Win an Alt SF Ticket!

By: Melanie Blodgett Images by: Matthew Korbel-Bowers

Are you dying to go to Alt SF but thought your chance for a ticket had passed?! Well good news! Bing is giving away 4 last minute tickets to attend the one day conference on July 18th. Entering is as easy as one, two, three. 

1. Instagram a pic of your favorite summer festivity by midnight PST, July 4th. 

2. Make sure to include the hashtags #thanksbing and #altsummit 

3. Cross your fingers and clear your schedule for July 18th, because you might just be headed to Alt SF!                 

Thanks Bing!

Small print: Winners will be chosen randomly and notified by a member of the Alt Summit team on July 5th. You will need to be fully registered on July 6th. If you are unable to attend or you are not fully registered, your winning ticket will be given to another eligible entrant. These tickets are for new attendees only. If you are currently registered for Alt SF and you are a chosen winner, you will not be refunded your registration fee. Instead, a new winner will be randomly selected. Oh, and I hope you win!

Bloggers & Bing

We're big fans of Bing at Alt for numerous reasons, #1 being that they are regularly coming up with ways to make blogging a little easier. Here are three recent developments from Bing that you'll be happy to hear about: 
 
1. Bing Boards! 

Bing Boards are a new feature that makes visual content equal to regular search results. Basically, influencers use Bing Boards to create visual collections about topics they're passionate about. Then, when you search with the Bing Boards feature, the visuals they've collected will pop up with your web searches. And you can be one of the Influencers! Watch for an announcement soon about how you can start creating your own boards. 
 
2. Image Search 

The Bing Image search team has been hard at work to create a “Search by License" feature and it's just been made available for use. As bloggers, we understand how frustrating it can be to when you come up with just the right post only to realize you don’t have the appropriate rights to use photos the way you intended to. But now Bing has simplified the process to allow you to filter by usage rights and only see images that have a Creative Commons license. It makes finding the perfect (and legal) photo a snap! 

3. Pin to Pinterest 

Another cool feature on Bing image search is Pin to Pinterest, where you can pin image results directly from Bing to your favorite Pinterest boards. The best part: Bing automatically links and gives proper attribution to the original, high-resolution source, saving you the hassle of tracking it down yourself.
 
Three cheers for Bing helping bloggers! 

Alt NYC From A Man's Perspective

By: Dave Cooper.   Photo by: Justin Hackworth

Though Alt primarily draws women and bloggers—and I'm neither—I nevertheless found the event inspiring and engaging. Being around so many talented, spirited, and entrepreneurial people was good for my creative soul. People attending Alt are bold and brave, and more than just dreamers these are people who actually follow their dreams.

Attending Alt left me feeling that if so many people can do what they love and make a living at it, we can too. 

I'm a photographer and filmmaker, and my wife produces Classic Play (classic-play.com). Attending Alt together meant that we could meet with sponsors about working on projects together. The sponsors are very motivated to talk about ideas and collaborations. Attending Alt presents you with a very unique opportunity to meet with big, medium, and small brands that really want to collaborate. I can't think of another event like it.

To Post or Not To Post: Vote Now

@alt: Hey bloggers, will you be posting on July 4th? #blogging #altsummit

by: Jenny Batt. Photo by: Liz Stanley.

In the blogging world, industry standard is typically a Monday through Friday posting schedule. What happens when a holiday, like July 4th, falls during the work week? That's what we want you to tell us. Are you posting or taking the day off, we want to know! Give us your vote and let us know what you will be doing this Independance Day.

Revisiting Your Goals For 2013

By: Sara Urquhart. Photo by: Design Love Fest

It’s July, and halfway through the year is a great time to check in with the goals you made in January. Take a few minutes to review the year so far, and see if you’re on track with what you’d planned for 2013.

What have been the highlights of the last six months? Take some time to appreciate the successes and triumphs of your hard work, and consider what you can learn from them. If you see a pattern developing or a new skill emerging, take note.

Look at where you’re falling short, too, and decide what you’ll do about it. Delegate more? Hire help? Work smarter? Or change directions?

If your progress doesn’t seem significant in the past six months, remember that change takes time. Look at where you were a year ago, and see if you feel any better. If you still don’t see progress, it may be time to reconsider your goal or adjust your expectations. Some initial goals may have morphed into new projects, or may have been left behind all together. If you’ve learned something from it, don’t worry when a goal drops off your radar. Instead, accept the natural learning curve of building your own business and be grateful for what you’ve learned.  

Fast forward to December 31. What do you hope to accomplish by then that will help you look back at 2013 with satisfaction? 

Think about your answer, and then get to work.