Melissa Hale's Blog

My Writing for New Media class ended the semester with creating group Web sites on blogging. Here’s the continuation of my portion on search engine optimization and analytics. Enjoy.

Availability

One of the best ways to understand what your audience wants is to track their browsing habits. You want to make sure your blog is available and everyone knows it. There are several ways you can get your blog out there to woo the search engines and your audience.

The first, and very important, is using keywords. They’re those sweet words you whisper in the ears of search engines to get them chasing after you. In Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin’s Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day, they give great advice on the importance of keywords.

If you put the time into choosing powerful keywords now, you are likely to be rewarded not only with higher ranked, but also with these benefits:

A well-optimized site, because your writers and other content producers will feel more comfortable working with well-chosen keywords as they add new site text.

More click-through once searchers see your listing, because your keywords will be highly relevant to your site’s content.

More conversions once your visitors come to your site, because the right keywords will help you attract a more targeted audience.

Using Google keyword search is one way to look for excellent examples that relate to your blog’s content.

You also want to make sure your headlines are clear and compelling, capturing the heart and attention of your audience. Make sure you use descriptive word in the headlines and titles that give an idea of what the blog or post is about.

All the rage

You want to be hip and in-the-know with all the current trends that are floating around on the web.

Meme Trackers such as Technorati allow you to see what conversations are going on in the blogosphere, what topics are hot, and how you can use this to your advantage.

YouTube is another place to look for popular, most discussed and favorite videos, that could give you ideas on enhancing the content on your blog and drawing in a larger audience.

Other places to look include social news sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, or StumbleUpon, and social media sites likeFacebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr. Just follow the trends, check out Google (Hot) Trends, and you’ll be fine.

Attention to details

Lastly, I’d like to mention on-page optimization. Here, it is all about the details and making sure nothing is overlooked.

Categories and tags are important when blogging because this helps search engines and your audience find you better.

Create categories that are aligned with your blog-specific keywords. This will create a site structure that helps those category pages rank well for the keywords in them.

Keeping your blog maintained by making sure links are working and the content is up-to-date will definitely keep you on the market and hopefully help you become an online success.

My Writing for New Media class ended the semester with creating group Web sites on blogging. I figured I’d share my portion on search engine optimization and analytics. Here are the first couple segments. Enjoy.

At this point you’ve got an idea of what all the hullabaloo is about with this blogging thing. Now it is time to take a step back and analyze your blog for what it’s worth.

Is it a skimpy online memoir that only reaches a few web surfers, the majority of them relatives, that you only seem to update every couple weeks? Or is it voluptuous, filled with enriching content that has your audience on their knees with a rose in hand, just begging for more?

This is where search engine optimization enters the picture. SEO is how you take advantage of a plethora of online tools to enhance your online presence as a blogger. I’ve broken this down into five simple tips to wooing search engines and your online community.

Analytics

When it comes to Web analytics, you as a blogger are a content creator. Using analytics lets you not only find out which content is getting the most page views and visits, but also where those visitors are coming from and what attracts them.

Basically, this helps you figure out how your audience is measuring you up and what qualities they like about you and your content. Then you can then use this information to enhance those qualities to attract your online community.

Google Analytics is one of many popular online tools useful for analyzing your blog content. Through this analytics solution, you can view reports on traffic sources, whether it be search engines, referring sites, or direct traffic, site usage, which shows number of visits, page views, bounce rates, and new visits, and even an interactive map to see what country, state, or city your viewer is coming from.

Audience

Who is your audience? This is one of the first questions you should have asked yourself when choosing a blog topic. You want to produce content that is appealing to your audience. Find out what impresses them, what attracts them and what keeps them coming back.

You also might need to look at different kinds of content. Your users might prefer posts comprised of lists that are kept short and to the point. Others may prefer a little drama with longer paragraphs and more in-depth analysis.

Links can be useful to build a relationship with your audience. Everyone knows communication is a big factor in relationships so you should take this just as seriously. Get to know bloggers that are writing about the same topic as your blog and link to them. You may even offer a spot to them as featured blogger for a day.

Making its way up the east coast, Dos Equis’ The Most Interesting Show in the World made its way to The Recher Theatre in Towson, Md. With a limited 700 capacity, the venue was packed full of locals looking for a night of free entertainment and enjoying some quality beer.

