soulati.com

Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

Soulati-'TUDE!

Archives for February 2012

Eight Key Learnings About A Blog’s Back End

By

It’s been dark here for about a week as I decided to give myself a birthday gift (yep, it’s today!) and finally integrate my blog into my website – kinda like an all-in-one package, It’s only taken me two years to complete this phase of the journey – what do you think? Thanks to New England Multimedia for all the hard work to make it happen, too.

This redesign and integration of the blog with the website (so each has the same look and feel) doesn’t happen overnight – unless you’re absolutely brilliant and can jump ahead about 10 growing pains.

Understanding your back-end or the inside of a blog is important to knowing how to build your blog. You need to consider the following as you grow and take your blog to the next level:

  • Hosting. When bloggers start out, it’s really easy to jump onto WordPress.com, Blogger, or other free’ish platform and begin blogging in five minutes. I did that and had my first post published in 20 minutes, but it felt wrong.  I didn’t want to market a third-party platform while I was blogging; I wanted to brand myself in my own house.  That means you should self-host your blog on a domain name you own and purchase a hosting package alongside. You can do that on Posterous or Tumblr, too.
  • Domains/Branding. This is tricky and takes some thought. If you’re blogging for fun, then it becomes more for business, think through what to call your blog, your company, your domain, and all your social media identities, too. (That’s also branding.) When you get too creative and have a name for Twitter, one for your blog, one where you work, and a different domain name, then no one knows what you’re marketing or where to find you. Right, AlaskaChick?

I registered Soulati.com many years ago and had no idea how I’d ever use it. I had no website and it was pre-social media. When I began blogging two years ago, I titled the blog Soulati-‘TUDE! and registered it on soulati.com. The branding was simple, and people knew it was me.

  • Design. Here’s the rocky pathway. Premium WordPress templates are wonderful, yet they take some tech knowledge to launch. Free WordPress templates are, well, free. You get what you pay for. I have paid for Thesis, Genesis, and Headway along with some skins for the latter. (I’ve been running two blogs.) I’ve tried a few freebies, too, and immediately saw the limitations.

Finally, I engaged with a tech person who helped me grapple with the existing themes. After a bit, he offered to design a fresh skin for me with my input. I loved it because it was totally different. That stayed in place nearly nine months or so with many tweaks to update and keep things fresh.

Mind you, the blog design never synched with my website! I spent money redesigning my website with a new logo mark I love, but the blog didn’t match. So, I never promoted my website; ever. I promoted the blog url because that’s where 99.9 percent of the activity was. My website was flat; no analytics or SEO; and no visitors.

  • Analytics. Everyone knows how much I’ve left this area of the internet alone. I wasn’t in the business of monetizing my blog, or wanting to earn new business. Having a blog that didn’t match my website was an embarrassment. I knew that until I did something about it, I’d continue to be in the dark; no inbound marketing for me.
  • Developers. To take the next leap, I knew I had to work with someone who knew what they were talking about. I am so glad I created a relationship with New England Multimedia on Twitter because it was a no brainer to invite them to help me. Scott produced this new house in two weeks; I was intricately involved, of course, but the process was give and take – beautiful.  I invested some coin, but what it got me was integration and a trusted advisor.
  • Commenting  Systems. I already received a question why I switched from Disqus to LiveFyre. As I explained, LiveFyre is a BMW and Disqus is a Cadillac. They’re both sweet, but Livefyre is going to work the comments harder for me and keep the community growing.  (Besides, I get to rack up points faster…heh.) I love the responsiveness of the LiveFyre team, too. I wrote a tweet calling for help in a Sunday evening, and, lo, they were all over it. Very impressive.
  • Software/Backups/Hosts. Another reason you elect to go with a larger developer when you’re serious about growing your blog is because that team needs to know about software on the back end. There are back-ups, copies to make, developer sites to create and play with, uploads, kinks, plug-ins, and more to grapple with. No web host is the same; there will be hurdles. If you don’t have confidence in your business partner to deliver on the back-end, you’re as good as dead. No blog functions without tech glitches. (That may be a very good reason to stick with Blogger or WordPress.com, if you’re afraid of IT!)
  • Plug-Ins. When you start anew, take a look around the plug-ins on your favorite blogs. What are they using? Is it cluttered? Do they need to have both Digg-Digg and Sociable? What’s your view on Buffer, as it’s becoming more popular? Instead of throwing plug-ins on your blog just to be trendy, dissect these and think of how your visitors will use them.  Considerable time was spent between Scott and I on this topic. I was educating him more on the usages of the plug-ins and their importance, while he was cautioning me on load times (and did we really need to have another one to slow down the site?).

