A Single Southern Guy in America

November 18, 2003

Blog Promos and why we talk about 'that' girl

From Yeti's comment here and a series of emailed questions from a friend, I can see that I need to explain myself more fully about the reason why I write so often about the girl.

A few weeks back, I solicited your ideas on ways to promote a blog. There were a number of good suggestions, but my ideas go much further than these because my goal is geared more towards an expanded audience of non-bloggers rather than a vast number of links. The concept is to carve out a niche that no one else has entered. As my blog sis, Kelley, said Friday night, "You're like the blogosphere's resident Paris Hilton expert." And as I said to her, "It's funny because I only talked to her fifteen or twenty minutes and got some pictures. There's plenty of sites out there with more dish on her than I can offer." However, in my ideas about how to promote a blog like mine, the brief encounter alone is a valuable tool to promote the blog.

So why do we see the occasional Hilton post? It is a fairly simple strategy. It builds traffic. It became clear to me when I first came back and wrote about meeting them. All of the sudden I had a huge increase (proportionally) in traffic. If you go to site, go all the way to the bottom, and click on the site meter. When it comes up, there is a link on the left called Visits by Year. I first mentioned Paris and Nicole on May 22. Look how sharp in increase I had in May and June over the previous months. Then look at the jump in October and November. The more publicity both of them get, the more traffic I have received. The question then becomes why are you so interested in having more traffic? The answer is from an earlier article I wrote on the site (back in early September):

The Yeti and I have been discussing different ways to expand our readership and how to market our sites. We both would love to blog and/or write for a living. However to do so, you have to get noticed, and to get noticed, it requires expanding your audience. He and I agree that one of the best ways is to bring people who are unaware of the medium to our sites. We�ve shared various ideas that include merging the online marketing methods with traditional methods.

From the very beginning, I have tried to figure out ways to use this as a vehicle to eventually leverage a way into doing writing professionally instead of penning letters, position papers, and speeches for others. To see what I mean--this is from my first real post:

I decided to use this as part of my long planned goal of writing something (book, script, screenplay, etc.) about being a single southern male in the South. Think Friends meets Evening Shade and Designing Women and you've got the idea.

And then this from October 7th:

However, I remain of the opinion that the best way is to use a blog as a springboard into mainstream media. The only way to make it into the mainstream media is to be discovered. The only way to be discovered is to increase your exposure. To increase exposure, one must promote their site.

Oddly enough, when I am advised to go out and make things happen for myself, that's exactly what I've been doing with the whole Paris Hilton schtick. If I post something about her occasionally, the search engines, particularly google and yahoo, will return your site higher on the page. If you search google for "Paris Hilton Arkansas" my site is listed #3 and #4. That's exactly how the (Undisclosed Media) found my site. I've known for months that as their show prepared to air, they would do a huge publicity push, people would do searches about it and they'd find my site. The gamble was (is) would there be anyone from the mainstream media who would find it and then contact me. It worked, so now we just have to see if it makes it into print. That's the main effect Paris has had on me--she gave me a way to drive traffic to my site in large numbers. Since this stupid tape came out, I've been averaging well over 1100 visits a day. Regardless, it drove traffic. When their show comes out, it'll drive it again. Maybe, just maybe, the mainstream media will hit it again. And the gamble is will mainstream media pick it up and I can springboard in?

The other thing that occurs to me that most people who do these blogs seem more concerned about garnering the attention of other bloggers. While sure I'm interested in having bloggers read my stuff, I am more interested in the general public reading it. We all know full well that the vast majority of people in this country could give a damn about politics and that sort of thing unless the Terminator is running for Governor. But it seems like the vast majority of the people who do blogs only want to discuss politics and current events. I chose a different niche that isn't out there. Thus, I don't use the same techniques other bloggers use to get traffic. I try to tap into popular culture from a Southern perspective. It takes my site in a very different direction from a lot of others as far as content and promotional strategies go.

Unfortunately, that strategy consists of occasionally writing something about Paris. Everything I have written about her I meant, but nothing compelled me to write it. It's a strategic move to keep the search engines linking me higher and thus increasing my chances to be noticed by someone in the popular culture arena. It's a simple extension (applied to the internet and blogging) of how I generated earned media for candidates I use to work for or consult. Believe it or not, a marketing, public relations, or advertising degree is much more useful in working in campaign politics than political science or a law degree. That's part of the whole disconnect between the average Americans and the current political system. But that's a whole other story.

