DEMA entrance at the Orange County Convention Center

Talking/Feeling like an Idiot

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DEMA entrance at the Orange County Convention Center

While we were in Orlando, gosh 2 weeks ago, I had an opportunity to speak with a lot of professionals in the SCUBA diving industry. Not only did we stop and have a visit with our SCUBAPRO Rep, Scott, but we spoke with guys from SDI, the SCUBA diving group that we are certified through.

Plus, Deb paid a little extra for the two of us to be able to sit in on any and all session conferences. Let’s just say, I spoke with diving professionals from all over the world. I remember Australia, Denmark, Fiji, Mexico, and some places I can’t even remember.

Deb and I played a game for the opportunity to win a trip to Fiji. I doubt I won that… especially because it’s been two weeks and they haven’t notified me. They did contact me through email to tell me about some really great packages they offer. We’ll add that to my bucket list along with Greece. I want to go to Greece, so why not dive while I’m there.

I hit up the dive master’s that we dive with in Cozumel for pictures (he’s owed me since May), a recipe (which he rattled off but I couldn’t write down so he said he’d email… still waiting), and told him I wanted a sponsor for the underwater photography festival in April (worth a shot, right?).

But the one thing that really bothers me is… When I was talking to one of the guys from SDI, I felt like a complete moron. When I walked away from the conversation I felt like I was trying to impress him with my blog/SEO/etc knowledge that I probably don’t have.

The SCUBA Blog

Now… I’m not talking about this blog. I’m talking about the SCUBA blog I’ve written since September 2013. But truthfully, I think I might have been embarrassed if he went in and read that blog. This year I upped my game, but there are a few years of blog posts that I really wish I could erase. And technically I could, but I won’t.

And don’t even get me started on SEO. I mentioned that and how I was trying to cross all i’s and dot all t’s on the blog when it came to SEO. Just having met him, I wasn’t sure if he knew what that was or not so I mentioned Search Engine Optimization… later I found out he’s one of the lead guys there or something on that stuff. Oh geez… That was a Palm to Face moment.

In other instances, I’m extremely glad I did speak with him because he gave me some good leads on finding blogging information for our SCUBA blog.

Social Media

I then proceeded to drag poor Deb to all the Social Media conferences I could find that were put on at DEMA looking for ideas and ways to up our game. There are a lot of days I feel like I’m just running head first into a concrete wall. I’ve spent a lot of time writing this blog and the last 4 years writing the SCUBA blog and getting people to read is difficult.

They say build a tribe. I’ve tried, I’ve asked how? “They,” say, comment on other blogs and they will come. I have commented on countless blogs. Doesn’t seem to work. Blogging these days, blogs these days are started a dime a dozen every day. They say study your niche. Find a niche. Don’t find a niche. Ugh. Does anyone really have an answer?

So, I walked away from that conversation that day feeling dumb. I kind of replay that conversation in my head and I still feel dumb. And what’s funny is, he probably didn’t remember that conversation 10 minutes after we had it.

You know, I think I’ve been writing this post on and off all day so I think it took a totally different turn than where I thought it was going when I first sat down to write this. Since it is 10:03 Central Standard Time, I guess I’ll hit post and go to sleep.

Please share tips and tricks I’m missing on building my tribe and getting more people to read my blog, please!

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