Johanna Baker-Dowdell | Strawberry Communications: Writing & PR

Three simple tips for increasing traffic to your blog

May 20, 2017 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Sponsored post

Tips of attracting readers to your blog. Photo: unsplash.com

It takes time to write content for your blog, so you want to make sure that it’s worth the effort. This is why you need to take action to increase the traffic to your blog, especially if you have just started out and traffic is still on the low side. There is obviously a lot of competition out there when it comes to blogs, but this does not mean you cannot attract a good audience.

Even if there are plenty of blogs out there in the same arena as you, you can still get the successful results you are looking for. If you make sure your blog stands out you will increase traffic, and people will share your content with others. Here are three tips on how you can help make this happen:

1. Write with a specific audience in mind

The most important part of any blog is the content; it has to be something that people want to read. If you are writing a blog for your business, you should already have a good idea of what your potential customers are like, and what they are interested in from conducting customer research. The topics that interest them are what you should be writing about.

If you do not focus the content you produce on the people you want to attract to your blog, you are going to make it a lot harder to increase traffic.

2. Do not be afraid of SEO

Some people have become a bit afraid of using keywords given Google’s efforts to improve content, and have reduced the number of keyword stuffing occurrences. The fact is, you should not be afraid of using keywords to attract additional traffic to your blog. All you have to do is make sure they are relevant to your content and fit well within that topic. You can learn more about SEO and the use of keywords to help you make best use of them for your blog.

3. Encourage influencers to guest blog for you

A great way to attract traffic to your blog is to persuade someone who is considered to be an influencer to write for you. Their followers are likely to be attracted to your blog to read the influencer’s post. Not only does this increase the number of people visiting your blog, but if your blog is good enough they will hopefully come back and read your own blog posts.

It’s not always easy to attract these influencers to write for you and it may involve parting with some cash. You could also try offering some form of publicity on your website in return, or access to free products or services.

All of the tips in this article should help you to increase the amount of traffic to your blog. You also need to remember to share blog posts across your social media channels as much as possible. People are only going to visit your blog if they know about it.

This is a sponsored guest post by Trent Anderson.

Filed Under: Business Tips Tagged With: attracting readers to your blog, blog influencer, blog marketing, blogger, blogging, Guest blog, Quickcliks, SEO

2016 in Review

December 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

It is late December and as I’ve done for several years I’ve been reviewing what I’ve achieved throughout the past year.

For a year that has been difficult personally for many I know (and with the loss of so many important icons), I have to admit I’m looking forward to waving goodbye to 2016 in a few days. However, it has been a good year in other ways.

I like to start each year by setting a word to focus on and mine for 2016 was “knowledge”. However, I think after reviewing what I’ve done through the year it should have been “write”. Makes sense that a writer should write, doesn’t it? Sarcasm aside, I have written thousands and thousands of words for my PhD thesis, newspaper articles, blog posts and creative pieces, not to mention hundreds of social media updates. Words are my life.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: My Stuff Tagged With: 2016, business goal, goal setting, goals, personal goals, university goals, year in review

Research snapshot: Social media in crisis reporting

November 24, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

This week I was invited to share insights from my PhD research at the UTAS School of Social Sciences Work in Progress day.

My PhD project looks at how social media texts produced by members of the public have impacted journalistic practice within the context of crisis reporting. To do this I analysed how social media texts were used as news sources in newspaper reports during three English crisis events between 2005 and 2013: the London Bombings, English Riots and Lee Rigby’s murder.

As disruptive and highly emotive events where knowledge is a premium, crises elevate the importance of media coverage, particularly as an accurate source of information. In studying the way social media texts are used as news sources during such events, my project contributes to the body of work on current journalistic practice in crisis reporting.

PR Tips from Seven Years of Newsletters

October 26, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

As I wrote last month, I’ve been working for myself for 10 years and seven years ago I started appearing in your inbox every month.

I thought it fitting to review the 360 posts on the Strawberry Communications blog to share some of the key articles I’ve written in that time (plus two bonus posts pre newsletter that I thought you’d like). Here you’ll find tips on small business PR, making the most of your business story and some analysis on where PR fits in the marketing mix.

PR Myths Exposed

I am an Australian Anthill newsletter subscriber and a recent edition featured a great article by Jules Brooke from Handle Communications on the Five Myths of PR.

I come across many business owners who aren’t sure of the benefits of public relations to their business. I have no problem with that, because it’s my job to tell them how PR can work to promote their business, but there are some basic assumptions that Jules covered in her article that really resonated with me.

Read on for the myths.

Guest post: 5 Tools That Will Boost Your Social Media Marketing

October 14, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Photo credit: unsplash.com

This is a guest post by Lisa Michaels.

Social media management for businesses requires more effort than it might at first seem. In order to keep your audience engaged, you always need to have new content and activities available. Generating new ideas and publishing content, however, requires almost endless creativity and diligence.

Online tools for social media management can help you speed up content creation and improve the quality of your work. By using them you can accomplish more with less time than you ever thought possible. Here are five tools that will help you manage a successful social media presence.

Buffer

Marketers often face time management and accuracy challenges. Part of the problem stems from logging into every social platform to upload content. During the flurry of daily activity, you can become confused and make mistakes such as posting content to the wrong platform or forgetting to publish posts on time.

