Julio Ojeda-Zapata Talks Tech at MN Blogger Conference

Filed under Uncategorized by Aaron Pearson on 10 September 2011 at 15:46 {2 comments}

I actually caught two sessions from Julio Ojeda-Zapata today, who is a pretty well-known techie here in the Twin Cities as a reporter and columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and an author (fellow attendee recommends iPad Means Business). First one was on Posterous and the second on mobile blogging in general.

Posterous is great for making seamless blogging of lots of different content formats as easy as possible. Worth noting today that there are some notable restrictions on commercial use of it, like no ads allowed, however. (sounds like Tumblr doesn’t have these rules) interestingly, Julio notes that Guy Kawasaki, who is a Posterous investor, uses some sort of form of Posterous for his Holy Kaw! site, which does do advertising and some other things Posterous doesn’t do. I’d say it will get more commercial friendly so they can make some money.

He also reviewed tons of mobile blogging and related apps for us (iPad and iPhone only). A few from, as he says, “completely crap to awesome,” (admitted overstatement for effect):

* Blogger: Not optimized for iPad. Very basic blogging, there isn’t a lot of flexibility, very dumbed down.
* Tumblr: not optimized for iPad. Quick posts work just fine. Dashboard well done for handling different format types. Easy but limited.
* Tumbleroo: Watched it just crash. iPad optimized. Can send to twitter. Because it’s for tumblr, you can schedule posts. Crashed again. Hmm.
* WordPress: Hugely popular blog platform and the one we use here. App is optimized for iPad. Blog management features. Oops, just crashed. Still limited flexibility for basic posts.
* Blogger+ starts to get more interesting. Ugly interface, a little more flexibility. Can publish to multiple platforms. Weird thing is just that you have to create separate containers for text, for images, etc. But overall a richer experience.
* Blogbooster is not optimized for iPad but awesome for iPhone. Clearly gives title and description for photos, can use a slider to set image size. Supports many different blogging platforms.
* Blogpress supports many platforms, and is optimized for iPad. Button to assign location is nice. Automatically adds this line: “Posted using blogpress from my iPad,” so need to delete that. When you click and hold on an image it opens up a bunch of options for formatting. For instance, You can wrap text around phot, which you can’t on a lot of mobile apps. Can assign a URL to the photo. Also asks if you want to notify your Facebook friends.
* Blogsy Is a favorite, supporting WordPress, Blogger, and Posterous. Buttons on the right let you pull in images from flickr, favorites, image sites. You can drag the image into the post and then move it where in the post you want it. Pull in videos. You can search for assets from within the app. Only weird thing is you can’t type on rich text side, have to go to the HTML side.
* Posterous app: Remarkably flexible in redirecting your content, very easy to post images. Can repost to other blog platforms. Seamless effortless, frictionless blogging.

Squarespace got the nod for the ultimate iPad blogging app. Close to a laptop replacement. Very nice look at your blog stats. You can Go as far as you can to use your mobile device as a creation device, not just a consumption device. Note the iPhone app is distinctively different.

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More Reasons to Like Posterous, especially in a B2B setting

Filed under Toolbox by Kate Brodock on 11 March 2010 at 18:53 {6 comments}

I recently wrote about using Posterous as a tool for social media marketing, and I wanted to take some time to comment on why it’s a great tool specifically for the B2B space.  Three of the nine reasons I had given really stand out to me:

  1. SEO. Whether you’re a cutting edge research firm that only transacts with other businesses, or you’re in a more traditional industry like manufacturing, there are just plain fewer opportunities to really leverage SEO… people aren’t necessarily searching for you in the ways that B2C organizations get searched on.  The concept of outposts comes into play heavily here, and the simple fact that having more places for people to search for content related to you – and ideally from you – the more opportunities you have to associate that content with your website, and the more qualified traffic you can drive to your site.  You can very appropriately (and deliberately) assign keywords to your content that is directly linked to your website, and thus your company.
  2. Inbound linking. Many B2B companies also don’t have a lot of opportunities for inbound linking, especially in the more traditional industries  or instances when you may be just one piece of a long supply chain.  Inline with SEO opportunities, Posterous allows a pretty easy inbound linking opportunity….and one of high authority.  If you’re on a fledgling website strategy and need to boost that inbound link count quickly and effectively, Posterous is a great way to do that.  Additionally, these types of young or underdeveloped websites may have a low authority, and supplementing that with Posterous inbound links can do a lot for your organic SEO.
  3. That means more thought leadership potential. See, it makes a nice little equation, doesn’t it?  With higher SEO, more content sharing opportunities and more inbound linking, it means all of your valuable content is all pointed back to your brand.  If you’re good at what you do – which you probably are – and you identify effective internal content to share, this could mean the start of some great thought leadership opportunities.  And this is where people in more traditional industries can have a big advantage…. if you’re among the first to start really thinking about this equation, you can make huge and long-lasting strides ahead of competitors who aren’t as “up-to-snuff.”

I also wanted to throw out a technical note on calls-to-action.  Again, in the B2B setting, calls-to-action can be a lot more difficult to achieve.  It’s not like someone wants a new pair of running shoes from you.  By using outside content on Posterous, and providing a link of some sort – preferably in the form of “For more information on X systems….” – you can still drive people to your own products or services related to the content you’re posting.  As long as the content is relevant to your company, this is still a good way to be found by qualified leads.

So, a couple To-dos for B2B Posterous users:

  • If you have a blog, post every post up on Posterous, with a link back to the original.
  • Think about calls-to-action, and make sure that every post has one that brings your products/services to the readers’ attention.  These don’t need to be overt (and really shouldn’t be), but can be very effective.
  • In some of the more traditional industries, it may actually be better to have your call-to-action right at the top.  If someone is searching for “copper tracer wire” and really just wants a quote or a price (which is usually the case with a purchaser behind the desk) and they come to your Posterous page in their search results, make it really easy for them to get that done…. through you. They may not have the patience to read through your entire post….
  • Use outside content, and find a way to incorporate an association to your company.  This is an easy one, as the fundamental goal of content production is to provide valuable information to your audience.

What else have you found helpful about Posterous in the B2B setting?  Are there any other To-Dos you have? Do you have a Case Study you’d like to share with us?

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