In review of a few clients’ analytics this month I kept running across an inbound referrer I hadn’t seen befoere: msplinks.com. First, I just went to msplinks.com, and saw that there is nothing but a blank page there. After trying a few of the URLs from Google Analytics, one worked. It was this one:
So msplinks are outbound redirections originating at MySpace. But, what is the problem that this truly solves for MySpace? They say it is a security measure, but is it (in whoel or part) to reduce MySpace usage merely for SEO purposes?
Limited by how many times a video has been viewed, publishers of YouTube videos have been left largely in the dark about how their video is consumed by the public. Last week YouTube made a step in the right direction for content publishers with the announcement of YouTube Insight. From the YouTube blog:
…uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions, as well as how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time. You can also delve deeper into the lifecycle of your videos, like how long it takes for a video to become popular, and what happens to video views as popularity peaks.
The blog posting on YouTube’s site indicated that new features will be added to the reporting capabilities quickly. That’s good news—the initial roll out features are welcomed, but aren’t all that robust or useful—especially after the drought of information previously available. YouTube, here’s a few useful metrics to add to your list:
Average duration of video view in minutes:seconds
How many times the video was shared
Views on syndication sites by syndication URL
Viewer demographic information
YouTube: if you need more ideas on what your users really want, contact me, or better, look at your user feedback over the past few years.
Oh, and one more thing. I’ve got enough places to track data. Why can’t we just get this data inside Google Analytics?
When a friend or colleague sets up a blog, I am often curious to see what they do to promote it. Unfortunately, they often don’t do some basic things that can give their blogs the opportunity to take off. If you’re committed to writing good content, it often takes no money at all to get the ball rolling.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, a quick caveat: We’re beyond the “How do I blog?”, “Why would I blog?” and the dreaded “What is a blog?” phase here. If you’re at that stage, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’m assuming you already know why you are blogging, and what it can offer you or your organization. You just might not know what you can do to give it a nudge so people can find it.
OK. So you’ve set yourself up a blog, and you want to be sure your efforts bear fruit. Here are some easy, basic, and FREE techniques to promote your blog:Tags and Categories - Cost: $0.00
Internet and blog search engines use the keyword/keyword phrases in tags and categories to file your postings so they’re ready can be served back to Internet searchers. Use them thoughtfully and creatively!
If you use both tags and categories, your categories should be broad; your tags should be specific.
Submit Your Blog to Search Engines - Cost: $0.00
Submit your blog to credible, qualified directories (Google, Yahoo, Live, ASK, DMOZ.org)
For some sites (such as the Yahoo directory) you do have to pay. However, you can submit your site to Yahoo without submitting to their paid directory
Leverage FeedBurner - Cost: $0.00
FeedBurner allows reporting on the number of subscribers to your blog as well as some high-level web site traffic reporting. It is also useful to promote your blog.
After doing the basic FeedBurner setup, enable the ‘PRO’ settings. The ‘PRO’ features previously cost money; they are now complimentary (thanks for buying FeedBurner Google!),
Finally, go through each tab in FeedBurner and read the options that are available. Scores of additional options exist from pinging other aggregation/syndication sources when you post an entry to placing ads in your feed to monetize your syndication.
Claim your Blog on Technorati - Cost: $0.00
Technorati is the Google of blogs and a great source of traffic.
There’s no excuse to not sign-up with the basic information Technorati needs.
Don’t stop at the bare minimum. Go ‘Favorite’ blogs you enjoy. Don’t forget to ‘Favorite’ your friends’ blogs; maybe they’ll stop by and ‘Favorite’ you too. Add a ‘Favorite on Technorati’ badge or link on your blog.
Add a post to the Where’s the Fire (WTF) every now and again. Make sure they’re good posts. Even if you don’t get a lot of votes, you do get people coming by to see what your blog has to offer.
Enlist a Well Rounded Analytics Package - Cost: $0.00
Google Analytics allows you to get more detailed web site usage reporting than FeedBurner can supply. Free or not it’s a great tool.
Figure out which reports help you the most. You can gauge affinity for your content based on how often articles are viewed, how long visitors stay on your site when they arrive at a specific individual article (etc.). Sky’s the limit. Get to know Google Analytics.
