Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008 - (Page 21)

ESTABLISHING A PRESENCE ONLINE THAT CONTINUALLY ATTRACTS VSITORS REQUIRES NEW CONTENT TO DRAW SEARCH ENGINES, AND WITH THEM, THEIR USERS. Like many people who think themselves poor writers, Cruz ﬁnds that blogging helps her hone her writing skills. A computer science major in college, she has learned to take note of other writers’ styles and has developed her own voice—for her clients and her own blog, WorkinOnMyFitness.com. The activity has turned Cruz into an enthusiastic and expressive blogger—components essential to being a consistent writer and driving trafﬁc. Treviño’s site started as a traditional website serving Hispanic women’s issues. When a graphic designer suggested she redesign the site as a blog site—where Treviño could post frequent commentary and invite feedback—it changed the way she worked, as well as the trafﬁc she drew. The designer redid her site and installed the blogging application Moveable Type. Similar services include Wordpress.org, Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Blogspot.com, Typepad. com, and others. Within the ﬁrst few months of her makeover, Treviño was drawing to her site a handful of visitors a day. Then she began posting comments to other blogs, and sprinkling those messages with links back to her own site. She would also include comments in her blog about other sites—with attribution and links back to those sites. Quickly, her trafﬁc grew—and then exploded. “I can remember being so excited when I hit 50 a day,” she says. This month, she’ll log 300,000 hits. Treviño is in a unique position. She has grown her number of loyal visitors and thus can limit the amount of time she spends on other blogs. While she still posts to Latina Lista daily, she only occasionally leaves comments—and a link back to her site—on other blog sites. But she still follows the essential rules for Web 2.0. Among Treviño’s and Cruz’s tips for driving trafﬁc with online writing: •Focus on a niche topic and establish your blogsite as expert commentary. •Develop a voice that suits your audience. An academic site or blog should read differently than one focused on social commentary or lifestyle. •Keep blogs short—between 250 to 600 words, and use bulleted lists to ease reading. •When commenting on other people’s posts on your own site, send an email with a link back letting them know. “The chances of being added to their blog roll (a list of preferred sites) is a lot higher,” Treviño says. “This grows awareness of your site with people in the industry.” •Use tools like Google Analytics to track trafﬁc patterns, and services like WordTracker and Keyword Discovery to locate commonly searched words or terms. Then use those words or phrases frequently in the copy. •Most importantly, says Treviño, “Adhere to the blogosphere’s rules of conduct.” Be sincere in your comments, don’t be overly self-promotional and invite others to comment on your site. 21 * ternet marketing service. “It’s about going to other people’s blogs, people who comment on yours, and leaving your thoughts. It’s a give-and-receive thing.” Effective blogging targets users seeking speciﬁc content. At Ten Golden Rules, bloggers and SEO specialists use online services like WordTracker and Google Analytics to discover highly searched terms and then track trafﬁc to client sites. “It you want trafﬁc to your site, you have to know what people are searching for so you know what to write about,” Cruz says. HISPANIC ENTERPRISE June/July 2008 http://WorkinOnMyFitness.com http://www.wordpress.org http://www.wordpress.com http://www.blogger.com http://www.typepad.com http://www.blogspot.com http://www.typepad.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008

Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008 Contents Briefcase: BIZBUZZ: Business Briefs Briefcase: Dynamic Trends Briefcase: Q&A Briefcase: Trendsetters BizLife: BizTech BizLife: Travel Feature: Target: Hispanics Cover Story: A Legend in His Own Time Feature: Top 25 Franchises Success & Motivation: The Talent Scout Education: Success by Degrees Finance & Investing: A Tough Sell Social Events: Emerge Dallas Politics & Government: The Accidental Americans Managing: Deconstructing Networking

Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008

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