In the land of online influence, community engagement rules all Belmont-based media network BlogHer, Inc. has harnessed that with a model that allows women to help other women create their own profitable businesses. On Oct. 22-23, the media publishing network will hold the BlogHerPro Silicon Valley conference—an event aimed at professional bloggers. The conference, takes place at the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood Shores.
With some 4,250 bloggers writing on a variety of topics from marketing, cooking, DIY and entertainment to women in tech and career advice, BlogHer, Inc. reaches 92 million women in the U.S. each month. The network compensates members for their published blogs and influence, paying out more than $24 million in the past four years.
BlogHerPro, a one-day offshoot of the annual BlogHer conference that welcomed more than 4,000 bloggers to Chicago in July, features online marketing celebrities such as former Virgin America CMO Porter Gale and Internet music sensation Daria Huff, who utilized her Google+ network to create a huge following and gain a record deal. The speakers will discuss personal branding, business production and DIY mobile strategies.
Speaker Beth Blecherman will talk about branding with use of social media. Blecherman, a Menlo Park-based BlogHer member, curates family-friendly tech products on her blog Tech Mamas. A former senior manager at Deloitte, Blecherman also consults for startups that are creating products and apps targeting families. “The fascinating thing is that women are the power users of technology and the most sophisticated users, and companies need to take this seriously. We are a huge demographic. When you’re in management, you’re in an echo chamber.” Blecherman also co-founded a mom blog network called Silicon Valley Moms Group that sold to Technorati in 2010.
When Camahort Page and fellow BlogHer founders began offering conferences in 2005, they were asking questions such as ‘where are the women at?’ in the White House, in the blogosphere and in technology. Today, the conversation has shifted to exploring how women can spread their influence and make it pay. And BlogHer conferences show the network knows something about having clout: recent conferences in Chicago and New York City have drawn speakers such as Sheryl Sandberg, Martha Stewart and President Barack Obama.
BlogHer Pro conference
Oct 22-23
$204.97 (individual registration)
