PostRank Analytics says, “Over 80% of the engagement with your content doesn’t happen on your blog.” This is the hardest thing for today’s media buyers and marketing/communications people to understand. When it comes to social networking and influence the blog is often just the hub of the wheel while most of the activity is taking place out on the spokes. But as with anyone investing time and money they want a number to answer the question of “What is my ROI?”
That’s why you’ve got to look at the bigger picture and not get caught up in website visitors and page views anymore. They’re interesting but don’t tell the whole story. That’s where services like PostRank Analytics come in handy.
Between the two of us and our hardworking freelancers, we did 4310 posts on all websites, including Agwired, Domestic Fuel, Precision Pays and World Dairy Diary. We also did 176 podcasts and too many audio interviews to count.
We visited over 60 different cities, from Panama City to Portland, San Antonio to Minnetonka, and San Diego to Boston – and internationally from Morocco to Egypt to Jordan. Read our travelogue here.
Best of all – our readership was up significantly on all websites: Agwired – up 45% to 158,400 unique visitors
Domestic Fuel – up 15% to 269,000 unique visitors
Precision Pays – up 166% to 29,000 unique visitors
World Dairy Diary – up 68% to 110,000 unique visitors
Thanks to our of our wonderful friends in the industry for making 2009 a great year for ZimmComm. We look forward to continuing our relationships in the new decade.
Agriblogging will be happening from the beach for a few days as Cindy and I try to escape the cold, almost winter, temperatures. Although it’s looking like we’re going to have some weather move in tonight.
It looks like a chunk of the southeast has had too much rain for a change. We drove past several flooding rivers in Alabama and a couple of inches of new rain are expected by tomorrow. I guess it’s all that “climate change” stuff going on, eh?
The picture is the view from our deck and actually most any window we look out of here in Panama City Beach.
The mobile browser version of AgWired is now live. This means that if you open AgWired.com on your mobile phone you’ll get a very simple version of the website automatically. You can see what it looks like on an iPhone below and I’ve also tested it on a Blackberry. There’s no special “mobile version url” that you need to know either. Many companies have built special “phone friendly” versions of their websites but they usually require you to know a different url and they don’t necessarily offer as much functionality as this.
It functions much like a feed reader if you’re familiar with them (and I hope you are). You’ll see a list of all the posts and pages on the AgWired homepage. It will show you their title and link to them. When you go to a post you’ll see the title, the text and the photos we have posted and the comment form if you’d like to post a comment. At the bottom of the page if you scroll down is a link to take you to your phone’s “regular” version of the website. This is handy on an iPhone which has a full fledged browser if you’d like to see the page in normal view. You can click back and forth easily.
So, AgWired now loads fast on your phone and is very easy to read and use! It’s one more reason you might want to subscribe to Agwired Mobile, our text message service that delivers you a text message each time we do a post on AgWired (except during 8pm-8am central time). Visitors to the phone browser will be getting there from AgWired Mobile, our Twitter feed if they have a Twitter app on their phone, from their phone’s rss reader and by going to the site directly. I think we’ll have a lot of folks visiting and seeing the mobile version. Interested in sponsoring it? Contact Dave Larson now.
Our Precision Pays.com website welcomes new long term sponsor, Ag Leader Technology. Besides direct advertising on the site they’re sponsoring a weekly story called “Insights Weekly.” You can read the first installment below.
As we’re well into the dog days of summer, Midwest corn and soybean harvest is looming larger. If you haven’t started combine prep already, it’s time to dust off those owner’s manuals to fine-tune the machine and its data-gathering electronics.
• Create a backup of your spring information.
• Select Copy All Files to save the spring data to the memory card.
• Make sure your display firmware, manual and all connected modules are up-to-date.
• Firmware and manual updates can be found on its website under Support. If you have purchased a new combine or new heads, create new configurations for any setup that is different from last fall. Remove all old configurations.
Combine Inspection
• Check to make sure all cables are properly attached and in good condition.
• Remove flow sensor and inspect for damage.
• Check the elevator deflector and impact plate for wear. Verify you have the proper clearance at the top of the clean grain elevator. Clearance should be between 3/8” and 5/8”.
Other items on the Ag Leader checklist include: sensor calibration, header stop height, distance calibration, temperature and moisture check and grain weight. Consult your manual in all cases. And if you’ve lost it, you can find them on the website.
For more information on pre-harvest preparation, Check out these links:
Ag Leader Technology publishes a periodic newsletter called “Insights.” You can subscribe to an rss feed of their news releases and the newsletter with this link.
