10 Ways to Build Your AudienceBlogworldexpo 2009, Las Vegas @NicoleSimon / nicole-simon.eu

Companion slidesslides to both can be found at crueltobekind.org in a few days and will be up at slideshare.net/nicolesimonpsst: last years presentations fit right in “10 ways to build your audience” and “Where do your visitors come from”

What is this aboutIdeas on what you should consider once you want to grow your audiencenot all of them need to be covered right nowBut you should be able to handle themin the future

Traffic can be misleading – and you need to cover all your basesThink Audience

major traffic sourcesmore info in slides

Type: SubscribersSubscribed to your content / your feed through an feed reader or an email subscriptiondo really read / listen to your contentare genuinely interested in you / your brand / your products / your offeringshave a more personal relationship with youmore inclined to leave comment and share / bookmark / recommend your contentignores everything but the content

Type: Search Engine Visitorscame on your site by accident through a search engine and are interested in finding what they where searching forcould care less about your blog but may be interested in looking aroundacts on targeted advertising as this could be a better information than your blog post

Type social bookmarking usercomes to your site by discovery in a social bookmarking serviceeither through random choice or friend recommendationmore interactive than search engine users as they might reshare your content

Type: Life stream usersServices where I as a user can enter ‘my lifestream’, i.e. add my twitter, my bookmarking, my blog, my pictures all in one placeFriends follow me and if they encounter something interesting go to the link.Highly interactive, but if it scrolled past me in the timeline, I will not see it

Additional “traffic”people who want to contact youexample: journalistspeople who want to offer you dealsexample: other bloggerspeople who want information from you

Big questionWhat do each of these segments want from you and your site? They are all different!What do you have to do to help them get what they want?Each of them needs to be treated differently but you will be able to tie them all together

Think NicoleWhat does make Nicole happy? What does help Nicole to get what she wants?What can I do to make Nicole happy?(replace Nicole with each of your target groups)

Learn and transfer!switch mindsetstart thinking “what can I get out of it”know what you don’t knowbuilt up a support groupexample: look at all sessions of bwe09get inspired: learn from others and take notes on it!

think professional mediame, me, me! What is the difference between an advertisement and a magazine / article? What makes you think blogs and podcasts are different?editorial calendar: have a plan helps you to prepare contentif you want to do partnerships – can you? do you have something to offer?

Cover the basicsIs your blog added in search engines?Sitemap.xml, Webmaster-Tools?if a new posting is done, will it ping?how are your rankings and backlinks?tools of the trade need to be handled by youyou need to understand these in order to delegate

work like a professionaltools of the trade:how many workers you know just arrive with a hammer or just their brain?research. use what works for youbuy books and information to get information prepacked and learn in a short amount of timeuse tools which will save you time in writing, editingwhile this costs money, it helps you save so much more!

think workflow and proceduresworkflow = f.e. lists you can work through without having to use your braineverything you do needs to be outsourced – at least in theoryhow do you work? how much time does it take you?can you optimize? can you outsource parts of it?which tools work for me?

The conversation prism

think Stumble Uponthis is the first time I ever see your site – do I get what you are, what you do, what I can get here, who you are and why I should give you a thumbs up or tweet about this?use other pages to gather what you like when you stumble them yourself

think Twitterthink in titles which are retweetable120 is the new 140can I easily see your twittername?what is this content about?will others have a reason to point to it (and then think SU again)Bonus tip: think landing pagethink research, networking and other peoples click

think offlinelook at the person in front of you and behind youoffline promotional material which is interesting to them?Vistaprint and co make for easy postcardscollection of super articles?special pages for events like these?

think NewsletterWhat can you provide for newsletter authors?Which content do you deliver them for free in exchange for visibility and feedback?your 2-3 sentence bio?your best of articles?how do I contact you for inquiries?!go search for them in your niche – they will love you[Use helpareporterout.com as well]

think Facebookjust because it is hip does not mean it fits you while this is a personal tool, you need to think of it professionallyFacebook Fan page knowledge and how to connect the page with the rest will be a must in the futureTip: FBML boxes are simple

Stop thinking A-ListersThink Dancing with the stars and Top Chefyou can become like them, but what works for them does most often not work for you - they teach you steps but you need to learn the music trust in yourself - learn and evolve

Pay it forwardget in the habit of retweets, relink, bookmarkforward interesting information freely to other – it will come back to youhonor others who make your life easiergive feedback and state what you like and missedThink: If I make other people happy, they will make me happy!think of at least one person you know at home and send them the information from blogworld

Thank you :)Questions?Nicole SimonMentoring, Consulting and Training on Social Media, Twitter, Facebook.nicole-simon.eu@nicolesimon