My Introduction Slide; The Concepts Behind MoneySmart.SmartMoney. Kathy Givens
The key item with preliminary models for the MoneySmart blog, was ease of use. This idea is derived from the concept that people do not want to think, they want immediately find information or just press on key links. People want simplicity, no second guessing no heavy mental thought. No tremendous amount of work's without a tremendous amount of work. The idea is too allow (instant) clicks, so to speak …instant information without having the reader confused or trying numerous clicks. Money Smart, must be self explanatory.
The source must be credible, there must be reliability in the words in your blog. The reader must be made to think that the blog writers voice is an expert in the field. If you blog about cars, you need to have a good working knowledge of cars. The reader needs to think that the information within your blog is trustworthy. It is also important to personalize your blog, ask the readers questions, allow them to enter polls on your site.
Picking a blog that works counts on getting a good subject that many will respond to. I picked money and shopping because of its popularity. Now, if I pick money and shopping I sure would not want a site that has gun advertisements. I am sure there are some shoppers who are interested in guns, but I want to stay true to may target audience. I want to continue to offer up items, styles and ideas that they will find interesting and not offensive.
What will I add? Will I add a survey to attract readers? Yes, I will. I will add some social messages as well. Who will I target? I will target shoppers., most shoppers are women so that will probably be my target. What will I call the blog? I will call it MoneySmart.SmartMoney because I hope to attract more folks because Money is a popular subject in searches.
Each person will have a different idea of which platform is best. Several platforms may not carry what the person needs in the way of product. Personally, I found a few sites that were quite difficult and a few that did not offer the items I wanted. Wordpress seemed difficult to me, however, my sister uses it all the time. I found Blogger to be the most user-friendly. Sometimes, there is a little trial and error in this step.
How can I promote my blog? I can go on Facebook, add my link in the comment section. How about Digg, I can join that. I can also comment on other sites and “drop”, my information. Joining in other sites, commenting, surfing the web and getting the word out is very important.
Monetizing your blog is important. There are many ways to try to “drop”, your site in other locations, and just as many top selling ads can be placed onto your own site. The site begins to generate money when ads are clicked on, but also domains can sell like real estate. The ads for your own site can show up on someone else’s site and you can even use e-commerce in your site. The important thing is to track where traffic has come from and what generated that traffic.
There are many extras which can be added or not added. The first step is to ascertain what the goal is. Do you hope to use an analysis based system like Google analytics? The Rss feed help to keep the content on your own site more current, so that you do not spend all day visiting other sites. Te blog could have a Facebook badge so that readers can track you through links “dropped” into Facebook. What do all these devices do? They help to keep you travelling through the web without getting bogged down, old and stale.
The idea behind this blog stems from a thought within many markets and retail establishments. Just what are we buying? What is the product and why does it cost what it does? Can we now all become better consumers, making wise shopping decisions? Too many times, purchases are habitual and instantaneous. This blog will be designed as an open forum where folks can come and hear new information which may lead to smarter purchases. Can we save money and be environmentally friendly? Can we save money in a new way? These are the questions this blog will hope to uncover.
Here we have the final product. The product is about consumerism. I would like to establish a magazine of sorts to discuss, money, community, and products good or bad. A place where readers can share current concerns, whether that concern be a more productive shopping trip or the use of certain products. This blog will help the community at large me more conscious of the choices of products and the impact of these products in their lives. This blog will be an open forum for readers to explore new products and methods of shopping.
This blog will be ever hanging undergoing changes to adapt to the needs of the target market. The initial concept with Money Smart was to create a gathering spot where current topics that are important to consumer could be analyzed.
OcShot. , Kathleen Givens (pictures from collection)
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