Learn and adapt. Viewing reports on usage of your blog isn’t blog promotion. How you interpret and apply what you learn will provide a strong foundation for your future blogging and blog promotion efforts.
Link to your Blog - Cost: $0.00
If you send out any regular communication (online or off) provide a link to your blog.
If your email program allows it, place a link to your blog in your signature.
When you comment on other people’s blogs, be sure to provide your blog’s URL if you are prompted.
If you keep a LinkedIn or Facebook profile, be sure to add a link to your blog. Facebook also lets you import your blog’s RSS feed as “Notes” so they display on your Profile page.
Ping when you Post - Cost: $0.00
If your blog doesn’t automatically do it for you, ping Technorati and other services when your blog is updated
If you’re not sure if your blog platform pings aggregators and syndicators when you post, check your documentation (most good blog platforms do this automatically, such as WordPress and Blogger).
FeedBurner also has a ping service. Be sure it is activated, and take advantage of their offer to let you specify more sources to ping.
Participate in the Greater Blog Community - Cost: $0.00
You want people to interact with your blog, be sure to do the same yourself!
When you provide meaningful commentary on others’ blogs, you will benefit from visitors and/or the author stopping by your blog to learn more about you.
Make it Easy to Engage Your Content - Cost: $0.00
What you don’t want to do is have visitors read one post and then leave. When setting up your blog, think about the best place in its layout to place related, popular, and recent posts. Either pick a template that meets your needs, or modify it on your own.
Entice visitors to come back. The best way for them to know about new content you write is for them to subscribe to your RSS feed. To encourage them to, place your RSS feed link in a prominent, visible position on your blog.
Write Good Content - Cost: $0.00
This is the big one. Without good content, you’re toast.
Write provoking titles that speak to your audience. If the title is good, you have a much better chance of drawing viewers to your content.
Be sure to post regularly! Post as regularly as you can. Search engines (and your readers!) like to see stability and frequency in the amount of content that comes from your site.
Syndicate your Content - Cost: $0.00
If there are any niche RSS syndication services for your content, see if there are fees associated with adding your feed to their service.
Often, aggregation and syndication services don’t charge a thing.Zimbio is a great, user-friendly place to start.
If you leverage Feedburner (and you should) visit the Optimize > FeedFlare section. It offers several ways to encourage your visitors to promote your content elsewhere on the web.
I hope these tips help. They are all free, and they will promote your blog. If you write compelling content and use the methods above, you will get traffic. How much blogging and promotion of your blog you commit to will determine how popular your blog becomes.
Marketers spend great amounts of time and large sums of money ensuring their brand is perceived in the correct light. Surprisingly, few practice any type of reputation management online.
If you aren’t familiar with it, online reputation management involves being aware of, and participating in, the perception of one’s brand online. Three factors which have propelled online reputation management to the forefront of digital marketers’ minds:
The power of search engines as an efficient way to research companies, their products and services
Search engine’s affinity for user generated content, and
The increasing amount of confidence consumers pus on the opinion voiced by other consumers, whether they know them or not.
The power of consumer opinion
While the first two points above are largely accepted, the third—the amount of confidence consumer put in the opinion of other consumers online—is both powerful and highly relevant. An October 2007 Nielsen survey (Trust in Advertising - a global Nielsen consumer report) concludes that “consumers around the world still place their highest levels of trust in other consumers.” Included in the studies breadth of platforms and sources were:
Ads before movies
Brand Sponsorship
Brand websites
Consumer options posted online
Email [the consumer] signed up for
Magazines
Newspapers
Online banner ads
Radio
Recommendations from consumers
Search engine ads
Text ads on mobile phones
TV
“Recommendations from consumers” topped the survey with 78% of respondents indicating “they trusted - either completely or somewhat - the recommendation of other consumers.” How all platforms and sources fared can be seen in the chart below.
Clearly monitoring how your brand is being perceived (and participating in that perception) is valuable to any organization. Depending on your need, online reputation management can be handled in house or a digital marketing firm can be engaged.
