And just like that…the Fitbloggin’ conference ends. It seems a little surreal that it has now come and gone. Before sharing a final recap of the conference, I hoped to pass along things I took away from the conference which I believe had the most value. You know, besides numerous bags of Popchips, many Larabars, box of Fiber One cereal, New Balance sneakers, workout clothes, food scale, and plethora of coupons for free food. 😉

Number One: Be yourself. I think every single panel discussion or conference session touched on the importance of simply being yourself as you blog. We all have such unique voices, experiences, insights, and strengths. We need to trust those and tap into those as our resources to accomplish anything as a blogger – no matter our blogging goals. You can’t reach an audience when you come across as fake or forced.

Number Two: It doesn’t hurt to ask…if you have a relationship. If you have a brand with whom you hope to work, would like to work with another blogger on something like a guest post, or hope to make a connection with other media, you must put yourself out there. Make certain you first build up relationships through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, community chats, or other platforms. Then, kindness and a previous relationship can go a long way in leading to a natural progression of other opportunities to join forces in the future. In blogging, we are a network. Go ahead and use it!

The nifty Poken we received to pass along each other’s social media with a simple tap.

Number Three: Links Matter. The discussion Matt from The No Meat Athlete did on SEO impressed me so much. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can overwhelm many of us, myself included. He broke it down into a basic note – links matter. Below I listed a very few of the things he touched on. The Fitbloggin site has a full recap on his SEO tips.

• The anchor text (text that makes up the link) is vital. For example, link to the words “running songs” over “my post”.
• Have friends share links, tweets, etc to build up links to your site and SEO.
• Have a highly visible offline appearance in order to get people searching your blog.
• Focus the use of “keywords” in your title.
• Focus links around keywords early on in your posts and then use as appropriate.
• Most importantly - Make content awesome so people share it and link to it.

Number Four: It is not a competition. When chatting with the other bloggers in attendance, a common theme came up a lot in the beginning. Many of us felt a bit overwhelmed or nervous about meeting so many people. Would there be a certain level of judgment? Would there be any unwelcoming bloggers? I quickly learned that there is space for everyone at these conferences – no matter the size of your blog, your current level of fitness, or what you write about as your focus. The blogging world truly is a network where we share similar passions and interests. I felt that network in action this past weekend.

Number Five: Trampolines give a killer workout. Hey – we are discussing a fitness blogging conference! Out of all the loads of fitness activities from Friday morning, the trampoline class impressed me most. Dare I say even more than my beloved Cathe? Those things have my butt STILL sore! You would think bouncing around on something seemingly made for kids would come easy. Oh, no. I think this needs to become the new craze in gyms. Seriously. Thanks Jump Sport for the fun!

Well, I got a lot out of the conference and don’t want to skimp on passing these insights along to you all. So look for part two on this post later this afternoon!

• What’s a workout you’ve done that was surprisingly hard?
• Is it difficult for you to reach out and ask about certain things?

I hope you all had fabulous weekends! Mine was superb. Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my special decisions. I will have to get to the date night one in my next post, because in today’s post it’s all about recapping the special holiday. 🙂

Sunday morning, we all got purtied up for church service.

As I expected, going to worship on such a special day had me all emotional. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t tear up at an Easter service. I take that back – I actually tear up in many worship services. What can I say? God’s love never ceases to amaze me.

After church, we went out for brunch with my family.

We had coupons my family wanted to use to save some money. For IHOP. I never really had a problem with IHOP before, but it’s been awhile since I have eaten there. Let’s just say my tastes have changed. I hated it! I ordered the Nutella crepe which came with banana and topped with strawberries according to the menu. This is what I got…

The crepe may have tasted good. I don’t really know because all I tasted was strawberry juice with unnecessary whipped topping. Plus flimsy bacon with cold, dry eggs. Sound delicious? I ate it because it was 12:30 by this point and all I had eaten was a small bowl of cheerios 5 hours earlier. I just know that, from now on, I will go with my gut to pay the extra $10 for brunch at The Flying Biscuit. At least I had time with family!

An early dinner with Peter’s family made up for it all though. We did the normal Italian thing there with a large get together and copious amounts of pasta, salad, and sweets. I had some ravioli, garlic bread, half a spicy sausage, and some salad for my meal.

Then, we let things digest for awhile with lots of chatting, goofing around, and preparing for fun with the kiddies. More egg hunts! M has certainly caught on and was on a mission to fill her basket.

The day finally finished off with sweet treats. I ended up making the triple layer cookies & cream bars per Peter’s request and they seemed to be a hit again. I nabbed one for my plate, along with a vanilla cupcake with lemon frosting (courtesy of my sis-in-law), and a small bite of lemon cake.

I was actually happy that I didn’t overstuff myself with the sweets, which I can easily do on special occasions. I know I would have if sweets were what I had given up for Lent!Speaking of which, I wanted to finally share some things with you all.

For Lent, I gave up some of my morning “me time” and viewing blogging as more than a hobby. What does that mean? For starters, instead of waking up around 6 am to type up a morning blog post for the day, I traded in the blog writing for time in prayer or to read my Bible and devotional. That meant only having time during naps to prep posts…which in turn meant me dropping to posting typically only once per day instead of twice per day like often before.

During Lent I also gave up checking any and all blog stats. Page views, subscribers, ad revenue, etc. I had come to a place where I no longer cared about “building my blog” and I wanted to make certain my actions reflected that. My view of blog success had changed – because I admit to getting caught in the appeal of growing my readership - and I took the 40 days of Lent to solidify that change in perspective. To me, blog success has nothing to do with popularity and page views. Blog success for me is the following:

• having the opportunity to share my passions
• creating mutually beneficial relationships with readers/bloggers
• perhaps motivate someone in the process – to care for their health, grow closer in their relationship with God & Jesus, take on pregnancy with a fun approach, adopt a more positive daily attitude, etc

The past 40 days confirmed for me even more that while my path does involve blogging and sharing my story (from overcoming binging to my faith to motherhood to my weight loss), it is no longer my GOAL. My goal is to ever grow closer to the God who loves me. My goal is to have the strongest relationship I can with all my loved ones.

My goal is to live a healthy, fun-filled life. My goal is to inspire others to health and hopefully one day pursue something along the lines of personal training. Instead of trying to one day reach the point to blog for some income, I hope to continue living my life and fit blogging in where it will. The money it brings can simply add to my life – you know…funding things like races and blog conferences and dinners out. 😉

I guess what I’m trying to share is that Lent means so much more to me than going 40 days without something. It means sacrificing something so you can learn and grow during that time. I know I did. I hope, with or without Lent, you have strived to learn and grow personally too. And that you always strive for the most fulfilling life possible – whatever that may be to you!

• Heavy: What’s something important you have learned recently?
• Light: What was the best thing you ate this weekend?