Franchise Expert Launches One of the UK’s Fastest Growing Franchises in Australia

October 6, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Following in the footsteps of Remington’s Victor Kiam, who was so impressed with the shaver he “bought the company”, franchise consultant Carolyn Dufton is launching Maggie Moo Music in Australia this week.

Based on the highly popular Moo Music UK franchise model, Maggie Moo Music Australia will wow Aussie 0-5 year olds with its infectious songs, cute farmyard characters and sensory ‘moosical’ format.

Franchising professional Carolyn Dufton, from franchisingplus and Hire For Baby, came across the franchise in early 2016 when Moo Music UK franchisor Ant Parker asked her to help develop a strategy for expansion in Australia.

A Decade in Business: Reflection and Refocus

September 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

A photo by Christopher Sardegna. unsplash.com/photos/CMOa3H1SXG0

This month Strawberry Communications turns 10. I had been freelancing on and off for six years before I started working for myself full time, but once my eldest son was born I knew I didn’t want to be working for someone else five days a week. My work experience and entrepreneurial spirit drove me to go it alone and I registered the business in October 2006.

My business has gone through many iterations in that 10 years: from being a purely freelance writing business initially, to combining my own clients with freelancing for other PR businesses. From there Strawberry Communications was predominantly operating as a PR consultancy with two additional consultants supporting me and it’s now back to mostly writing, with just me at the helm.

A fluid business

There have been many reasons for these changes: responding to industry demand, working around my family and my own desire for change. During the past 10 years I’ve worked around one, and then two, small children, after which I ran the business full time while my partner become a stay-at-home dad. Next I combined running Strawberry Communications with baking business, Stanley & Nelson, and then with studying part-time. For the past two years I’ve been studying full time and working in the business part time. I expect to be finished my PhD within the next six months and so now I’m starting to think about what I’ll do post study.

7 Tips for Starting Your Own Business While Being Fully Employed

September 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 1 Comment

Image attribution:
https://pixabay.com/en/student-typing-keyboard-text-woman-849825/

Guest post by Jill Phillips

Creating a business from the ground up might be incredibly challenging, but it could also provide you with complete financial freedom. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs must continue to hold down a full-time job while they are getting their new business started.

Here are seven tips you can use to make the most out of every minute of the day while juggling your current career, your company, and your personal life.

1. Plan everything for a great start

Even small business owners who have no other careers must be as methodical as possible when it comes to the growth of their company, let alone aspiring entrepreneurs who have full-time jobs. The first thing you should do is create a filing system for all the information on your business and the industry you are in. Once you have everything stored and categorised methodically, you can go ahead and create a business plan that will help you do everything step by step. Your business plan should include your short-term and long-term goals, the state of the industry, legal information, and a financial structure.

2. Manage your time

It is all too easy to waste a few minutes or hours every day, and that will have a negative impact on your new business as well as your personal life. You will most likely need to sit down with your family and come up with a firm schedule every week. No matter how well you manage your time, you must also be ready to make sacrifices. Many entrepreneurs work at least six days a week and have to cut back on their hobbies and leisure time. You can also speak with your current boss to see if you could work remotely a few days a week. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business Tips Tagged With: business partnership, business planning, education, Jill Phillips, Networking, personal development, small business tips, starting a business, startup, time management

Let’s Talk About Your Health Ladies

September 6, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

This time a year ago I training for one of the most physical and mental challenges I’ve ever undertaken: trekking to Machu Picchu in Peru. It is Jean Hailes Health Week Women’s Health Week (September 5-9) and as I think about my own health, I also think about the other women around me.

The Vibrancy Project has organised the Happy Healthy You event for Thursday (September 8) this week in Launceston.

Following the theme of the National Jean Hailes Women’s Health Week campaign, ‘Am I normal?’, the event promotes messages on women being champions of workplace health and wellbeing.

“We believe this year’s event will be the first of many that bring our female community together to support and encourage better health for women at any age,” says event organiser Sarah Yates.

“We are very passionate about delivering inspiring messages to guests on mental and emotional health on the night and feel that our speakers will help us achieve this,” says Sarah.

A range of women from the Tasmanian community, leaders, professionals and business owners will speak about the event about personal health stories and offer advice for working mums, young women and women leading demanding working and life roles.

“We are grateful to kick off this year’s event with such an amazing mix of female speakers, willing to put their hand up and support women’s health week,” says MC Ari Powell.

Purchase tickets at Eventbrite.

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Ari Powell, Happy Healthy You, Jean Hailes Women's Health Week, Sarah Yates, Vibrancy Project

Guest post: 5 Email Campaign Ideas To Help Increase Conversion Rates

August 24, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image credit: unsplash.com

By Rachael Everly

Reaching out to your potential customers via the right marketing and sales channel is the first step in an effective digital marketing strategy.

Not everyone you are targeting may necessarily be in the right frame of mind to buy your product, but that certainly does not mean you cannot convert that lead into a sales opportunity. The most important thing is to establish an effective communication channel – and the least expensive channel, as well as the one that requires minimum effort, is email funnels.

Your target market may be an amalgamation of different consumers, hence you should be careful when implementing your email campaign to narrow down your emails to personalised messages, not one email sent to all.