s a longer version of SEO).

As for the “who cares” part, it is no surprise that all who are serious about building an online presence cares about it. Yeah, SEO is far from dead, otherwise, what’s the point of Google and Bing, coming out with a lot of new stuff just to help webmasters improve their sites visibility?

Here’s a quick roundup of what’s new (or relatively recent) and suggested SEO resources:

Webmaster Academy – Webmaster Academy provides practical and easy-to-understand lessons for webmasters to help you improve your site with topics like getting your site indexed, providing search engines with helpful information about your video and image content, and understanding Webmaster Tools features.

SEO for startups in under 10 minutes (June 2012) – Maile Ohye from Google advises your startup as if she had only 10 minutes as your SEO consultant.

Webmaster Tools – The new webmaster tools of Bing is, guess what, mainly all about SEO. If you have not tried it yet or have forgot all about it, I am sure that you will find the “new” version much more interesting than before. From fixing on-page SEO problems, to their disavowing links, Bing has features for everyone interested in search engine optimization.

Here on iBlogzone

Yeah, I got my own SEO resource page, that I regularly update. It has “tons” of articles, videos, and guides, that are targeted for the DIY SEOers. If you are new to SEO or want to learn a bit more, start there. I am sure that there is something that you will find useful.

As mentioned above, you can easily come to the conclusion, that both Google and Bing’s webmaster tools are mainly geared towards search engine optimization. Hopefully, that will answer the question about whether or not, SEO is something that you, as an aspiring problogger or small business owner, should care about. Just remember the balance (YIn-Yang), provide quality content for users and optimized them for SEO. After all, you do want your quality content to be found, right? On the other hand, what would you SEO, if you don’t have content?

Anyway, if you are still are not convinced that SEO is something that interest a lot of people, maybe this study, presented in the form of an infographic, would shed a bit of light. This infographic, courtesy of BlueCaribu, shows just how big the SEO industry is. Some interesting facts, include India, being the largest community searching for related SEO topics, and Thursday being the most popular day for looking up on SEO.

SEO search industry
What about you? Do you care about SEO?


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A GUIDE TO HIRING A FREELANCE WRITER FOR YOUR BLOG

A GUIDE TO HIRING A FREELANCE WRITER FOR YOUR BLOG

freelance writer

According to most dictionaries, a writer is a person who writes, yet when this definition is extrapolated to the online world, a writer becomes so much more than just someone who can write. A writer becomes the voice of your brand, they become a credible resource, and they become your entire online presence.

With the rise of Web 2.0, content marketing became a huge factor in determining the success of a brand. This content came in the form of articles, whitepapers, ebooks, vlogs, podcasts, and blogs. Blogs became a way of connecting with readers all around the world – they provide an insight into what your brand does, how to use your products efficiently, and provide readers with useful strategies and tips.

All this sounds cool, but blogging can be tough work, more so if you’re a small business owner. A small business owner has to wear many hats, and blogging is one aspect that requires a certain degree of skill.

Professional Content

professional freelance writerWhen you hire a professional writer, you receive professionally written, well researched content. A professional writer spends time understanding your business and then creates content that not only resonates with your target audience, but also helps you acquire more readers.

Before hiring a writer, ask them for examples of similar content they’ve written for other clients, or how they plan on researching content for your website.

Market research and industry insight

When you’re busy looking at other aspects of your business, a writer can draw up statistics and data for your business, and even conduct interviews. This adds a lot of credibility to the content you write, again increasing readership. A good writer will always add their own ideas to your content plan, and also share best practices with you.

Most writers are also very savvy using social media and other methods of content marketing, so you can entrust this aspect of your work completely to them.

Affordable Costs

Hiring a freelance writer is cost effective compared to hiring a full time person on your team. Because the nature of the work is remote, you are not pressed for finding a great writer in your local area.

Before hiring a freelance writer, look at their rates in terms of the value you are getting. Freelance writing rates tend to vary depending on how experienced a writer is and how much research they are willing to do on your project.

The Editorial Freelancers Association has a rate list that can be used as a guide, or see this interesting infographic.

What factors should you look at apart from rates?

PortfolioClient recommendationsAcademic qualifications – though not completely relevant, academic credentials can make all the difference in case of medical or technical writing.
While the above listed points elicit the advantages of hiring a freelance writer, it may not be the best option in all situations. For example, a retail e-commerce with hundreds of products and constantly changing inventory should consider hiring a full time writer. A freelance writer may not be able to allocate 40 hours a week to your work, in which case there are chances that products may need to be put on the website without an accompanying description.