I might have been a little “quiet” here the last two days but that’s what 760 miles of driving will do to you. This morning I had a brainstorming session with our sales guy Dave Larson, seen hard at work on his Eee PC. No way I was going to get out of a meeting without a picture. Many of you will be hearing from Dave in coming weeks. He’s looking forward to discussing how to promote your agency, clients, product, services, company using the ZimmComm News Network.
Yesterday I spent time in St. Joe, MO with Andrew McCrea, American Countryside and Tom Brand, KFEQ. We just finished building a new website for Andrew and I was doing a little training with them. Andrew has a daily radio program that he also offers in podcast form and Tom helps him with production.
I also had other meetings that included dinner with Joanna Schroeder, 4R Communications, last night and BCS Communications this afternoon. Joanna contributes to AgWired and our Domestic Fuel website. We’re providing her with some website support for two new ones for other clients of hers. At BCS we discussed the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show project which is coming to a close for now.
So, it’s been a busy time and tomorrow I’ll be off to the Missouri Beef Industry Council for advance blog and Twitter training.
Many of you know Dave and for those who don’t I recorded a conversation with him yesterday about our new deal. In it you can learn more about his background and what our plans are. Listen here:
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After five years of growth, our company is now at the point where it makes sense to retain the services of an established media representative to market our products/services. Dave will help us more effectively serve our many clients in the agribusiness industry.
Larson Enterprises is a full service advertising, marketing and consulting firm located in West Des Moines, Iowa. Dave has over 25 years of advertising, marketing, public relations and public policy experience with both public and private sector clients including national and international trade associations in food safety, agriculture, recreation and legal fields.
“I am pleased to have the opportunity to assist ZimmComm in representing the targeted advertising, marketing and media opportunities provided through their network of sites,” says Larson. “This truly is a unique opportunity of future growth for advertisers in reaching their key target markets. As a part of this new opportunity we will be offering new packages and schedule opportunities for those reserving advertising placements prior to July 15.”
So if you’re looking for a great new media deal Dave is your man. You can contact him via email or 515-440-2810. BTW you can also follow ZimmComm on Twitter now.
I just found out that I’ll be live blogging AgNite during the Republican National Convention. This is going to be very cool and a lot of fun. There’s an impressive list of companies and organizations already supporting this opportunity to showcase American agriculture to a national audience.
You can count on seeing some live video via AgWired Live TV and lots of photos and interviews. My coverage will be sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council and AgStar Financial Services. I’m betting some additional sponsors will come on board too. If you’re interested please contact the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council.
Now that I’m going to be in Minneapolis for the convention, I’m working on media credentials for the RNC itself. This is proving to be a challenge but one I’m certainly going to continue to work on. If I’m going to be there early in the week I think it would be great to stay longer and find interesting stories about rural America and agriculture.
My coverage is planned for AgWired and Domestic Fuel primarily but I’m sure I’ll find content we can use in a variety of other outlets we contribute to as well.
I’ve just started working with the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council on logistics for the venue that AgNite will held at (The Depot) but assuming I can get credentialed for the RNC, here’s what their venue looks like (Xcel Energy Center):
By now some of you will have noticed that AgWired has a new theme. That’s what we call the look of the website. We’re still working on it but have tried to tie in some of the various ways that I’m connected including Twitter. Please feel free to let me know what you think. It’s just part of the effort to make sure we’re staying on top of the new media world.
On our Subscribe page you’ll find a link to add yourself to the list to get the monthly ZimmNews. This month’s edition will be coming out this week. We’re working on a new format for it too. You’ll be able to find things like “New Media Tips,” “What Others Are Saying,” Where We’ve Been/Going” and more. You can download last month’s edition if you didn’t get it (pdf).
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
Between the two of us and our hardworking freelancers, we did 4310 posts on all websites, including Agwired, 
Agriblogging will be happening from the beach for a few days as Cindy and I try to escape the cold, almost winter, temperatures. Although it’s looking like we’re going to have some weather move in tonight.
Our 
• Create a backup of your spring information.
I might have been a little “quiet” here the last two days but that’s what 760 miles of driving will do to you. This morning I had a brainstorming session with our sales guy Dave Larson, seen hard at work on his 
Hey AgWired/ZimmComm fans. We’ve got some big news for you today. Let’s just call it one small step for new media, one giant leap for ZimmComm.
I just found out that I’ll be live blogging 
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
