XERO NEWS
IS GOOD NEWS
Philip Fierlinger
Head of Design at Xero
philip@xero.com

DRURY.NET.NZ
Founder, CEO, entpreneur, rockstar blogger

COOL KIDS
CLUB
Can’t be web 2.0 without blog

GET TO KNOW US
Start a relationship with customers

HOMEBREW
Fell into trap of the “technology stack”

CORPORATE PROPAGANDA
Is it a blog if people can’t comment?

ANYTHING YOU SAY
CAN AND WILL BE
USED AGAINST YOU
Pre-IPO: market sensitive information is no-go

BEST TOOLsupported (like Xero) JOB
FOR THE
Easy, powerful, flexible, well

BUILD AN AUDIENCE
Providing insight on things that matter:
Business, technology, design

ESTABLISH transparent
Conversational, personable,
A VOICE

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS
Getting the team to contribute (or be attributed)

SET THE PACE
Find an angle
Punchy headlines
Short & sharp copy
Evocative photos & graphics

CONSTANT BALANCING ACT

QUANTITY VS QUALITY
Aim for daily updates, keep the interest, time important updates

EDITORIAL REVIEW
VS
ANYTHING GOES
Maintain high quality & stay “on brand” with different writers

OFFICIAL VS CASUAL
Start-up vs publicly listed company

BLOG VS <LATEST CRAZE>
Newsletters, Forums, PR, Twitter
The medium is the message

GLOBAL
VS
REGIONAL
Internationalisation

GLOBAL
VS
REGIONAL
Internationalization

MEASURE OF SUCCESS
Comments
Stimulate feedback, comments sidebar
Inbound and internal traffic
SEO

INFINITY
AND
BEYOND
Wordpress as CMS
Video pages, Multi-user
Wordpress as community platform
Comments, ratings

XERO IS HIRING
DESIGNERS &
DEVELOPERS
Philip Fierlinger
Head of Design at Xero
philip@xero.com

Photo credits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iskanderstruck/248786430
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenny-pics/3386952707/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivepress/35776104/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crush_images/2642683397
http://www.flickr.com/photos/titanas/620861371
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asurroca/202196914
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laanba/2247605000
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/112323662
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marinacvinhal/379111290
http://www.flickr.com/photos/herby_fr/86707453
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lloyd-davis/425838238
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonshipps/340169500
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gadl/288607676
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slr/25529476
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilmv/2725953413