One of the enduring things momma taught me as a young Southern Baptist had to do with people who pray for things they want or want to happen. She said, "Son, the Lord helps those who help themselves." It's similar to the old phrase of "you make your own good luck." So, I suppose to answer the question of where I am in my life right now, I'd say I'm exactly where I'm at and using the few marketing advantages I have to see if it could result in that very narrow chance to get a big break into mainstream media. It's a different version of someone trying to find a break into the public relations and entertainment publicity fields when you socially associate with people in that field. Similarly, if I get to visit with Jessica Lynch for any appreciable amount of time (and for that matter her co-author Rick Bragg), I'll use that to try to increase traffic as well. It's a blend of public relations and marketing without the expense of advertising. Think of it as earned media targeted at a certain demographic.

Let me assure you, when I think about women who have affected my life their names are more like DD(mom), BI(sis), UO(evil thief ex), KL(great ex), DT(sad case ex), NLF(weird most recent ex). Those who know me in person with all my faults of going on too long about politics, religion and the origins of blues music, do you really think I am overwhelmed by this chance meeting with these two pseudo-celebrities? Given my background, the more likely suspects would be all of the political figures I've had the chance to interact with in person.

However, that's just not me. Early on, my daddy instilled in me the whole idea that everyone "puts their pants on one leg at a time." When the time comes, I'll share the passage of what I wrote in my memobook the night I was actually in Altus and before I talked to her. It's the best illustration of my tendency to find the special in a regular person rather than being overawed by the so-called celebrity at the next table.

There you have it folks, the transparent and raw truth behind why I post about the girls when they were in Arkansas.

Posted by Adam H at November 18, 2003 06:36 PM ~ Link Cosmos | Trackbacks (1)
Counterfactually Speaking linked with The truth about blogging

Comments

I would disagree that "it seems like the vast majority of the people who do blogs only want to discuss politics and current events". Of all the blogs I read, *maybe& 2 of them really fit into that category. And while I do like to garner the attention of other bloggers, more often than not it's to gain new friendships with people from other places - I love having people to talk to from different corners of the world (or North America, for the most part, in my case).

Posted by: Ryan Waddell at November 19, 2003 11:51 AM

Take a sampling of the Ecosystem over at Truth Laid Bear. The most popular by far (in traffic and links)are the politcal/current event blogs.

Heck, just look through one of the Carnival of the Vanities.

Posted by: Adam at November 19, 2003 12:29 PM

Adam, saying the vast majority of blogs discuss politics and current events, and saying the vast majority of POPULAR blogs discuss politics and current events are two different things.

I will say this though: There are a lot of blogpimps out there (i.e. people who "pimp" out their blog by discussing "hot" material that may or may not be of any real interest to them personally in order to drive traffic to their sites) who act all offended by insinuations that they're doing exactly that. I respect you for admitting it openly.

Posted by: kara at November 19, 2003 04:25 PM

Thanks Kara, and you are right. I stand corrected. I remember some study saying the vast majority of blogs are irregularly updated sites maintained by teenage girls.

I'll have to go ahead and type in my ideas of blogging promotions and get that out there.

Blog pimping--That's pretty good. What's that Garth Brooks song, "Shameless?" Heh.

Posted by: Adam at November 19, 2003 04:29 PM

Thanks Adam. I'm having it trademarked right now.

Posted by: Kara at November 19, 2003 04:35 PM

I was on Kara's site last night and I told her I loved that term "Blogpimping." On one hand, blatantly using terms to increase traffic tends not to gain fans in the blogging world. But in your case Adam, at least you tell everyone WHY you're doing it. You're writing for the general public and you want them to visit, and if the bloggers come too, then we're all welcome. I might be able to find fault if you weren't being honest about it, but at least you were up front from the beginning. :)

Posted by: Zandria at November 20, 2003 10:17 AM

Zan-

Well, maybe not from the beginning, but before anyone seriously took me to task about it in public. That post is actually a revised and adapted email to a friend who challenged me on it.

The other thing is I actually did meet the girls and visited with them. Some folks just drop the names and wait for the search bots to index them. Rathe than just throwing the name out there, at least I've been able to contribute a little actual discussion about the two of them from meeting them. When the show finally airs, I'll be able to discuss that from actual experience too.

In any case, thanks for the comment.

Posted by: Adam at November 20, 2003 10:27 AM