Insights

Who’s Your Audience?

If you’re a blogger, who do you write for? Is it for you or your audience? Or a little bit of both?

In a recent post I mentioned one of the blogging analytics tools I use is Quantcast. I like it because it gives me a really good insight into the type of readers I attract, both regular and casual. It has a breakdown of demographics, gender, ethnicity and more.

To give you an example, here are some figures about this blog:

The above chart shows that I have more visitors from the US than anywhere else – which isn’t too surprising considering my location. Combine that with Alexa figures, and I see that my global audience is led by Canada, the UK, India, Australia and Sweden. Quite the mix.

With the information above, I can see how that traffic breaks down (100 index is Internet average). Now I can see that my main audience is made up of middle-aged males of mixed ethnicity, grad-school educated and in both the lower and higher income bracket. So, a little bit of me in there with my readers.

This final chart shows that the majority of visitors to my blog are new, with 16% being regulars. Which, when you break down the traffic over either a weekly or monthly period, pretty much ties in to the subscriber numbers at the top of the blog.

So what does this information offer other than some pretty pictures and figures and why should you care? Simple.

If you’re writing a niche blog you can see if you’re reaching the right audience.

If you’re in business and have a corporate blog, you can see where your customer base is coming from (or where it could be coming from).

If you’re running a PR or marketing campaign for a client, you can gain valuable information about what type of person is attracted to that brand’s blog. This will help you to either strengthen or adapt that campaign.

Far from being just a simple look at who’s reading your blog, you’re suddenly seeing how the world in general is looking at you.

Isn’t that information worth having?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Picture Perfect (Or The Power Of The Avatar)

There’s a saying that a picture paints a thousand words – but can it also create a thousand questions?

For anyone that’s connected to me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll have probably noticed that my profile avatar for both sites is blacked out.

Far from being the results of a broken browser, it’s blacked out for a reason (the basic gist is a week-long protest at planned Internet laws in New Zealand). It’s led to questions why it’s blacked out, which has led to more knowledge about the cause it’s in support of – so, that’s good, right?

Not necessarily, it would seem.

One of the reactions my avatar received today was the suggestion of a principle-based unfollow on Twitter because my face wasn’t on show. Ari Herzog, someone I have shared numerous great conversations with, mentioned that I wasn’t being transparent or authentic. My avatar being black meant I was hiding. Does an avatar say all that?

One look at my Twitter profile shows you all the main information you need to know. Name, company, what I do, contact details, blog, website – basically the works. So that should cover the transparency angle. As far as authenticity goes, I’d hope that this would be down to people’s opinions through their interactions with me, rather than an avatar.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the real power is in the avatar? Certainly, my blacked out one has raised many questions so people obviously notice any changes. So what’s your take?

Is the power in the picture, or the words behind the picture?

photo credit: Torley

10 Ways to Boost Your Blogging

As a communication and community-building tool, blogging is up there with Twitter as a key social media platform. A place to both offer and share opinions as well as a view at the person behind an online persona, a blog is more than just a personal or business journal – it’s your voice.

There are many blog platforms, tools and plug-ins around, all with various benefits. Some are better than others and depend on your own needs. Here are 10 of mine. Since it’s my platform of choice, these are mainly based around WordPress.

Self-hosted blogging. While free blogging (Blogger, WordPress.com, MySpace, etc) is a great starting point, self-hosted (WordPress.org, TypePad, Squarespace) is definitely the way to go. For sheer optimization and personalization options, it’s hard to beat. Buy a domain name for about $10 and then get a web hosting package for less than $4.00 per month.
Premium theme. There are some great free theme designs for WordPress, and Smashing Magazines has a list of 100 free themes. If you’re willing to pay, however, you can get a premium theme. There are some great ones from iThemes, Thesis, WooThemes and Revolution. There’s also great support for premium theme members that you don’t always get on free ones.
Analytics. Knowing who your main audience is can help you tailor your blog more effectively. Of course, writing for you first should always be the aim and hopefully others will like it too. There are some great tools for monitoring your readers. Two I use are Woopra for actual traffic analytics and Quantcast for more in-depth information on demographics. And they’re both free too. Technorati is also a great way to see who’s referencing your blog.
Comments. An integral part of the blogging experience is the comments section. Giving you insight into what your readers think, comments are a great relationship builder between blogger and reader. CommentLuv is a plug-in that shows your visitor’s last post and a great way to show blog link love (coming here soon). Threaded comments using IntenseDebate or Disqus are also great tools to encourage conversation and debate. Offer an option to subscribe to comments as well, so your readers can keep up with an ongoing conversation.
Images. Picking images for your blog can be a pain. Finding the right ones can take time and often copyright is involved – so services like those offered by Zemanta or fotoGLIF are a major plus. Zemanta offers you a choice of Creative Commons-approved images, as well as links and a reblog option to share your post, while fotoGLIF offers more than 1 million free to use and copyright-free images. PhotoDropper also offers a great service for licensed images. (Disclosure – I’ve previously carried out some PR work for fotoGLIF).
Feeds. Gaining readers is part and parcel of blogging, so making it easy for them to find and come back to your blog helps. Your blog will normally have a standard RSS feed, but offering more options will benefit you and your readers. One of the most popular is Feedburner, which allows your readers a choice of feeds or email subscription. Other options include Feedblitz, Feedstats and Feedity. Make your options visible – you’ll see mine at the top right of my blog.
Navigation. Make it easy for your readers to navigate your blog. Offering something as simple as a search box lets anyone look for a certain topic. Lijit makes it even easier by not only searching your blog, but any content from your social networks on the topic as well as that of your contacts.? Use your blog sidebars to offer topic breakdowns as well, so readers can go straight to posts that interest them. The Yet Another Related Posts Plug-in shows similarly-themed posts that your readers might also enjoy.
Sharing is good. The great thing about social media and networking is the selfless sharing of information. So make your blog another resource of information by offering the option for readers to share something they’ve enjoyed. Share This and Tell-a-Friend are two customizable options to share your blog on other social networks. They can help you gain new readers too.
Google is your friend. While having a loyal readership is great, it’s always nice to get new visitors as well to join your existing subscribers. Make your blog easier to find by optimizing it for search engines. The All-in-One SEO pack is a great plug-in that helps you stand out with keywords and search terms. If you use the Thesis theme, this has a similar option already built in.
Protect your work. While blogging is a great way to build community and friends, it’s also open to plagiarizing, with many bloggers victims of RSS thieves that post your content as their own. One way to counter this is with Better Feed. This allows you to place your copyright in your RSS? feeds and email subscriptions and ensures that any “borrowed” work will link directly back to you with your copyrighted message.

