Audience, Analytics, and Online PR: Strategies for Better Blogging

Who We Are

Amanda O’BrienVP of Marketingamanda@hallme.com

Hall Web Serviceswww.hallme.comwww.hallme.com/blog

• 10+ Years in Business• Online Suite of Tools

Got Questions?

• Use GoToWebinar “Chat” or “Ask a Question”

• Twitter with @hall_web

About You:

What You'll Learn:

• Specific goals you can realize and how to track them• The importance of blogging consistently and tips to do so• Tools you can use to track all of this, make sense of it, and do better!

• You already have a blog• You want more out of your blog• You're not sure HOW to get more out of your blog

You've Got a Blog, Now What?

• Are you writing?• Are people reading?• Are you able to tell what is happening?• Are you stuck on content?• Are you gaining subscribers?• Are you providing value?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/2958508813/sizes/o/

Know Your Audience

• Who is going to read your blog?• What other blogs do they read?• What's their preferred way to get content?• How hungry are they for new stuff?• How did they find you?• What do they want to hear from you?• Conversation – Talk WITH not AT

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/97671748/

Corporate Voice

• Who is your company - one person or many?

• What is the tone of the message - professional, personal, sassy?

• Who is responsible for creating content and who oversees it?

• How will blog content be promoted or references in other marketing materials?

Policies

Make them BEFORE you have a problem!

• What is the expected time commitment?

• What is the expected responsibility?

• Who is engaging commenters?• Who gets involved if things get

negative?

Negative Comments

• Opportunity

• Educate

• Embrace social internet

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freebird4/2341322084/

Input/Output

• You can't write if you don't read• Find people on blogsearch.google.com,

Technorati, regular Google search, links people send, etc.

• You gotta learn how to use an RSS reader (google reader)

• Start to participate with your favorite blogs• Blog rolls

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabeth718/3745495331/

Creating Your Editorial Calendar

A what?• How often you post (obey!)• Who posts, when• The nature of the posts - do people

have a regular "beat"• Can change based on real-time

data and audience reaction

Blogs and SEO

• Content updated regularly• SEO friendly• Bonus terms• Inbound Links• On page SEO items

• Title• Content• Keywords• Links

In Blogging, the Turtle Beats the HareBlogging is a marathon not a sprint.

Measure: Feedburner

• Trends - Are things growing?• Sources - How are people subscribing?• Reach - Who clicks on links in your RSS?

Measure: Google Analytics• "Content" view• Traffic sources is, too• Get familiar with advanced segments ...Or set up custom filters• New engagement metrics

PR: Getting Your Blog Heard!

• Social content-sharing networks (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon etc.)

• Social "friends" networks - LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed

• Email marketing• Comments on other blogs, forums, etc.• Word of mouth• SEO

The tools:

• Funny - gotta pass it along• Inspiring - reading this makes me

want to DO something• Valuable - wow, that helped me with

this problem (resource, how-to, video, etc.)

• Important - you need to know this (news, events)

Why Content Gets Shared

• Pay attention to comments• Engage every commenter• See what content is popular on other blogs

• What questions are people asking you offline?

• What problems need to be solved but have few answers?

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/439462046/

It's About Them, Not You

3 Ways to reach out to other bloggers to help market your content

1. Create valuable content and make sure they can see it

2. Guest blogging opportunties3. Comments

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amit-agarwal/856769331/

In It For the Long Haul

• You will get better and faster• Become part of your online

community• Don't burn out OR fade away

(marathon not a sprint)• Pay attention to trends• Narrow your niche

Re-cap

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/128004712/

• Define who does what and when• Know your audience• Be consistent• Listen, read, listen, read, write• Measure• PR strategy• Do something memorable

Learn More!• Web Vision Blog - http://www.hallme.com/blog• Webinars – http://www.hallme.com/webinars• Follow Hall on Twitter - @Hall_Web• Call us! 1-877-425-5932 (HALL-WEB)• amanda@hallme.com• Problogger: http://www.problogger.net/• #blogchat 9pm EST Sundays (except this week)

Questions?