Though there aren’t many ways you can go wrong with hiring a freelance writer, there are some things you must keep in mind:

Always ask for recommendations from previous clients. A professional writer will always have these available.Ask to see portfolio of work. This gives you a good idea of their writing style.Look them up on LinkedIn. LinkedIn recommendations and bios provide a good insight into the writer’s work style and business ethics.Browse their blog or website. A freelance writer will most definitely have a blog or website which provides more information about their services.Ask for a video or phone call. This helps develop trust and enables you to understand how the writer plans to handle your project.Freelance job boards such as Elance, Guru, and oDesk have a large directory of freelance writers. You can post your project requirement on the website and wait for interested writers to place a bid on your project. If you choose to take this route, remember to hire a writer based on the value you’re getting. Cheap is not always the best, and the best may not be cheap.Problogger has a job board where clients can add their projects for a onetime fee of $50 for 30 days. It is one of the most widely read blogs in the world so the chances of your RFP being spotted by interested writers are pretty good.Your local Craigslist is also a great resource for finding local talent or you can post your RFP and wait to receive proposals for interested writers.Do a LinkedIn search for writers and send them an email (if their email address is publicly listed), or contact them through the LinkedIn message board. You can even ask for writer recommendations through LinkedIn Answers.
Irrespective of the platform you choose, make sure you write a detailed description of your project. This will help the writer understand your requirements clearly, and will also avoid any future scope creep problems for you and the writer.

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12 Tips To Create Your Content and Beat Writer’s BlockFresh Ideas for a New Blog Post – Content Creation Made EasyHow To Make Money Without A Blog: Ghost Blogging7 Ways To Kill Your BlogSpeedlink V33/2011, Keyword Rankings, Blogging, Social Web, And Awesome FaceBook Guide

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BLOGGING AT THE PAR OF STEVE JOBS

BLOGGING AT THE PAR OF STEVE JOBS

Steve Jobs blogging

All too often, as bloggers, we get caught up in this morbidly disgusting mindset that we’re doing okay. Some seem to think that there is no room for improvement.

In reality, we often are looped in this mind game that we are who we are, the best are who they are, and everything is good in the world. Quiet frankly, it’s not.

It stops being about improving the quality, and more about keeping it at the same playing ground because, hey, it works. As Steve Jobs once said, though;

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

Steve Jobs died at age fifty-six, yet managed to completely revolutionize the computer, phone, music, and film industries.

Whether you like his products or not, a note of respect is demanded – he’s far better than you ever were and, most likely, ever will be.

Before journeying on in this article, I’d like to reference his 2007 keynote that brought a mystical household gift we all know today – the iPhone.

I’ve watched the entire keynote several times (you can quiz me on it later if you’d really like), but the entire presentation is clearly built on three points:

There was always just “one more thing”.He thought he was the best and showed it.He wasn’t afraid of the “big boys”.
When it came to the phone industry in 2007, RIM and Nokia were the top dogs – nobody at the time was brave enough to mess with them.

Steve, though, was smart enough to work on a beautiful product for nearly three years before-hand. The revolution was new to society, but old to the creator – pretty neat.

With just a swift hour and twenty minutes of presentation, he easily tore down an entire industry and overwrote it with tomorrow’s technology.

Steve wasn’t afraid to do it for one simple reason – he knew he was better. Why? He had better ideas.

The problem with most people of today’s society is simple – they incorporate one (or maybe two if they’ve gotten that far) big ideas into a product, work on it, and then deliver it.

Steve, however, took hundreds of ideas and put it into one product:

Touch screeniPodFull HTML web-browserFull HTML eMailCustom interface(Watch the Keynote (; )
That simple style of “I just showed you the coolest thing you’ve ever seen, but here’s something better” is what allowed Steve to dominate an entire society.

As a blogger, it may be difficult to gather what you could ever learn from a man like Steve Jobs.

As every A-list blogger will tell you, your website is a business – Apple is a business, too. It’s really easy to make the connection there, then.

The playing field is shrunken… By a lot. The point, though, is still valid – if you aren’t willing to fight to become the best, you don’t deserve to be called the best.

Out of the hundred-thousand [or so] websites created every single day, barely 100 will ever be called anywhere near decent.

Being that one that stands out and provides the yardstick of quality is the one that will stand before the others.

