While I was browsing through Pinterest one day, called there by a fun board by my friend Joanne Bamberger called “Binders Full of Women,” I thought it would be fun to create a pin board with my book covers, but then I thought I should add Joanne’s book, Mothers of Intention, since she was my [...]
From January’s perch I have decided to take a look back at 2012. It was certainly a year of media, where companies struggled to find their footing in Web 3.0, where mobile became the buzz word and visual media–both videos and photos–proved there is no end to creativity or time to view everything from lovely [...]
Entrepreneurs are inspiring. They are often people with vision who see a problem and commit to proving a solution. I met 50 or so entrepreneur women at Power Up weekend who were seeking ways to affirm their goals. Kristen Bocanegra, founder of Momme Meals, told the story of her ah ha moment to make meals that [...]
Twenty-five years ago, Paul Newman, with the support of his wife Joanne Woodward and eventually all of his family decided kids with cancer and other life-threatening diseases deserved to “raise a little hell” and go somewhere where even very sick “kids could be kids.” His vision became The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in [...]
Large websites count traffic. They count it. They report it. They measure page views and unique visitors. They hope and believe that attached to every view is a real pair of eyes that came to their site organically for an authentic experience. They hope and believe the reader came for their unique content.
I sat in a room with hundreds of women (mostly) at BlogHer12, one of the largest and most informative conferences surrounding women who blog and engage in social media, listening to how to engage search engines in finding their site, so readers can enjoy their writing, their projects and join in the conversation.
For five years now, I have worked for national/international website supported by advertising. I work with development and SEO teams, audience development specialists and other brains who read the metric, deep dive into analytics and report their numbers. The advertisers are just as scrupulous, looking at every number.
But I must admit, there are so many page views and so many numbers that you begin to believe it’s all interesting and real. And even if a tiny percentage are simply weird contacts via spiders or bots, it doesn’t really matter.
But, the site you are on now, if you are really here and reading it, is my own portfolio site. I have no interest in attracting advertisers. I am just sharing my work and some personal ideas. But, because I am in a blog system there are metrics attached. The server provider, FATCOW, updates the statistics monthly.
I have ranged from 2,000 page views per month to over 7,000. I assumed readers found me through Google, based on my work at Forbes.com, WorkingMother.com, ballooningnesteggs.com and now at Howdini.com. I am also published on The Broad Side and have advocated via social media for Hope and Heroes (@hopeheroes), Hat Box Foundation (@hat_box) and others. I have commented on major events and conferences (Blogher12, The Executive Women’s Conference of Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, and others), along with mentioning events and membership organizations. As an author, my books are listed on major booksellers. And then there is LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.
So, somehow, I assumed that the world was finding its way to my Internet door.
For the first time in months, I actually opened the Fat Cow analytics beyond the first page, down to the referring domains. In all of it – all thousands of page views – only a handful were from LinkedIn, Twitter and obvious places. The rest were from bots and aggregation sites in foreign languages. How many .ru sites feed traffic to me? How many other countries is might sight listed in? I cannot read Cyrillic but there is a book cover on the site described in Cyrillic script.
So maybe my ego is shattered or maybe this is just a lesson in web 101. Metrics don’t lie but the World Wide Web is just that – world wide – and each site is just a piece of sand on an ocean beach.
So if you are reading this, I hope you find something interesting and you let me know. It’s better hearing from you than counting pages tapped by bots (whatever they are).
Check out this headline:
Touchstorm Taps Helen Jonsen as Vice President of Content and Editor-in-Chief for Howdini.com
Yes, here’s news about my new job. A few short months ago, I left Working Mother Media, took on a consulting role as General Manager of Ballooning Nest Eggs, morphed that role into being on the advisory board, and have now joined Howdini.com as Editor-in-Chief and VP of Content at Touchstorm, LLC, a forward-thinking digital media company focused heavily on editorial how-to video.
Howdini is cool. It has a fun name showcasing its mission to bring a little magic to the how-to experience. The site and mission are based on an ever-expanding library of editorial videos, which are distributed far and wide beyond the walls of Howdini.
I am surrounded by sharp creative folks who have figured out video SEO and SEM, digital developers who have created new tools to streamline processes both for in-house and for a growing blogger and small publisher video network. There are teams working on bringing in great new content and those pushing it out; and of course, there are clever people on the money side of video ads and site monetization. And, just as importantly, there is a creative design team to work on all projects including the next iteration of I get to work with all of them in one way or another.
At the top of the heap is the founder and media entrepreneur Alison Provost with whom I had the pleasure of brainstorming a couple months ago. And from that conversation became the series of talks that brought me on board. Alison blamed our meeting on karma – good karma, I hope.
Stay tuned for what’s next as I explore the world of Howdini.
Here’s the press release about me joining the team.
Update: As of July, 2012, I moved from being the active GM to a role on the advisory board when I accepted my position at Touchstorm. See later posts.