I was particularly excited to attend this event because it looked like something I’d never seen before. It also was something different to do compared to seeing a movie or just hanging out with friends. Since I needed to document the event for another class project, I decided to rent out a Flip Ultra Cam from TU to get some footage.

The night started off with Phatima, The Pharaoh’s Private Vocalist. She started off singing, but then smoothly transitioned into beat boxing. The variety of instruments and musical effects she could make with her mouth were astounding and had the crowd cheering her on. Phatima was even joined by the host, Angelo Moore of Fishbone, who played the sax while she continued to provide an astounding performance as a one-(wo)man band.

Another act that stood out was that of Mei Ling, Esteemed Equilibrist of the East. She was raised by circus acrobat parents and trained by martial arts masters and has some amazing strength. For her performance, she managed to balance her whole body on one hand, bending and twisting without a fault.

Mark “The Knife” Faje, The World’s Most Dangerous Comic, entertained the crowd more than once with his mastery of juggling, knife throwing and balancing acts. Most noticeable was “The bowling ball on fire, with steak knives in the whole, with a scorpion in the underwear, kicked in the face trick.” When he balanced the ball on the side of his head, the crowd went wild with cheering.

Other acts included The Human Slinky, Melody Sweets’ burlesque singing and Mr. & Mrs. G, the bow-crossed lovers. Angelo Moore also frequently graced the stage with his dancers, reviving up the energy of the crowd.

At the conclusion of the performance, Moore and Melody Sweets invited half the audience to join them up on stage for a house party. Everyone in the theatre joined in singing CSNY’s “Our House” and continued dancing even after the show was over.

Those that attended were amazed that this event was free, but I’m sure they made up for that with all the ads for Dos Equis. From the beginning of the show to the conclusion, we were reminded to “stay thirsty.” Judging by the amount of empty beer bottles littering the bar counters and even the floor, I’d say they gave Baltimore a night they’d hopefully not forget, even if they did wake up with a massive hangover.

I was very pleased with the footage I got and the quality that the Flip produced, especially the sound. My boyfriend Sean was using his iPhone 3GS to record video and the sound was very poor due to the volume coming from the speakers. However, that didn’t seem to faze my Flip. I was very impressed. Just added it back to my Christmas list this year and I recommend it to other j-nerds like me!

So Saturday is where I left off. Most of this day was spent at the ONA conference itself, with little free time to explore SF.

Interviewing Paul Volpe from washingtonpost.com on how they use SEO.

I spent the morning catching up on my blog and making sure our slideshow was all set, then went to my first session, Outwit the Algorithms. I decided to interview some attendees before the session began on what they already knew about search engine optimization. After the session, I then interviewed them to see what they learned and what tactics they would use to enhance their online sites. The results I formed into a short article, SEO and what we know.

The rest of the day was spent writing up the story and squeezing in a light lunch before the evening receptions began. The receptions gave us all a last chance to network and congratulate each other on all the hard work we had accomplished together as this year’s student newsroom.

Banquet dinner by candlelight

Next came the banquet which was simply divine. The food was delicious, particularly the meringue desert. A variety of awards were given out to those at the top of their field in online media.

I finished off the night by enjoying some light jazz with Sean at Les Joulins Jazz Bistro. It was a relaxing way to end the evening before all the excitement on Sunday at the TWiT Cottage!

Les Joulins Jazz Bistro

I feel like I must say this again: I love San Francisco. The sites, the people, the food, the atmosphere, everything. I honestly don’t think I can handle a long distance relationship so I’ve already begun thinking about when we will meet again. Sigh. Anyway, back to my adventures at the Online News Association Conference!

SF Union Square

Most of Friday, as shown in my last post was spent hitting the streets of SF and finding out from locals how they consume news. Austin Fast and I produced a SoundSlides show, ONA ‘09 Word on the Street, with the audio we recorded along with some photos of those we interviewed and spots around SF. This gave us a chance to get to know the locals and observe some of their daily habits. A few things I noticed: A lot of San Franciscans smoke cigarettes. It is legal to drink publicly if your drink is in a brown bag. And, a lot of them smoke “medical” marijuana openly, but more on this in a later post!

