Blogging

Thoughts on what my audience want from this blog

April 24, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

I’m on a mission to increase the traffic to my site using Facebook ads. But before I spend the money I want to be sure that the visitors to this site get what they came here for. I also want to provide my blog subscribers with a consistent message that gives them a reason to remain as a subscriber.

If I drive traffic but don’t deliver people won’t want to come back. So I want to work out what content that people are responding to the best and write more of that.

Or, more importantly, I want to write more of what my target audience wants.

To work out what content is connecting with my readers the most I turned to Google Analytics. In the table below are listed my top 10 posts by page views 1/1/14 – 31/3/14. I’ve also included the time on page (that’s an indication of how much of the article people are reading), Facebook reactions (indicates audience engagement) and tweets (indicates perceived influence amongst Twitter audience).

Lap	Time	Elapsed time	Comment
1	2:57.12	2:57.12	Solid start
2	3:02.66	5:59.78	Lost ground
3	2:52.72	8:52.50	Up and running
4	2:52.81	11:45.3	Consistent
5	2:56.02	14:41.33
6	3:01.62	17:42.95	Traffic?
7	2:59.62	20:42.57
8	2:48.59	23:31.16	Winding up for the finish
9	2:47.95	26.19.11	Setting up last lap.
10	2:29.37	28:48.48	Quick!

These stats indicate that there’s a big difference between what attracts people to my site via search engines and what creates a reaction. Take a look at #2. That article, written as a study note while I was writing my honours thesis, is consistently my number one page for search traffic. It delivers something to readers because the time people spend on the site is one of the highest at 05:29. But, despite all the people who’ve read it, it’s generated almost no reaction on Facebook and Twitter. Quite possibly people are finding the article interesting to read but it doesn’t give them anything they didn’t already know. This is further indicated by a lack of back links to the post. If people found that it provided a useful new perspective they would be inclined to link to it from their own blog.

The other articles have little in common aside from that two of them are about real estate. As far as topics are concerned their appears to be little indication of what’s appealing to my audience.

I will say that the “you brought tears to my eyes” posts are way down the list when it comes to traffic generation. But in terms of generating reaction they kill the the Foucault on Confession post.

For example, the 10 Tips for a Happy Marriage post was only ever shared once on my social networks. Of the 308 pageviews it’s achieved so far most came within the first 36 hours of me sharing it on Facebook. Since then it’s achieved almost no pageviews.

The lack of traffic could be the result of a poor heading. And a poor heading is often the result of a weak argument.

Why I write this blog

January 31, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Writing is a technology of the self. Image: thierry ehrmann http://www.flickr.com/photos/home_of_chaos/

I was asked today why I write this blog. It’s a good question.

Here are the best reasons I can give you right now.

It gives me a place to reflect, like I’m doing now.
It gives me an opportunity to show leadership. I tell clients “get things out of your head and onto the web.” This is me doing just that.
Writers write. One day I’ll write a book. If I’m to be a good writer I need to write more. By going public on a commitment to write something every day I’m holding myself accountable for being a better writer.
It gives me an opportunity to clarify my ideas. Knowing I’m writing to an audience makes me think things through in more detail.
It forces me to stop thinking and just do. Having a deadline forces me to make my mind up and get something – anything – written. Even if it’s not great at least it’s something. Something is better than nothing. For someone who’s a perfectionist it can be a tough ask somedays.
It forces me to be clear about my motivations. Like I’m doing here.
It allows me to express my fears and imperfections. Not that I can’t do that privately but there’s something courageous about speaking my truth to an unknown audience.
It builds my profile. The traffic on this blog has increased substantially since I started writing every day.
It’s a “technology of the self,” as my favourite philosopher puts it, a way to structure and document the activity of looking after the soul.

Taking care of oneself became linked to constant writing activity. The self is something to write about, a theme or object (subject) of writing activity. This is not a modern trait born of the Reformation or of romanticism; it is one of the most ancient Western traditions.(Foucault, p.27)

It’s a way for me to reflect on what I learn. Rather than simply reading something this blog makes me ask “so what?” Knowledge through action becomes clarity and wisdom.
It’s a form of gymnasia, a way to test myself both physically and mentally. The discipline of blogging every day takes as much effort as exercising every day. The benefit of that discipline shows up in more mental strength and a greater endurance to cope with what life throws at me.
It gives me a place to record what I’m learning. I did this throughout my uni studies and find it useful to go back through my old notes.

The conclusion? Don’t expect too much from this blog. It’s a work space, a place where you’ll catch a glimpse of what makes me tick, what’s caught my attention, and what I think is important right now.

These aren’t fully formed thoughts. Rather their notes, reflections and resources I find useful.

Footnotes

See how the numbering above is separated by a block quote. Well the trick to starting the numbering at a number other than 1 requires a tiny piece of code that you can read about here. Like I told you, this is a place to record what I’m learning.

