Last week I attended Blog Indiana 2011.  Lately when I’ve attended conferences I’ve either blogged them live, which is exhausting, or posted immediately afterwards.  Posting immediately helps get ALL the tips down in one place for my own (and others’) good – but doesn’t differentiate the ‘good’ from the ‘sticky’.  It’s now a week after and I’m not regurgitating all my notes, just the ones I think I’ll truly implement…in hopes they may help you.

1. Most people either measure everything, or nothing. Social media ROI is about awareness and sales (conversions).  For awareness, use SocialMention.com to see how often your brand is talked about and the level of positivity.  While there, use a share of voice report to measure yourself against competitors and OpenSiteExplorer.org to see how many sites link to you (the more the better – it helps with SEO & Google rankings). Calculate true ROI.  ROI = (Revenue – Investment) / Investment.  It’s that easy…kinda. (via @JayBaer)

2. Don’t simultweet the same content from different accounts or Robby Slaughter will unfollow you.

3. WordPress has some amazing plugins but you don’t need them all. If you haven’t yet, explore Press This, Zemanta, and All in One SEO Pack. (via @RNTGirl)

4. Writing is still an art.  Don’t use adverbs. Don’t tell your readers someone ‘ran quickly’, tell them they ‘sprinted’.  Don’t share that you ‘passionately hate’ something, tell me you ‘loathe’ it.  Oh and the rules your 7th grade English teacher drilled into your head? They aren’t as relevant as you (and your friends) think. (via @edeckers)

5. Pete the Planner‘s an expert on expertise.  After several years in his field, he made the decision to establish himself as an expert.  He started by helping people – not wanting to make a buck.  He wrote a book, started blogging, combined traditional/social media and is now writing more books, speaking, helping more people and living his dream.  For starters, he suggests becoming an author, learning to talk in sound bytes and getting comfortable in front of a camera.  I suggest following him.

6. Doug Karr knows way too much to summarize here.  He gave 40 tools in 40 minutes. Truth be told, I get really lost, really quickly, when it comes to the tech side of this blogging stuff.  Doug has the unique ability to be a rockstar with the best of ’em but help a tech-illiterate dum dum (like myself) learn and improve their skills.  Watch for him to post his presentation and other awesomeness on his blog.

7. 2-minute drills might be my new secret to a happier life…or at least a better blog.  Vince Robisch walked a room full of bloggers through several ‘drills’ to create better headlines for their blog titles.  Whether it’s lists (like this one) or short titles appealing to power, fear, expertise, goals or other motivators, setting a timer for 2 minutes and coming up with as many strong headlines for blog posts in your field – is a great recipe for success.