These areas may give you some food for thought. I glossed over each, but if you’d like more info, please ask. And, BTW, welcome to my new digs! Happy, happy to have you.

Thank You, New England Multimedia

By

This is a shout out to my business partner, New England Multimedia owned by Scott Quillin and Michelle Quillin.

To prove the power of social media to enhance your business, here’s a story about how business can be done and gets done via Twitter. I met Michelle on Twitter several years ago. She began blogging with me at The SMB Collective in a group blogging experience that is just shy of getting relaunched. I spoke with her husband, Scott, perhaps once.

Because I’ve known Michelle more than two years via social media channels (or the interwebz as they now say), I know more about her business, their combined values, and most of all their integrity. Each of us comments on the other’s blogs, Facebook pages, tweets, LinkedIn, and we’re now following one another on Pinterest, too.

With all that interaction and earned knowledge of one another’s habits, they required no further vetting when I wanted to integrate my blog into my website (finally).  And, so, with an email saying I needed to launch a project, we made it happen.

Together Scott and I worked to identify my needs, and within two weeks (as he promised) I now have a fully integrated website and blog. I’m thrilled with the process, with Scott’s knowledge, the fact he made me a priority, and the fact he kept to deadline. He listened to me, and adjusted design elements to make me happier, and we plodded through blog plug ins with both of us learning more about plug ins than we expected.

If you’re a small business or a large one, I absolutely, positively recommend New England Multimedia to be part of your team. If you’re not sure, ask me to tell you more. There’s nothing better than a client testimonial turned into a blog post.

I’m excited for the potential this new site offers my business.  Thanks to New England Multimedia, I’ve found a fabulous new trusted business partner to grow with.

(Image from their Facebook page.)

Bloggers Have Influence

By

Breasts Are Not Partisan

Whether you blog for business, personal, or just to rid your head of too much chatter (as I do), bloggers have influence. The influence I speak of is not based on Klout score or being paid to endorse a product. This type of influence is about words online with communities commenting and furthering debate.

Late last week, the nation watched the Susan G. Komen public relations debacle unfold. Bloggers I know held back before writing; others decided not to write at all. As the situation became stickier, it was the responsibility of bloggers to dive in and report, communicate, address the problem, and suggest solutions. Communities responded in droves.

Never mind how you felt about the decision. What I’m pointing out here is the age we’re in when people the likes of you and me have the opportunity and the power to reverse poorly made business decisions, that reek of inside politics aired on the national stage.

This case is a text-book example of social media marketing at its finest. It’s also an example of an organization that misunderstood the power of constituents and bloggers (as one of the primary factions) with other social media channels to influence a reversal in business that will affect (not impact…wrong word) Komen’s brand long term.

Just how many bloggers elected to write about this issue last week? Google search for “blogs” with keywords “Susan G. Komen, Planned Parenthood” delivered some 63 million sources (from all types of media). Regardless of the accuracy of this number and whether it is skewed to bloggers alone, the nation was abuzz.

The voices rang on all social media channels pushing at Susan G. Komen and Nancy Brinker (its founder). Facebook got slammed; Twitter streams and Google+ were all abuzz with this news of the day. Bloggers cannot take total credit for the change up by Komen. But, they should be proud of their interest, reporting, sharing, and the cascade of news delivered across multiple networks within communities.

Whenever you ask yourself, “Why am I blogging?”  Think of this situation and know your words are important ones for your community. At a time when the light bulb is blinking for many an organization, heed this – do not shy away from sharing your twist on today’s news. Many people rely on information from their channels. Bloggers have influence and credibility, especially when they have built a reputation for solid and factual reporting of the angles.

Bloggers Unite to Slap Susan G. Komen

By

Like Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks, I wasn’t going to address the Susan G. Komen national public relations debacle in an election year with Planned Parenthood. After reading her post and the oodles of smart comments from her community, I still wasn’t.

