highlights from altitude summit

Many of you have been asking about my experience at ALT - my head is still brimming with inspiration and I've got a to-do list a mile long, boy do I have my work cut out for me. Here's a little recap of what I took away from the panel's I throughly enjoyed.

Tips + Tricks: (Megan Reardon, Erica Reitman, and Susan Brinson)

* Capture online screenshots with Skitch (sorry, only available for Mac users).

* Want a place to organize all of your images, links, notes, etc. check out Evernote. Best part - you can snap a photo of a business card with your phone and have it stored within your Evernote account. You'll never have to go searching for a lost card again - genius!

* I'm newly obsessed with Zinio - a magazine reading app.

* Lastly, most of you know about Pinterest but if you don't click on over because it's an amazing bookmarking website. Beware, you'll be sucked in for at least five hours.

Advertising Beyond Banners: (Erin Loechner, Liz Gumbinner, and Maggie Mason)

* Reinvent the wheel - get creative.

* Be sure to tell your readers when a post is sponsored. You don't want your readers to feel tricked.

* Measure your digital footprint. Be sure to have something beyond your numbers, like a press page. It gives you an "at a glance credibility."

* Always be authentic and transparent to your readers because if you are your readers will cheer you on.

* Pitch your passions.

Blogging Ethics + Etiquette: (Emily Newman, Grace Bonney, and Joy Cho)

* Commenting - If you start to get a lot of negative comments, be sure to come up with a comment policy. It's important to have it posted somewhere just in case you need to point it out to readers.

* Crediting - Always, always, always credit anything you put on your blog (photos, sources, etc.). Some sites you should look into that Grace recommends are tynt.com and tineye.com. Both tell you where the photo has been and can locate the original source (amazing!).

* Giveaways - They should be saved for items you truly love and want to feature. It's a special post about the product and you're giving it a lot of press by featuring it.

* Social Media - It's another outlet to get genuine readers, but always remember quality vs. quantity. Grace's way of using twitter - 30% business // 30% communicating with users // 30% fun // 10% to fill in where it's needed.

Another fun panel I was able to go to was "The Best in Up & Coming Blogs" with Amy Turn Sharp, Danni Hong, Joslyn Taylor, Liz Stanley, Melanie Blodgett - although some of my favorite blogs were outed (grrrrr...), I found some new blogs I'm loving. To see the full list click here.

Hopefully these notes helped you out a little bit - I tried to take as many notes as I could for y'all. If you have any questions feel free to email me.

I'm truly inspired by so many lovely ladies I met over this trip, including Lisa F, Karey, Joslyn, Rebecca, Megan, Camille, Suann, Anna, Crystal, Lisa and many more amazing bloggers! And I couldn't have asked for better roommates - Erin and Kirsten - I'm having withdrawals . . . and my outfits consultations aren't the same (Eric isn't as fashionable as you two ladies).

If you didn't attend this year, come next year - it doesn't disappoint. And for those of you who did attend this year, I hope to see you in Salt Lake next January! Only 360 ish days away.

Photos: Alt Summit flickr stream and Kate Spade photobooth