Smoking is a common habit for San Franciscans

We also attended a session, Your Audience, Your Advantage, which played along with the idea of our slideshow. The panel talked about getting to know your audience, finding out who is consuming your content, how to involve them, and using metrics to engage them.

I’d say the best part of the day was our Lunch with Leo. I was sitting at the table next to Leo Laporte, “The Tech Guy”, and watching his every bite…um, can you say stalker? I think he noticed me snapping pictures of him the whole time, but I didn’t care.

For those who don’t know, Laporte is one of today’s most famous tech journalists, known for his radio show “Leo Laporte-The Tech Guy” and his podcast and live-stream of  This Week in Tech. His speech was on several things from getting to know your audience and writer’s niche to the world of advertising.

Me with Leo Laporte

I totally screamed when he left the lobby. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, and not just for me. Sean is a devoted listener and knows a lot more about the tech talk on TWiT so this was a golden opportunity we both couldn’t pass up.

I’ve got so much more to say, so this is going to be a three-part post. Tomorrow, I will cover the last day at the ONA Conference and on Thursday, I will talk all about my totally epic visit to the TWiT Cottage. Stay tuned.

The Online News Association conference in San Francisco officially is rocking my world. I have met so many awesome people here and it has been a huge success in terms of networking.

On Wednesday, Sean and I spent the day seeing the sites and little hidden gems of San Francisco. We went to Fisherman’s Wharf and saw the rowdy sea lions at Pier 39, walked through Chinatown, stopped in City Lights Bookstore, and rode BART all over town.

Thursday, I started off with a nice breakfast at Honey Honey Cafe & Crepery where I enjoyed  a strawberry, kiwi and banana crepe with cinnamon and brown sugar along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This place was great and they offered free wifi.

Sean and I then ventured off to 826 Valencia, otherwise known as the pirate shop. It was full of tons of little pirate knickknacks like golden coins, black beards and eye patches. In fact, I even got mopped while I was there, a little joke among pirates.

Next stop was meeting the ONA Student Newsroom and touring the Current .com headquarters. Andrew Fitzgerald, the online producer for Current TV, talked to us about how Current has evolved, the different methods they’ve used to connect to their audience, the success of the company and the adaptations they use from citizen journalists.

I personally was interested in their Vanguard Journalism because I have been looking for a future in investigative journalism that would allow me to travel and provide a voice for people around the world on their culture, beliefs, and every day lives.

More posts will follow with all the excitement of yesterday’s sessions, who I met, the opportunities that arose and what I’m doing today.

Here is the Soundslides project I created with Ausin Fast, a student from Miami University in Ohio, called ONA ‘09 Word on the Street.

Since the beginning of the semester, I’ve dropped my minor, made meager tips at my work, went to a wedding, found out my sister is getting married, got accepted as a volunteer for House of Ruth in Baltimore and am about to go to the ONA Conference in San Francisco.

I plan on writing a post upon my return and hopefully will have some links to what I work on there. Hopefully I will make plenty of connections with people and figure out if there are job opportunities for me.

I’ve started two different blogs for two of my classes this semester, which is why I haven’t blogged on here much. One is Beauty UnSilenced where I blog about current news and my opinions relating to violence against women, trafficking, women’s rights, and anything that supports the fight against abuse.

My other blog, which I have only just started, is Bmore Cheaps for Campus Peeps, which I use to inform students in the Baltimore/Towson area about cheap or free events that are going on to enjoy their college experience on a budget.

Check them out and leave me a comment or links to useful resources.

This past Sunday marked the offical end of my summer. I’d have to say the Virgin Mobile Free Fest was the perfect wrapup.

Taking Back Sunday, Jet, Weezer, Blink 182, and many more amazing bands performed at this years VMFreeFest at the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Washington D.C.  It was hot, crowded with thousands of people, but an overall exhillarating experience for me.

We waited in a line that stretched up the lawn by the main stage where a homeless clown, 20-foot-tall woman, and a unicyclist roamed about, entertaining those setting down blankets for the performances later on.  When they finally opened the fence to let us in, I’d swear that people had metamorphasized into ninjas or were practicing some parkour. They were lunging over the chairs row by row, trying to avoid everyone else, including myself, who were packing in down the aisles to get close to the pit.

