Blogging and Podcasting for Writers

Marketing and Test-Marketing Your Work Online

with Blogging and Podcasting

Britt Bravo

San Francisco Writers Conference

February 15, 2009

Big Vision ConsultingRealize your big vision

Be a powerful force for good

• Strategic Consulting• Social Web Empowerment• Blogging• Podcasting• Career Coaching

www.brittbravo.com

Web 1.0

Web 2.0 is a conversation

Web 2.0 Tools

• Blogs• Podcasts• Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr)• Video sharing (i.e.YouTube)• Social networking (i.e. Facebook)• Social bookmarking (i.e. del.ici.ous)• Wikis• RSS Feeds/Aggregation• Twitter

Anatomy of a Blog:Subscription

Anatomy of a Blog:Comments

Anatomy of a Blog:Blog Roll

Find blogs to read

• Technoratihttp://technorati.com

• Google Blog Searchhttp://blogsearch.google.com

• Alltophttp://alltop.com

Read Blogs with Feedreaders

Anatomy of a Podcast

Find Shows in Podcast Directories

Listen with podcatchers

Test marketing

• What posts/shows get the most traffic?

• What posts/shows get the most comments?

• How can your readers’/listeners’ feedback improve your book?

Anna Lappe’s Blog

Michael Belfiore’s Blog

Testing topics

The Julie/Julia Project Blog

Julie & Julia

Scott Sigler’s Podcast

Grammar Girl Podcast

Speaking of Faith Podcast

Speaking of Faith Book

Birdie Jaworski’s Blog

Birdie Jaworski’s Podcast

Tools

• Blogger.com

• WordPress.com

• TypePad

• WordPress.org

• MovableType.org

• MovableType.com

Choosing Your Blogging Tool

• What is your budget?

• What is your technical expertise?

• How soon does it need to go up?

• What features and functions do you need?

• What is your “exit plan”?

Generating Blog Traffic & Comments

• Read and comment on other blogs

• Have a blog roll

• Link to other bloggers in your posts

• Make commenting easy

• Allow subscription by rss and email

• Use images and multimedia in posts

• Write titles people are searching for

Generating Blog Traffic & Comments

• Make it easy to share posts with others• Ask questions• Be opinionated• Host a contest• Participate in carnivals and memes• Invite guest bloggers to participate• Integrate your blog into other social networks

Tracking Tools

• Feedburner• Feedblitz• Google Analytics• Site Meter• StatCounter

• Technorati• Google Alerts• Google Blog Search• Twitter Search• PostRank

Podcasting Process

• Record• Edit• Convert to MP3 (if not already)• Upload to hosting service• Publish it online• Promote• Track

Which Tools Should I Use?

• What kind of recording do you need to do?

• What kind of editing do you need to do?

• What is your budget?

• What is your technical expertise?

Promotion• List in podcast directories• Provide subscription instructions• Create a landing page• Feature on home page• List in email signature• Share with social networks• Ask listeners to contribute content• Host contests• Join podcasting communities

Tracking

• Downloads• Subscribers (Feedburner)• Comments• Google Alerts• Twitter Search

Questions?

Britt Bravo

www.brittbravo.com

[email protected]