As many of Steve’s employees would say, Steve stood for nothing less then perfection – entire projects would be redone if even a minor flaw was apparent.

Are you willing to make that commitment? The payoff it pretty great. Obviously the point here is not to be the same or better than Steve Jobs, but rather, to have the same mindset, which ultimately is what blogging for business is all about.

Related Content - Check them out:

Speedlink V32/2011, Bing SEO, Google Plus, Blogging, WordPress And DMOZ

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7 SINS OF INTERNET MARKETING

7 SINS OF INTERNET MARKETING YOU SHOULD AVOID

internet marketing mistakes

Getting started in internet marketing has been made easier with today’s current technology. Years ago, starting an online business would require substantial investments, and in some cases, impossible. That’s no longer true, as today, there are free resources that makes it possible for anyone with the drive and determination to start and build a successful business online, regardless of its size.

Now, here’s the downside. With all the tools, guides, tutorials, affiliate networks, several monetization methods, etc. that are available, comes the problem of competition. There are literally millions out there trying to make something out of the internet, and the question is, how do you stand out from the rest? Well, you can start by avoiding some common mistakes that some business owners make. Avoiding these mistakes, or sins, as I call them, will most definitely help you stand out from the rest, who are still doing it.

These sins may not earn you eternal damnation, but your business will most likely fail if you don’t shun these internet marketing sins.

This is where most people fail online. It’s an art being a good procrastinator. “You must avoid posting that post at all cost.” “You must keep from growing your social network.” “Surely there must be something better to do then work on your dream?” So we all procrastinate and I believe it’s the deadliest internet marketing sin, but how do we keep from being cursed by it. Here are some tips to avoid the pitfalls:

Write down your ideas as soon as they come to you. Even if they are jotted down. Then religiously come back and make a post out of it.Cut out all the other things in your life that hold your success back. Perhaps you smoke… cut back and quit. Stop watching so much TV… etc.Designate a time to work on your blog.Designate a time to drive traffic to your blog.Designate a time to work on your social network.
internet marketing mistakesWhen it’s your time to be working on your business a lot of us tend to have our Facebook open and e-mail. Then heck lets go check to see if we made some money over on Clickbank, Amazon or Google AdSense. No. You know what, lets look at our analytics’… that’s always fun. Sound familiar? People…Stop! Close all the noise off and work on your business and when you get your goal done. Then go check your e-mail, stats and social drama.

There are many loopholes and suggested traffic heists. When I first started I tried everything I could to get a sale. The long term dedication to make a real business just wasn’t there. So I started spamming Craigslist and to this day I have trouble selling a car or a washing machine. I think I made $5o bucks or so with all the spamming I did. I started getting into some of the sophisticated software’s and methods. It’s fascinating to see all the Black hat Ninja software that people can hack out.

“If a person would spend the time on their business that they spend trying to take shortcuts, they would have already succeeded. “

Internet Marketing PitfallsOk, I confess that I’ve tried loads of niche’s. This is sort of a grey sin area. There is nothing wrong with having multiple niche sites as long as you can make them successful. Yet a real business person needs a brand and a central hub to gather a big enough following… and why a following and a list? So that in the end you can make your own products and have a large enough audience to make it a success. So find your main niche for your business and keep at it until it’s a success.

With all the content on the internet, it’s easy to be drowned out. Especially if your content is mediocre. Not only does your content need to be unique it needs to be super good. The days are over when you could throw a post together and expect to get traffic. Below are some suggestions to keep your viewers on their toes:

Make a superb headline for your articles that will pull people in and keep them reading.Make the content of your posts enjoyable so they keep reading.Cover controversial topics.Provide a different slant.Include Q and A in your posts.Make a poll as part of your posts.Be funny and intelligent.Paint a picture as you write.Be brief…Get the reader to perform an action at the end of the post.
There is so much to learn when it comes to building an online business. Don’t be afraid to learn something new (as long as it’s ethical.) Keep up on the latest trends, but don’t be boggled down by them.

With all the one click wonders and ninja traffic heisting mechanisms that fill your inbox, it’s easy to be caught up in the get rich schemes. I’m here to tell you that that stuff don’t work. There is no autopilot millionaires. Those people work hard to get your e-mail and swap it back and forth with each launch. Most of those products are re-written, re-branded and then re-launched. There is nothing wrong with software that will make your business online easier and a success though. As long as the product is inline with what you are already doing and it semi-automates some of the workload for you.