Foucault, M. (1988). Technologies of the Self. In L. Martin, H. Gutman & P. Hutton (Eds.), Technologies of the self. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Press.

Lisa Barone on becoming a more prolific writer

March 13, 2013 by Peter Fletcher

For a writer, there’s nothing worse than staring at a blank screen and being unable to write anything. It can be demoralising.

Most writers go through the experience but some have developed clever strategies to produce words on demand. Lisa Barone is one such writer.

According to Lisa, writer’s block is just an excuse. “I believe in fear and being burnt out. Writer’s block is what we call those things when we don’t want to admit to them,” she says.

To maintain motivation when motivation is least present, Lisa uses a combination of pragmatic workarounds and ritual. “If I can’t write out of fear, I’ll often put “Dear Lisa” at the top and pretend I’m writing a letter to myself that no one else will read. Then, once it’s done and awesome, I’ll strip off the top and publish it,” she says.

She writes straight after a workout, which produces “the perfect storm of endorphins and stillness” and blocks out distractions by turning off her phone and listening to rain or white noise on her headphones.

Finally, Lisa reads a lot. In her view “the only way to become a better writer is to learn more about your topic and expose yourself to more voices.” It’s sound advice.

Blogging from an iPad

April 13, 2012 by Peter Fletcher

I’m writing this post on my iPad. Why? I want to check out the experience using that and the WordPress iPad application. So far so good.

Of course the keypad on the iPad is far from ideal. It makes typing a little slower and, for me a little less intuitive. It’s a but harder to get into any sort of writer’s rhythm. That said it’s not too bad.

To make life a little easier I’ve attached a Bluetooth keyboard. It’s much better to type on although mistakes must still be corrected using the touchscreen. It’s a fair compromise.

Saving the post as I go is quick and easy. There’s a save button at the top right corner of the screen that allows me to save a local copy on the iPad.

Adding an image isn’t quite so easy. For a start the can only be sourced from the a photo album on the iPad. That’s not so bad but there’s no way to edit the image. The only alignment option is left-align so centering isn’t possible. It’s hardly ideal. Another problem with inserting an image is to wait for it to upload. Tapping back into edit mode too early causes the image to be lost. Adding another one in proved too difficult so I abandoned the task. On top of that as I saved this section the app fell over for the second time. Footnote: after it fell over I had another go and succeeded, this time I inserted a large image. It will probably be too big for the page.

What’s not available on the iPad is access to any of the rich features of the WordPress dashboard. That includes access to creating post thumbnails – a feature of this WordPress theme – and customising the SEO options.

I usually add a Tweetmeme button on my posts by adding the Tweetmeme

. If this works a green button will display to the right of this paragraph. If not then you’ll see the word tweetmeme inside two square brackets.

What the iPad/WordPress app combo is good for is taking notes at a conference. Saving locally is a big plus because it avoids problems with losing notes as a result of a lost internet connection. In that sense it’s similar to using Evernote, only Evernote has lots more options.

One glaring omission is I can’t insert a hyperlink using an editor. It has to be done manually and that involves knowing a little HTML and how to insert a hyperlink.

As with many fledgling applications it’s important to save early and often. As I typed that last paragraph I lost some work when a dialog box popped up asking if I needed help with inserting a link. My first attempt at using it failed, the second worked.

My next task is to publish this post and share it on Facebook and Twitter. If you hear screams from Perth’s southern suburbs you’ll know it didn’t go according to plan.

2011 – The year in a post

December 27, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Michel Foucault

2011 was the year of Jacob’s Ladder. At the start of the year I set a goal of climbing Jacob’s Ladder 5000 times. That goal was completed in early November. It defined me and set a very clear mandate for every day, every week and every month.

I also set a goal of a daily blog post. I was on pace for about 2 months and then fell away. One of the issues I struggle with is what I’m going to write. I get started and then can’t figure out what I want to achieve, what I want to say and then it all falls apart.

One post in particular brought me undone. It was a long and well thought out post about the future of real estate data. Unfortunately it took me days to research and even longer to put what I wanted to say into words. Instead of publishing I thought and worked on getting it right. In the end it was a post that achieved some kudos from some key players from the industry but it cost me about two weeks of posts.

During my recent uni studies my blog was used as a research tool. It was where I kept all my research notes so you’ll find articles about the hupomnemata, technologies of the self and the death of god. I loved it but once I finished my studies I started thinking that I needed to blog for Google juice and write what my audience wanted.

The problem with doing that is that often I don’t want to write for other people, I want to write for myself. I did that during my studies and it changed the direction of my honours thesis. It introduced me Jeremy Crampton (@jeremycrampton), who, through a pingback on a post about Foucault’s theories on power relationships, alerted me to his book and created in me a drive to analyse the dismissal of Heather Armstrong using Foucault’s theories as a tool kit. So without this blog I would have written a very different honours thesis and wouldn’t have experienced the joy of months of immersion in French philosophy.

