Banned from Owlstalk
Not much going off right now, not long to go now until my year exile from beer is at an end in June. I'll be a father again in the next few days by the looks of things and i've received my first ever ban from Owlstalk. Just another week really!
I don't think i'll be back there, not while they allow posters like "Big Guns" and his many guises to deliberately rile people, amounting hours of time logged in each day and really spoiling what was a great forum. I must confess to getting a little overly narked when the person who spends about 6 hours per day posting decided to tell everyone that I am a dole waller. As a result i'll not be back after clicking on a link that Neil had posted on his facebook about yesterday's win at Huddersfield. I'd been banned for two days but didn't realise because unlike Big Guns I actually have a life offline, which includes work and looking after my kids!
So long Owlstalk, it was fun over the years. It's just full of too many Idiots now. Thanks to all those who have donated to the No Beer For a Year fund which even includes a Leeds fan who comes onto Owlstalk from time to time, I won't name the contributers here as I'll be sending out my thanks in a few months to each and every one of them, however i'll not be doing it on the forum.
If you do wish to see the contributers list then click on the Just Giving logo to the right.
Sheffield Wednesday 2, Rochdale 0, Beers 0.
First day of the season at home would normally have seen me get off to Hillsborough early for a few pre-match pints. It was a little weird not doing so, and indeed as I walked through Hillsborough I was greeted with "Alright Salmonbones, having a quick pint first." Well, it saved me a few pounds at least! Again inside the ground I was stopped, "Not having a pint Salmon?" I stopped for a natter and explained why not. Two more promises of donations on the way were gained.
My day wasn't ruined by the lack of alcohol. Wednesday deservedly won, and without getting too much into the game, it was a good win but highlighted the fact we still need a few players quickly. Indeed on Owlstalk this week I have been upto a bit of mischief by suggesting that Wednesday would have signed two strikers and a winger (precisely what we need!) by Friday. I upset a few of the regulars on Owlstalk, but what they don't know is that I know one of the players personally who is in talks, and I did honestly believe that 2 signings would have happened by Friday, the third was a complete guess.
Hey ho, here's hoping the deals are done soon because we can't count on wonder goals by "Jesus" Prutton and goals from long throws every week, we need some firepower and some creativity up front.
If not having a pre-match pint turns out to be something of a good omen, then Wednesday are in for a good season!
Owlsonline beating Owlstalk and Sheffield Forum
Being a geek, I check my webstats for all my websites quite often.
Surprisingly, Owlsonline is trumping Owlstalk for visitor referals to this blog from Sheffield based websites. Owlsonline having sent just under 200 visitors to this blog in the last few days. I say surprisingly as I don't post on Owlsonline. I may have to change that.
(click the links to see the exact threads)
www.owlsonline.com 8,70%
www.owlstalk.co.uk 6,60%
www.sheffieldforum.co.uk 5,31%
As incentive to get this blog of mine onto as many Sheffield based websites as possible, I will offer a prize (ok, i'm yet to think what this might be......maybe just a "beer") to the person who gets me the most visits from a Sheffield United forum or blog, so get posting!
How to promote your charity event
Whilst watching one of the more boring F1 races this season, my mind started wandering to how to get more people to view this site.
I Googled "How to promote your charity event" in an effort to better get exposure for my year without alcohol and get a bit more cash for the Children's Hospital. Although this is an ongoing task rather then a one off event, I hoped to find some good tips to use.
To say I wasn't impressed with the results is a little bit of an understatement so I thought I'd come up with my own plan instead.
First off, who am I targeting.
The reason of why you need to define your target audience is important. Quite simply, without direction you can easy put effort into attracting the wrong kind of visitors to your site/page/event who will not deliver results. I'd have very little success if I targeted most of the forum's I am active on - SEO, primarily based in the USA. Why would those forum users wish to help a hospital in Sheffield? No, I need to identify some end users who will be happy to help my end cause.
My primary target audience are therefore Sheffield dwellers. Either individual's or businesses willing to donate. Drilling down further, it may be worthwhile trying to piggyback off the relationship Sheffield Wednesday fan's currently have with the charity, which plays right into my hands as a regular on Owlstalk and Sheffield Forum.
Next, I need an actual define what support I need.
I have seen that people don't donate easily. With over 3,000 pageviews already I sit at a mere £32.50 donated - granted I am not very far into my 12 months yet, not even a full week. It's quite obvious that I need to find ways to get people to keep visiting this site. Thankfully I am already using a blogging platform which lends itself to repeat visitors, but what else should I be doing?
- Utilise social sites. See the vast array of social buttons at the end of each blog post? My aim is for 10 people to "like" each post to keep hammering the message home about what I am doing. People won't donate at the first time of asking, but may at the 10th or 20th, if it is not JUST me doing the asking - if five of your facebook friends like something, you are more likely to go and read it.
- Look for help from others doing similar things: I have identified a number of individual's doing similar tasks and intend to create a ring of individual's who can all help promote each other's activities. Pitfalls as well as unknown
- Opportunities will be presented to you simply by looking to what others have done before you.
Now you know who you are targeting and what methods of support you are looking to, you need to obtain publicity.
Obviously we've already identified that social networking sites are very powerful if we can get people en masse viewing our promotional pages. However we need to draw up a list of all possibilities both online and offline and make a clear set of goals.
My personal goals are something along the lines of
- Create awareness online within Sheffield Wednesday supporters as well as the larger Sheffield websites.
- Somehow get awareness on matchday's come the start of the new football season. My aim is to get a slot in the matchday programme somehow. Either bought, or more preferably a free article. This will need some thought to achieve.
- The Sheffield Star, although a dwindling publication still has a readership that could make a difference to my end goal. Again the idea is to get a piece inserted with a link to this website.
- Stand on the shoulder of giants, or more appropriately here - Identify some celebrities online who may be sympathetic to the cause. I will target some people on Twitter and Facebook who have a history of interaction with Sheffield Wednesday fans, and who may be inclined to help, even if it's only a retweet or a facebook status. Some names that come to mind are Mark Bright, Lee Strafford, Clinton Morrison, Darren Purse. Giles Coke, Richard O'Donnell, Seth Bennett, Jon Otsemobor. There are probably many more and a definative list will have to be drawn up. I'm not asking these individual's for donations, although all donations are welcome - they have a far wider audience to pitch to then I personally have and that is what I aim to utilise.
- Attract local businesses by offering SEO services on this very blog. Direct approach with a letter followed by a phone call a few days later. A definitive list of Sheffield based businesses with a poor web presence needs to be drawn up.
My "event" is a little different as it's ongoing over 12 months. If you have better idea's or can elaborate on what I've put here please email me at shaun@spiracyworld.co.uk