Has your business been suffering from one or more of the above? It’s time to turn from the dark side my friend. It’s time to turn from your black hat…procrastinating… autopilot riches ways. It’s time to give the Google god what it wants. Real good content … Before Google runs out of animal names to name it’s updates after.

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HOW TO FIX ON-PAGE SEO

HOW TO FIX ON-PAGE SEO PROBLEMS USING BING WEBMASTER TOOLS

bing new webmaster tools

Not so long ago, Bing has introduced their updated webmaster tools. If you have not been using Bing’s WT for a while and log in, you may notice that it does not look like an update, but rather a completely new and redesigned webmaster tools. If you have never used it before, then you may want to seriously consider doing so, specially after you finish reading this post :) .

Webmaster tools are designed to help anyone to improve their online visibility and gather valuable search data for analysis. These includes, keywords that are driving traffic to your site, inbound links, crawl errors, traffic sources, most viewed pages (for better conversions), sitemap errors, indexed pages, among other things. These tools help you understand how users interact with your site and figure out ways to improve users experience, content marketing tactics, etc. You may be already using Google’s webmaster tools, which is great, and may be wondering why use Bing’s own tools too?

One reason I can think of right of the bat, is that having two sets of data to analyze is always better than just one. The reason being is that the basis of analysis that both webmaster tools may differ from each other, so the more information you get, the better. In addition, it is a good way to confirm what one is saying, in comparison to another.

But that’s not just that. Bing has introduced many cool features, the link explorer (similar to Yahoo’s site explorer, keyword research tool, a bunch of diagnostic tools, etc.). If you watch the video of Duane Forrester, you will know what I am talking about.

Watch Rand Fishkin and Duane Forrester talking about Bing’s New Tools

on page SEO analyzerThere has been some chatter on the web that SEO is nearing its end or that it is actually dead. I won’t be elaborating too much about the issue, but IMO, it is far from that and Bing as it appears, agrees with that too. Otherwise, they won’t be introducing new new tools, that are exactly tailored to improve your SEO.

Anyway, this bring me to talk about one of my favorite tools that Bing provides, specially to improve your On-Page search engine optimization. The SEO analyzer is a report that Bing runs automatically every week or so, provided you already have your website added and verified. The analyzer is like an audit report that assesses best SEO practices and identifies on-page optimization problems and gives you recommendations on how to fix it. Not only that, it tells you exactly where the problem is and the severity of the SEO violation. Absolutely cool!

Great, is it not? The report is really a tool that I highly recommend, and see absolutely no reason why should not use it. Unless, you think that all your pages are already “error” free. In any event, it is always good to run a diagnostic, just in case. In addition, if you can’t see any reports yet, or want to assess specific URLs, you can use the SEO Analyzer.

This feature is an on-demand tool to crawl a URL, and assess it against a series of on-page search engine optimization best practices. The resulting report will provide you with guidance as to whether you are in or out of compliance with the best practices. You can use this tool for any “verified” domain in your account.

link explorerLink explorer – This feature allows you to research any type of links pointing to any URL. You can use this tool to understand which links point to a specific URL, and filter those links between internal and external. Note that this tool can be used for any URL you wish to enter.

Keyword Research – Bing’s Keyword Research tool allows you to understand what volume of searches happen for any term you enter. You can research multiple keywords at the same time (up to 20), and filter the results by country, language and export all data. Data is held over a 6 month historical period, and is refreshed every other week. Note that results are returned based on data that comes from organic search at Bing and not from their AdCenter alone.

keyword researchSearch Keywords – This tool provides you with a list of search terms (keywords) that enabled users to find your site. For each keyword displayed, you will see the how many times your keyword appeared on their SERPs, how many clicks, etc.

There you have it! Bing’s new webmaster tools are 100% free. Some of the features are actually available on other sites, difference being that they are most likely paid services or with limited results. Obviously, there is always the matter of data accuracy and some bugs that may occur once in a while. Bing does mention that some tools are in beta and are constantly being tweaked for maximum performance.

So, have you used Bing’s new webmaster tools yet? What do you think about the SEO reports and SEO analyzer?

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COMING TO #MOZCON?

COMING TO #MOZCON? TIPS FOR YOUR CONFERENCING.

I'm so excited to meet all of you coming out for MozCon this week. Like many of you coming for MozCon, it's my first one too.