What’s been valuable about this blog – and blogging generally – is that it’s been a place for me to get my thoughts in order. As Crampton put it so well,

Now the content of the post is unremarkable and not especially exciting, but the author remarks that this is a post designed to help him think through some issues. It’s not the content, it’s the process (emphasis mine).

So this blog is going to (continue to) be a public hupomnemata, a public place for me to record what I’ve learned and a way for me to take actively take care of the (my) self. It’s a place for me to record what I’ve learned from my daily experiences. Although some of what I learn will be about social media and digital strategy it will also include what I learn from personal experience, such as what I learned from leaning into the pain.

This strategy will have its costs. For a start it will be difficult for Google to work out what my website is about. Is it about social media, digital strategy or Michel Foucault? Google will find it hard, almost impossible to work out. It’s going to cost me traffic.

Then there’s the readers or subscribers. Those who subscribe to my blog wanting posts about digital strategy will be disappointed when they’re presented with articles (like this one) about Michel Foucault and the hupomnemata. If you could name the top blogging sins what I’m doing would be close to the top of the list.

But I’ve decided that having a space to remember and reflect is far more important than worrying about readers and traffic. If this blog becomes a window into my mind then so be it. If it helps me become a better thinker, even better.

And I’ll end this post without a clear conclusion. That’s because I wasn’t sure what it was that I wanted to do with it in the first place.

Photo credit: The Magnet Magazine

Homepage mockup feedback

April 28, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Yesterday I asked for some feedback on a homepage mockup for the redesign of this site.

Here are some of the responses I received.

On being more focussed

From a conversion point of view, I think you are lacking a clear sense of direction in what you want people to do. You are giving them too many options to choose. The headline at the top is great (really great), but if business owners want more sales and profits, how do they know if they need facebook or twitter or social media management?

I’d…be adding a video…and a single minded direction on what people should do next, and ideally get them to subscribe to get started. You mention giving them several (5) different ‘offers’ in that main slider area which means there will be even more for them to consider.

Give them something for free to start the relationship – and do more with video 🙂

Josh Williams

Remember the focus is always on what the client perceives as their problem *Note to self: Look what Josh said above and what Ben and Charlie said below*. I’d love to see one of those modules replaced with a heading then clickable links. You think in products they think I need help with…

What to do with social media (training)
How to get set up a Facebook page that actually works
How to become number one in google and beat all my competitors (blog setup)
Remember your solutions will change (that’s technology for you) but your clients problems never will..ie how do I get more market appraisals and more listings?)
Also I prefer the clean look as opposed to the cartoon look.

Josh Phegan

I agree with most – call to action is important without becoming too (well you know what – “and you get steak knives!” – agh … never go there mate, I know you won’t) –

Charlie Gunningham

The FB and Twitter profile set ups, whilst important for your business, are diluting from the importance of social media training and [managment] (critical services for business). Could they be included as part of your [management] services?

Can there be a link from the homepage with case study of how you have helped business? Removal of FB & Twitter setups will give you more homepage realestate to add case study and sell yourself.

Deborah Roberts

SEO

Only thing from an SEO POV, no text in images – Paula Rosario Lay

Design

Are you sure about the “technology coach” font? Seems like just the one font too many & competes with your name.

Ed Lynch

Ask for the sale.
Phone number on every page
Last 2 blog posts to show currency and credibility

Ben Stockdale

Too many different fonts on this page – can these be reduced for more consistency?
Change headers – Peter Fletcher and Technology Coach (in red) are fighting with each other and inconsistent.
Deborah Roberts

Armed with this feedback I’m now going back to the designer who will publish version 2. Will send an update when it’s done.

Why Posterous isn’t the way to manage a corporate blog

April 19, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

I make no secret of my dislike of Posterous. It’s not that the Posterous system sucks. It doesn’t. In fact it’s a great way to take notes and keep thoughts in order. I use it on and off. But how it’s used it as a shortcut version of social media that sucks. As a corporate blog it sucks. As a way to curate content that represents a corporate brand it sucks. As a way to interact and create conversation, which is what social media is all about, copying and pasting stuff to Posterous sucks.

I’m not for it. Never have been, never will be. And I’m not on my own. Says James Dunaway:

DON’T republish other authors’ work. This will quickly get you labeled as splog (spam blog) or content farm. All your blog posts should be original work. It’s perfectly acceptable to respond to another blog post with your own, just make sure your site links back to the original post.

Note that James says responding. That’s what I’m doing here. Using what he said, then adding my perspective. It extends the conversation that James started and takes it in another direction. But it doesn’t simply grab a chunk of his work and copy it to my post.

Maybe I’m being idealistic. Perhaps I’m becoming plain ornery. But I’m backing my judgement on this. And I’m glad to have guys like James in my corner.

Photo: Maria Reyes-McDavis