The White House yesterday released the following Presidential Proclamation commemorating Veterans Day.
Posted in News, Patriotism
Topic: “Blogging Through Loss”
This panel is going to be tough to live blog. Watch for the video, it will be worth it.
Posted in Uncategorized
Topic: “SEO for Specialty Content”
Ready for Panel 2? We’ll keep the liveblog style of post so refresh on occasion for updated content.
SEO is important for blogging. We go up against many different sources that have a lot more money to throw at advertising. We have to back up our awesome content with strategies to increase traffic.
Shout out to Maj Pain and Blackfive on the slides!
First topic is about users. Look at the top titles that send traffic to your site and also key words. Also look at SEM Rush to gain more ideas of what is being searched. Dumping these results into Adwords will give more insight into what people are looking for in search engines. A good idea would to make your blog post and tags use the most searched words.
Addict-o-matic will show what’s on Twitter, Ask.com, WordPress, and many other sites. Google Insights will also show the history of topics to give an idea if what is being searched. Using the historic data of Google Insights and Addict-o-matic will let you know the likelihood of your post to be picked up by Google (I’m going to use Google as a reference to any search engine) and ranked high. Another tool is Scribe SEO. Scribe has in you input data about the post (title, body, etc) and will then let you know how relevant that post is to a keyword you want Google to give you a high ranking.
Content linking back to content makes a difference. If you’ve talked about a topic in the past, mention in the current post. Not every user visiting your blog has a regular reader. Refer them to your past articles.
Don’t go to a blog looking to post links in your comments. Build a relationship with that blog and then drop a link to your blog. You’re adding to that community as along as you keep it relevant.
Google Alerts is another great tool to know who is saying what about a topic. You can watch as people mention topics you write about and then build a relationship to pitch it to other blogs. Building a relationship with that blog will help.
Another tool is Timely to help schedule Tweets. Inputting a tweet will help you time your tweet based on the best time of day to push that content based on replies, mentions, retweets, etc.
Promote your content using Twitter. There are many tools that can push your newest blog post. Not everyone is a power user, so you may need to mention your newest information several times a day. Use different methods to promote that information as well. Reword, mix it up a bit to not annoy those power users.
So I just realized that Ewan Spence is in this panel. CJ and I interviewed him at BWE Vegas in 2008! I got totally distracted from the panel because I recognized him. Back to paying attention.
Another tool suggestion. Tynt looks back before the big social networking when we emailed things we wanted to share. Installing tynt will create links to your site when someone uses the good ole copy+paste share method.
Questions and answers are moving a bit fast for me to be able to put here. Video will come at some point as long as the camera kept recording. It’s at the other end of the table from me.
Posted in Uncategorized
Topic: “Quit F’ing Guessing: Using Math and Behavioral Economics to Win the Battle of Ideas”
This will be a live blog type of entry. I’ll be making notes on what JD is talking about and hitting update from time to time. Refresh every few minutes to get more notes. I’m getting a bit of a late start so I’m just picking up where JD is now.
What is news? JD is using a lot of political leanings to make his points. Conservatives more likely to accept world as it is, but have their own set of “shoulds”. Liberals less liekly to accept world as it is.
Earned Media: To launch ideas use small markets. Small media is less likely to bring opposition into sotry. Cheap GRPs, lends level of credibility to issue.
Risk/Loss Aversion: Peoples will take risks to avoid a certain loss. A loss has a greater psychological effect than a gain, fear losses more than value gains. Humans value what they have, and the less they have the more they value it. Find what target audience values and sell the loss. National Healthcare is unpopulare because people with insurance know what they have, they put a value on it, and charge represents a loss. The loss of currently insured people is felt far more.
Now talking about astroturfing. It works to create an informational cascade. The news media covering and event doesn’t know people were hired to attend an event. It appears there are tons of folks there and then gives a bit of credibility. Now, in my eyes, astroturfing can backfire if the media finds out.
Issues move (go viral) if the target believes and cares about your issue. Has to have credibility as well. The more intense belief a target holds, the more viral your message.