MozCon 2012 audience

Here are some n00b tips (and a few refreshers for those long-time MozCon attendees) to help you out.

You're probably wondering what to pack in your suitcase. Should you bring an umbrella and rain jacket? Should you pack shorts and sunglasses?

My recommendation: both. This week's weather is predicted to range from mid-50s to the 80s. In Seattle, bringing something for the rain is never a bad idea. Plus, you'll be indoors at the Westin -- hotels are some of the few places in Seattle with air conditioning -- so you'll want to factor that in.

MozCon Weather

Don't worry, we'll have a coat check on the fourth floor for your stuff.

If you're wondering about dress code, it's true that we wear flannel and blue jeans 365-days a year. Dress in what makes you comfortable around your industry peers. Whether you're tailored to perfection like Joan Holloway or look more like a lumberjack, you'll fit right in. I'll be wearing jeans and my staff shirt for all three days.

There are going to be ~750 people at MozCon this year. Bigger than ever!

One of the most wonderful things about MozCon is the chance to meet other SEOs and inbound marketers. Whether you're saying hi to someone you only knew on Twitter or making a new friend while tossing a bowling ball, you'll find yourself rubbing elbows with geniuses all week long.

Plus, there will be SEOmoz staff a-plenty for you to chat with. Feel free to ask anyone wearing an "I'm with Roger" t-shirt what it's like to work at the Mozplex or just where lunch is.

Jackie and Aaron: SEOmoz staff

These people are here to help you!

We're super excited this year to use our MozCon Live site: http://www.seomoz.org/mozcon-live. (Sorry, friends, this isn't quite ready for you to see!)

Here, you will be able to see agenda, find out more information about parties and the speakers, watch the Twitter hashtag #MozCon, and download the speakers' slide decks as they present. Also, you can ask your q&a questions for the speakers here! For those community members who can't make it, you can join in a bit of the fun and knowledge.

Our Registration area is located on the second floor of the Westin. There you'll be able to pick up your MozCon badge and swag. All you need is a print out of your ticket or photo ID.

Your MozCon ticket comes with breakfast, lunch, and two snacks. Due to popular demand, there will be bacon for breakfast one morning. We should have plenty of options for all sorts of people: carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, lactose intolerant, etc. Or those who only eat ice cream and cupcakes.

Breakfast and lunch will be located on the second and first floors of the Westin. (The main hub of activity, including the main show, is on the fourth floor.)

Additionally, at our night meetup on Wednesday at the Hard Rock, we'll be providing appetizers. On Thursday for the big Garage bash, we'll have food, drinks, karaoke, bowling, and more.

Would you eat this adorable pig?

On the Twitters, we're #MozCon.

Don't forget to RSVP on our Google+ event page.

Roger will be making appearances so you'll be able to get a photo op with him. Don't be shy as Roger's thrilled to meet you. Give him a hug!

His photo booth is located on the fourth floor, and there will be a sign with all the times for his appearances, so you won't miss him.

Katie & Erica love Roger

Those of you who went last year probably remember that we had issues with wi-fi. We're working to make wireless happen, but we need your help.

To make our wifi connection strong and out of courtesy for other attendees, please only hook 1 device up to our wifi. Also, refrain from using mifis, hotspots, or any other personal wireless network creator as with over 1,500 wireless devices in the room, these signals may work for you, but degrade the main wifi signal for everyone else.

If you are having a problem connecting to our wifi signal -- and you seem to be the only one -- please ask any SEOmoz staffer to assist you.

There will be table tents with wireless network and password information.

Need to do some heads down work? On the fourth floor, we'll have the 5th Avenue room open for you. There will be a live feed of what's happening on the main stage. But if you need a break or a corner to tuck in for a while, this is a great place.

The fabulous Laura Lippay from How's Your Pony? will be emceeing MozCon. She'll be introducing our wonderful speakers, sorting through q&a, and generally keeping the show running. If she asks you to jump, time to jump.

Laura Lippay

Check out Jon's recommendations for coffee shops and Rand's recommendations for food. Seattle is ridiculously amazing.

Photos of SEOmoz events by Rudy Lopez.

About Erica McGillivray — I'm SEOmoz's Community Attaché! You may have seen me hanging out on Q&A, playing on LinkedIn, popping up in your inbox via e-newsletters, working on MozCon, or reading your questions on webinars. I do a little of everything. In my spare time, I run a non-profit called GeekGirlCon, review a lot of comic books, and watch genre TV.

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