Then, I read Shonali Burke’s extremely amazingly thoughtful and balanced post with more than oodles of examples of trust gone awry and communications strategy, or lack thereof, gone to hell in a hand basket. (I just read in her comments it took her 4 hours to craft that post; when you read it, you’ll understand that she actually gifted us with a case study.)

One of the comments at Gini’s house gave me pause and it goes something to the effect of “isn’t this issue a way for bloggers to build links and get traction from others outside their communities by jumping on the bandwagon?” Gini provided a very smart reply and you can find it yourself when you review the 100+ comments as of this morning.

I’m trying to be sensitive to this comment from someone who doesn’t know that we who write about communications, PR and social marketing MUST cover these topics. That said, and very top of mind for me, what this issue boils squarely down to are three things:

  • Women’s health
  • Election-year politics
  • Poor public relations and social marketing strategy

Each of you reading and following has an opinion that puts us on opposing sides of the aisle. When you read everyone else’s blogs about the serious debacle unfolding (there’s so much more with Bank of America and Penn State, etc.), you can’t help but get beyond pro-life or pro-choice issues with this.

If you’re NOT in communications, I implore you to look at this from business and communications strategy angles. Again, I point you to the blogs mentioned here; these bloggers have done a spectacular job (better than I ever could) of presenting all the facts with balanced judgment to boot. I’m proud of them.  Thank you for what you do, Shonali, Gini, John, and the rest of the gang. #ThatIsAll.

The Tip of the Iceberg Only

>>Nancy Schwartz Getting Attention blog via @Shonali

>>Joe Waters Blog via @Shonali

>>Planned Parenthood causes/giving via @Shonali and Beth Kanter and there’s a Pinterest board on this, too!

>>John Haydon who writes and works with non-profits

Pinterest First Impression

By

I hem and haw all the way to a new channel; everyone knows that about me. I let the leaders be first movers, ahem, Gini, and I watch and read as they navigate uncharted waters and inform us all. Why not? They’re the leaders! Heh.

And, so, I asked for and received my Pinterest invitation, thank you, Gini, and hopped on. As with anything new, it takes a bit of concentration (no multi-tasking, Kaarina) to figure out. In fact, I read the help questions which I think are helpful (fancy that).

So, here’s the first impression, guys:

Run, do not pass go, do not collect $400 (inflation), and ask for your invite right now (ask me now) to jump onto Pinterest immediately. Can you say addiction? Can you say stairway to heaven? Oy;  we who are engaged are done; turn me over and bake the other side.

 

Why you ask?

>>Visual-ness — the most appealing sensory

>>Personalization with high-level creativity

>>Engagement less serious and more fun

>>Provokes thought and (did I already say this) creativity

From a business perspective:

>>A board (what you create to pin images on) can be about your clients. You can promote clients’ products and services with the images from their websites, etc.  (Companies have a harder time promoting themselves, as you’ve read, but an agency (hands down) will have no problem. I have not researched disclosure yet; Gini, do you know?

>>Blog fodder is amazing. If you want ideas for your features on your blog, have at it. Ubiquitous . Limitless.

>>Business development in a highly creative way. Let’s pick on the Gin Blossom once more here…if you read her profile on Pinterest, you’ll find she’s an avid biker and foodie. When you look at her boards, you see the foods she wants to make in the future. If I were a restaurant and she was a celebrity chef (she is , actually, just find her Tumblr blog), I’d invite her, via an agent of course, to make an appearance in my establishment and prepare a meal under the bright lights of cameras and video, etc. etc.

For me, I took some time understanding how people were using this. But, I won’t do that again, as there doesn’t seem to be a method. As soon as I pushed my first pin, someone I didn’t know re-pinned and another wrote a note. I had to determine access points to respond, and then I continued to complete my first board, “Gems, Gems and More Colored Gems.”  I bet no one knows I want to be a gemologist in the next iteration of moi. I feed my yearning with world travels to gem locales and wheel and deal for another to add to my collection (at least I used to prior to becoming a mom).  Pinterest allows people to see that very personal side of others based on the boards with pinned images. If someone is highly private, then stop on go. Pinterest is NOT for you.

So, ask me for an invite; you will not be disappointed.