Heuristics example: Sit back for a moment, image the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan. They have billions of dollars from illegal opium, a safe-haven to train, plan, and conduct business ,and increased stature in Islam because they defeated the West. How likely will another 9/11 be? The more you think about the statement, the more you think it could happen. However, mathematics will tell you that the likelihood of the question coming true decreases because of the requirement of each statement to actually happen.
Testing methods: TV & radio ads have most affect. Other methods are online panel surveys starting at about $2,000. These are good for national outreach to get a feeling about a potential issue. Also interactive voice response (press 1 to agree with this statement, 2 to disagree) with getting phone numbers from services or state/county. 10,000 number is the best base to start with.
JD uses the follow to build an ad: from voter registration list create sample. Poll three cheap media markets to get base line. Run potential ads in two marks. Poll the three markets again, which ad “won”. Cross tab results according to demographics, compare back with voter reg list, voter likelihood, etc. Use mapping with demo information to see what demographic the ad works best with, regional target. Repeat until he has a line up of ads that he knows works and he isn’t guessing before election time.
Now, all the above can be used in milblogging as well. Most of this is pretty much based on political campaigns, but we as milbloggers can drive traffic to our sites by looking at national polls and then writing about issues that are polling well. An example would be the economy is going to be the number one issue this November. How does the economy affect the military? We will face budget cuts, personnel cuts, etc. Many of the milblogs are covering these topics now. By taking advantage of SEO, internet searches on the economy will also point to our posts about how the economy affects the military. SEO will be covered in the next panel.
Posted in BlogWorld Expo
Due to some scheduling stuff, I ended up coming out to BWE:LA on pretty late notice. Because of this, we weren’t able to get our usual camera gear lined up for Livestream. I am recording the panels in HD and will be posting them on the blog later.
Posted in BlogWorld Expo
Since joining the Army in October 1994, I’ve worn 4 different camouflage uniforms. To date, I still like the BDU the best, but I have to say that the OCP I’m wearing here in Afghanistan is probably my second favorite. The Air Force is getting rid of the BDU, leaving the Navy as the only service that still wears the uniform introduced in the early 80s. Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Leisa Grant announces the official end of the Battle Dress Uniform in Air Force ranks.
Continue reading
When I had a loved one who was deployed it was a very special and fun way to give a ‘shout out’ from home!
Once again, Stars and Stripes is here to help you send free Holiday Messages to your family and friends. Messages will appear online (and overseas in our print newspaper if you choose), so your loved ones will be able to see your message no matter where they’re deployed or stationed. (Messages sent to recipients located in the U.S. will only appear online and not in print.)
Sending a message is easy! Click Submit Message above and then select either Text or Picture Message. Enter your message and submit — that’s it. Once your message has been approved for publication, you can also search or browse messages by edition or recipient name. Click on the publication tabs below or the Find Messages button above.
Messages received by Nov. 28 will appear in the newspaper edition of your choice (Eur, Mideast or Pac) on Dec. 17th. Any message submitted after November 28 will appear online only and not in print. Continue reading
Posted in Spouse and Family
A new study has been done.
Another new study, I should say.
Now they are saying that children of the deployed are at a higher risk for participating in violence. Here’s the link to the news article about the study.
I will hold my judgement until I see the study and how the population was chosen. A few years ago another “new study” was released that said military spouses were more likely to abuse kids when a spouse was deployed.
They based the conclusions on the likelihood to abuse a child on a population of people who had ALREADY been referred to child protection services before the study (and recidivism is very high in those who have already been referred in the civilian sector too) The researchers were drawing conclusions on the entire military community based on a sub-section of people who were already at high risk for committing abuse. Continue reading
Posted in Spouse and Family
I saw on Twitter this morning that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will be airing a Veterans Day Special on 11 November at 8/7C. Many of you remember my coverage of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build in Beaufort, SC back in January. I don’t have official confirmation, but I’m certain Staff Sergeant Bill Dickinson and his family will be in this episode. Read the PR after the break. Continue reading
You Served's Claire talks about the life of a military spouse - the hardships, the joys, and everything in between.
Join the discussion in our new Spouse and Family section!