I managed to get seats about halfway down with a nice view of the stage and the huge plasma screen full of concert-goers text messages reading things like, “Scream if you want to see Blink,” “Marco…,” or “I love you Merisha” (that was a little joke from Sean, my boyfriend).

Once the bands started playing, I felt like the night was building up to the two bands I wanted to see most, Weezer and Blink 182.

The first band, Mates of State, I feel is worth mentioning because I’d never heard of them so I was going with an open mind to their musical style. They had a nice indie/pop sound that was refreshing and easy to listen to. This would be something I’d listen to as background music when sitting at home just chilling out, painting my toenails or something…don’t know why, but that is what comes to mind!

Taking Back Sunday was also a pretty good set. For some reason I thought I knew more of their songs, but I only recognized like four of them at the concert. I usually find concerts more enjoyable when I can sing along and jive to the tunes, but I’d have to say the songs I did recogize were fine just the same.

Jet came and went for me. Not a big fan except for their one hit, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, which I got a nice video of with my digital camera.

Finally, when it came time for Weezer, I was ready for something to boost my energy. This was due in part because once you entered the main stage, you could not leave to get food or drinks unless you wanted to wait in line to get back in, which was probably over a mile long. I’d have to say that is one big negative for me about this event that needs to change. They could have atleast had vendors set up selling along the aisles soft pretzels or corn dogs. I’d have paid money for anything!

Anyway, back to Weezer. They were AMAZING. I’d never seen them live, but they certainly blew me away. They played almost every hit I could remember by them including My name is Jonas and Undone: The Sweater Song. Their excellent stage presence was something I noticed. With the shimmering gold backdrop and their matching attire, they seemed really unified and had a sophisticated demeanor, but at the same time were totally rocking it!

Seeing Blink 182 was something I had been anticipating all night as well. My brother Nathan, is a total Blink fan ad has been since they were big in the 90’s. He went to their concerts, covered his walls in every photo or magazine clip he could find, had Blink lights and dodads all over. He was and still is gaga for them. It was a great opportunity for us to enjoy their music together.

They played most of the songs that made them popular back in the 90’s like “What’s My Age Again?”  and “All The Small Things.” It was like a blast from the past moment for me. Hearing those familiar tunes had me dancing and singing right along. The performance was enjoyable and it ended with a blast of confetti showering over the crowd.

When the night was all over and we were walking back to our car, I realized that this truly was the perfect end to my summer. I had spent most of my summer working or at The Baltimore Sun for my internship and hadn’t really had the chance to do much typical summer outings. This made up for it in a very big way and it is a concert I will not soon forget.  In fact, I can still hear Weezer singing “I’m a troublemaker/Never been a faker/Doing things my own way/And never giving up.” What an awesome night it was:)

The Baltimore Sun’s Web site has finally added the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy project I spent my entire summer internship working on. The Space Academy videos I composed together and edited, including my recorded voice overs, and links to important teacher resources from NASA all seemed to come together nicely as a result. One of my videos is below and the other you can watch on The Sun’s site titled’ Honeywell SciGirls Camp’, which I shot at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.

I’d have to say I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished this summer and I’m very thankful for all the guidance I received from Steve Sillivan and his multimedia team.  Be sure to check the site out and leave me a comment on what you think or if you have any questions about the teachers’ experiences at the Honeywell Space Academy.

Now that summer is almost over, I’ve started thinking of different topics to blog about. The topics may start out a bit scattered, but eventually I am hoping to narrow it down. I will definitely continue writing about new and fascinating trends regarding journalism, new media, social networking, as well as updating my portfolio once I start writing again for The Towerlight. You may even see some video work as well because I’ve decided to continue developing these skills and see where it takes me.

Ocean City dock, summer 2009. Photo by Melissa Hale

A few other topics I may write about include writing/recording/performing my music with 28May, reviews of movies I see through the I Love the Free Movie Passes Facebook group, opinions or short articles relating to abuse against women and children, and possibly some video/audio samples throughout the semester.

With working four days a week, taking six classes this semester at Towson University, writing for The Towerlight, and preparing for my trip to the ONA Conference in October, I’m sure this semester will keep me busy and entertained…and hopefully I can maintain my sanity!