When I returned from BlogHer Entrepreneurs, I felt bitten by the entrepreneur bug. I had a taste of the excitement of creating a digital product from scratch and going after venture capital money. But instead of lashing out on my own, it seemed it was a foreshadowing of something else.
Somehow in inviting me to be a mentor and a mentee, BlogHer’s Lisa Stone felt I would be a sponge and an influence at the same time. When I returned from Silicon Valley to New York, karma played out. I was introduced to entrepreneur Amy Moses, the Founder of Ballooning Nest Eggs, and in a short time, discussions quickly moved from helping her as an editor, then as Chief Content Officer and, finally, as consulting General Manager of ballooningnesteggs.com–the current iteration of her start up, her passion and her Plan A. It’s an exciting prospect.
It would be nice if we could all grow wealth for ourselves and our families. Some of us were raised in families who counted the dollars for food on the table, new shoes and contributions to local school tuition. But, now, as families grow and baby boom grandparents still have pension plans, creating gifts for the future and inspiring children to think about where their money will go is becoming more and more important. And having social online tools that can make it fun and rewarding across generations is adding a new layer to family wealth building.
With all of this in mind, I am sure Ballooning Nest Eggs will be successful.
The content online shares great ideas to inspire families to grow their nest eggs together. Our “Nest-worthy News” section explains the financial ramifications of topics in the news and how they can affect you and your kids. Recent “Explaining to Kids” topics include: What is Occupy Wall Street? What is the Facebook IPO? Who wants to buy a baseball team? And, my contribution, What is Health Insurance and Health Care Reform?
What you see now is just the beginning. The business will be ballooning, if all goes well. We love to hear comments about our content and discuss ideas to grow your family’s wealth on the Ballooning Nest Eggs Facebook page. And, you know I am a fan of Twitter: so tweet with me @Helen_Jonsen and @balloonnesteggs to keep up with the latest.
Update: As of July, 2012, I moved from being the active GM to a role on the advisory board when I accepted my position at Touchstorm. See later posts.
Professional organizations offer opportunity to connect in a casual manner and build lasting relationships. Opportunities to learn and network abound. Currently, I belong to the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) and Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) which celebrates it’s 100 anniversary this year (2012). Funny, my other membership is also 100 this year: Girl Scouts.
In May, I was the featured member on the Alliance New York Chapter homepage. Here is my guest post:
I cheered when Women in Radio and Television changed its name to Alliance for Women in Media. I had spent my career as a woman in radio first (as a News Production Assistant at WINS) and then moved into television both on air and behind the scenes in New York, Providence and Melbourne, Australia. As media shifted so did my career, and I found myself producing and reporting Internet video for Forbes.com and being a part of a global web editorial management team. We had studios, editors, camera people, and journalists as part of a larger digital print-focused news organization. We had audio podcasts. It was radio and TV, just for a smaller screen. I was no longer a woman in radio and television. I was a woman in media, no longer limited to broadcasting.
After Forbes, I joined the Bonnier publishing company as Director of Digital Media for Working Mother Media, taking with me my passion for the advancement of women, and supporting them in the demands of working and raising a family. Focusing on women’s stories, service articles, social media outreach, blogs and bloggers, we created an ecosystem of support and value. And now, onto my next move, where I am working with content-driven online and mobile-based companies to create engaging strategies including text-video-multimedia all tied to sharing via social media tools. (helenjonsen.com)
Never before has the media touched us so personally. We carry it with us in our smart phones. We listen and watch wherever we want, whenever we want and that changes how we as providers of content and advertising proceed. It is such an exciting time to be in this business.
Just as my kaleidoscope career changed through the prism of different platforms, cities and countries, the Alliance changes, too. A diverse group of members both in New York and on the national level brings ideas, networking, learning and warm camaraderie in an industry that can be highly competitive. By meeting other women in many different functions, from sales to editorial, from radio to the big Internet portals, we can stay up to date with how media as a business functions and stay in front of the changes on the horizon. That diversity of knowledge energizes me.
Both the March panel discussion on “Your Digital IQ” (my post on that event here) and in the 2011 Alliance for Media Foundation symposium on “Media Branding to Women” offered insight into how deep and wide social media has become part of our work and our personal lives. Both were deep dives even for those of us already immersed in it.
I enjoy being at AWM events, for the intelligent panels and programming, and for the peer-to-peer networking. My other joy is meeting our student intern guests or mid-career women who are new moms trying to figure out how they will manage careers in such a demanding business. Informal mentoring in these settings is wonderful. We all have so much to share and learn. AWM gives us the opportunity to do just that.
For more on the AWM click here. or tweet at @allwomeninmedia
Welcome to my New York!
I have had a kaleidoscope career in media–digital, television, radio, books. My interests are as broad as life itself–financial and business, family and work-life, health care and politics, even travel and history. I am passionate about the advancement of girls and women and throw energy behind special causes: childhood cancer & Lyme disease research and awareness.
