#caratblogshop: Carat Media Event.

On Wednesday, I attended an event in Manchester held by Carat Media, which was put together by their lovely team to help us fashion bloggers make the most out of our blogs. We were greeted in the reception area and given badges to wear complete with our names and blog URLs, before being taken up to a room where we were able to mingle with the Carat team and other bloggers, sip on a glass of wine, and meet some of the brands who were sponsoring the event. After we'd made the most of the wine, sausage rolls and strawberries, we all took a seat and listened to a series of talks by Rahul, Mark and Pete who gave us some fabulous tips for directing traffic our blogs and the do's and don'ts of blogging. Here are just a handful of the things we learned:

• Keep your posts up to 500 words long, don't make them too long but give your post some meaning.
• Key words, labels and tags are key.
• Having your own domain will help optimize search engine results to your blog.
• Long blog rolls are like socks and sandals- Don't do it! 20 is the magic number.

The talks were very informative and I am definitely going to take the tips and tricks that were mentioned on board. It was also lovely to talk to some of the brands who were at the event, such as Matalan, Kaleidoscope and Swimwear365, and we were treated to a lovely bag from Matalan and a sneak peek at their A/W 2012 collection (You might want to start saving your pennies, there are some gorgeous things hitting the stores soon!). I had a great evening, loved meeting and talking to some other bloggers as usual and I would love to see Carat host some more events :) Here are some of the pictures I took:

Kaleidoscope- Some of these clothes you wouldn't think are designed with more mature women in mind!

 

Gorgeous swimsuits from Swimwear365.

 

Enhancing my inner cat lady, thanks Matalan! Cat Face Bag: Matalan £8*

Were you at the Carat event? I didn't get chance to talk to everybody! :(