These are just some of the tools I use. As I mentioned, they are skewed heavily towards WordPress, although some will work on other blogging platforms as well. Yet as good as they are, they’re just a small window into all the great blogging options around.

What do you use for your blog? Any not on here that should be must-haves?

photo credit: Mexicanwave

Family Marketing with Swiss Chalet

Swiss Chalet is a casual/family restaurant chain that has been serving Canadians for more than 50 years. Their first eatery opened in 1954 in downtown Toronto, and since then they have gone on to become one of the most recognizable names in Canada when it comes to fast food ideals with restaurant services.

They specialize in rotisserie chicken dishes, although they do offer other options as well. While I’m not a fan of the food personally (I find it pretty bland, although their burgers are pretty good), I am a fan of what they try to do when it comes to encouraging family life.

Their slogan is “Family Happens at Swiss Chalet”, and their current TV advertising campaign shows families either sitting at restaurants or eating home delivery. The message is that no matter how busy your day, family time is important and Swiss Chalet helps make that happen.

This week, starting today and ending on Friday February 20, they’re running a promotion called “Family Appreciation Week”. For every adult entree purchased, you can get a free kids meal up to the value of $5.99 for any kids under 12-year old. Swiss Chalet are advertising this deal through a special 4-page newspaper insert that also has puzzles and games for kids to play.

They’re also partnering with kid favourites like LEGO, TeleToon, Hubba Bubba and What’s Up Kids magazine to offer special promotions throughout the year.

I’m a huge fan of this kind of marketing. We get so wrapped up in both our online and offline communities and business needs that we often neglect those that matter the most. David Mullen offered a sombre reminder of this last week in a heartbreaking post.

What about you? Are you more attracted to companies that offer family-based marketing? Are there any businesses that you use because of their family ethics? Do you offer family marketing yourself? I’d love to hear about them.

D E Alexander and 24/7 News Net Give New Meaning to Scum

I don’t often lose my temper but D.E. Alexander and his 24/7 News Net site brings new meaning to the word scum and lowlife. D.E. Alexander is allegedly an author and investigative journalist and 24/7 News Net is his alternative news site. Today, thanks to my close friend Gina, I learned that D.E. Alexander and his 24/7 News Net site is obviously happy to join the lines of human and media scum.

He has issued a press release of incredible poor taste – and I use the term press release very loosely – that is calling last night’s tragedy in Buffalo “The Friday the 13th Plane Crash”. D.E. Alexander then goes on to use the release as a reason to follow an alleged psychic who saw this happening. Funnily enough, the website of this *psychic* looks very similar to that of D.E. Alexander’s 24/7 News Net site – coincidence?

This is media and its lowest. This is nothing more than blatant capitalizing on tragedy for personal gain, notoriety, call it what you will. If D.E. Alexander thinks this is investigative journalism, he needs to think again.

If you look around D.E. Alexander’s site, you’ll see it has a Members Area where you can see “death pictures from the JFK assassination and Princess Diana.” This says all you need to know about 24/7 News Net and the *writer/journalist* that is D.E. Alexander.

It would appear that this may be a pseudonym, though, since going to Google brings up no results for D.E. Alexander. I wanted to contact him to ask about the release and his obvious lack of compassion and morality. No luck – and there’s no contact info on the 24/7 News Net website either.

There is some information about 24/7 News Net on WhoIs.net, that shows a registrant address in Philadelphia, with an admin address in Coral Springs, FL. Still, no contact number. Something to hide?

Tragedy happens all around us, as it did last night in Buffalo, and tragedy has to be reported. But using it in such an immoral and disgusting way – is there a place for that? Or is freedom of speech a given, regardless of how it’s used?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).