Setting up Google Analytics to track your Blogger blog

Today I saw a few Tweets by some #unidigadv students who were having trouble with their social media setup.

Trying to finish up my project setup, fun but confusing #unidigadv
— Aaron Willis (@MMA_Marketer) January 29, 2013

#unidigadv Help! Trying to set up google analytics and I have no clue what I am doing.
— Caitlin Hanken (@CaitlinHanken) January 29, 2013

To make life a little easier for you, I just bought an awesome screen recording tool called iShowU, which will allow me to give you a quick tutorial on how to create a Google Analytics account and set it up to start tracking your Blogger blog. 

Hope this helps - I recommend watching in fullscreen mode so you can read the text. Good luck and enjoy!

 

Successful Personal Brands

Your personal brand creates a unique public identity for yourself that communicates who you are, what you're interested in, and why you're passionate about it.  Successful personal brands build a following because they are very clear and articulate about these three points.

Here are a few examples of individuals who have successfully created personal brands:

@briansolis

Brian Solis 

Principal at Altimeter Group and author of The End of Business As Usual. 

@chrisbrogan

Chris Brogan - CEO of a business design company, author, and speaker.

@armano

David Armano

Managing Director of Edelman Chicago and internationally recognized industry thought leader.  

@redheadwriting

Erika Napoletano 

Redhead copywriter who curses like a sailor and writes about writing, business, marketing, and branding. Author of The Power of Unpopular.

@garyvee

Gary Vaynerchuk
Social media expert, speaker, and author of the best selling books Crush it and The Thank You Economy. 

@lauraries 

Laura Ries 

Focusing consultant and author of many books on branding such as The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and more recently, Visual Hammer. 

@sarahaustin

Sarah Austin
Internet personality, tech journalist, Chief Geek for Pop17, and prankster.

There are many more out there - look around and find some that influence you - then share them in the comments to this post.

3 Good Articles About Personal Branding

The biggest decision you will have to make this semester will be made in the next 1-2 weeks: defining what your personal brand is about.  Many students struggle with this.  Some think of too many things they want to write about.  Others can't think of anything - though often they actually have thought of something but need some help defining it and some validation that it okay to want to write about.

Here are a few resources to look at as you begin to think about your personal brand:

Don't forget about your Emotional Appeal
There are many introductory articles about personal branding.  Some are awful.  This one isn't.  I really like how the first step of defining your brand has to do with what the author calls your "emotional appeal."  We often forget that we have a personality that can come through in our writing.  The characteristics that make up that personality are powerful branding tools - because they are so personal and elicit emotional responses.

Make your Brand Statement a mantra
I love this helpful post by former Apple Evangelist Guy Kawasaki on creating a concise three or four word mantra rather than a mission statement.  Mantras are memorable - and that makes them powerful.  

An alternate view
This article by Ryan Rancatore appears to recommend not having a personal brand statement - but read a little deeper.  What he's really saying is that if you have one, you have to really live it. 

Your personal brand does not have to encompass everything you are - just what you want to focus on right now.  Good luck!

Google Plus Integrates with Blogger

Google has been integrating a lot of its web services (like its photo sharing tool Picasa) into its social network, Google Plus.  Recently it added some Google Plus integration with Blogger.

The catch is that to get it, you have to connect your Blogger blog with your Google Plus profile.  Once you do that, here's what you can do to better integrate Blogger and Google Plus:

1. You can "tag" Google Plus friends in blog posts. 
Easily tag your Google Plus friends in a Blogger post by typing a "+" symbol and then typing their name out.  For example, to tag my UNI colleague +Michael Prophet in this post, I just typed the "+" symbol and start typing his first name:

I then selected his name at the top and a link was created to his Google Plus profile.  Notice as I was typed the word "Michael" it also showed me other Michaels in my circles, as well as Michaels on Google Plus that are not in my circles (so I can link to profiles of those not in my Google Plus circles).

2. Use the Google Plus Followers Gadget

The old school "Google Friend Connect" has been retired by Google (though it still works for the time being).  A better tool for listing followers of your blog is now the Google Plus Followers Gadget.  You'll notice this gadget installed on the right hand side of this page.

3. Notify Google Plus friends when you publish a new blog post

When you publish new blog posts, you now have the option of notifying your Google Plus friends - Blogger automatically adds any Google Plus friends you may have mentioned in your post.

Notice that it also put the name of my blog post and "search description" text in the status update.

4. Blog visitors can "+1" content

This is not a new feature, but there is also a gadget available that allows readers to "+1" a blog or blog post.  This is akin to "liking" a page on Facebook.  You'll see a +1 button also on the right hand side nav bar on this page.

For this class, I've considered using a tool such as WordPress for blogs, but with the great integration with Google Analytics and AdWords, I've stuck with Blogger for the time being.  And though I don't use Google Plus a whole lot, perhaps this will be a reason to start.