Six Apart Media Blog

Success at BlogHer '08

This year's BlogHer conference was a blast, and those of us from Six  Apart are glad we had the chance to experience the madness. Throughout the conference, we got to meet up with many of our VIP bloggers and attend an amazing line up of conference sessions. The chance to put “a face to a blog” was the highlight. It was rewarding and empowering to see how many influential bloggers use our products and we look forward to a promising future with each of them.

The highlight of our BlogHer experience was, of course, our cocktail party. We packed a suite full of people on the 30^th floor of the Westin St. Francis. We sipped champagne, snacked on local goodies and had so much fun talking to, and connecting personally with, so many wonderful people. Congratulations to all of our raffle winners and a big thanks once again to everyone who contributed to the amazing prizes!

Here is a list of all the winners and their corresponding prizes:

Stephanie Shkolnik                          Glassbaby

Robert Halper                                  Back of the Napkin book #1

Lori Falcon                                       Back of the Napkin book #2

Jean                                                 Creative Family Book

Christine Rury                                  Moose Book by Stephanie Klein

Martha Feingold                               Peculiar Days Canvas Print

Julia Sulek                                        Annie Galvin pink hat print

Sheila Dowd                                     Vanessa's Curious Playroom work

Laura Capello                                   Annie Galvin Bear print

Melanie Nelson                                49 Mile Drive print

Michelle Etter                                   Du Be Du Doll

Alex Feldman                                   My Beating Heart - large

Amy                                                  My Beating Heart - small

Karianna                                           Flygirl blue bag

David Spark                                       Apple Store gift certificate #1

Shannon Robinso n                           Apple Store gift certificate #2

BlogHer was a blast and a great opportunity for us to get to know our bloggers and understand their needs. For all of you we missed, we hope to see you at the conference next year and keep an eye out for updates on our appearance at BlogWorld!

Blogger Profile: SV Moms

What happens when you cross a mom with a super-hero with a savvy business woman and add a sprinkle of how-does-she-do-it dust? You get yourself an SV Mom. Led by an industrious trio, co-founder Jill Asher and partners Tekla Nee and Beth Blecherman, the Silicon Valley Moms Group is paving the way for a new generation of working moms and redefining what it means to be a “mommy blogger.”

Founded in March 2006, the accomplished women of SV Moms (http://www.svmoms.com/) began their online venture by chronicling their journeys through motherhood and its accompanying tantrums and diaper dramas, all while performing impressive juggling acts balancing husbands, children and careers. Jill, then president of her local parents’ club, saw a need for parents to be able to share challenges and solutions that were geographically relevant. Along with co-founder and best friend, Pam, Jill laid the foundation for a community of thoughtful, intelligent parents and Silicon Valley Moms Blog was born.

It wasn’t long after the launch of Silicon Valley Moms Blog that their audience began demanding more and boy did the Moms deliver! Within a year, SV Moms launched Chicago Moms Blog and, over the last two years, they’ve rolled out a total of nine regional and demographically tailored sites. The Silicon Valley Moms Group incorporates over 200 talented writers, giving moms from D.C., New Jersey, the Deep South, Rocky Mountains, and L.A. a powerful voice and sense of camaraderie across the country.

Now, a mere two years since storming the blogosphere, SV Moms are taking their show on the road – literally! Since joining the ranks of Six Apart Media, the SV Moms have lent their insight and creativity to an exciting advertising opportunity with Chevy. On Saturday, July 12th, 4 moms will embark on a week-long road trip adventure devoid of carseats and kids, but full of gadgets, GPS and good times, all in the comfort of a brand new Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV. The four lucky moms will drive coast to coast, starting in Virginia and picking up moms along the way until they reach the BlogHer conference in San Francisco. You don’t have to be in the car to catch the excitement either – the moms will be blogging their mobile shenanigans the entire way. Be sure to follow their journey over the next week at http://momroadtrip.com/.

What is Sell-Through?

A lot of time we use words and phrases that, while common in the world of advertising, may not often be seen in your busy day-to-day world. Whether you consider yourself to be an advertising pro or a newbie, we will spell it all out and keep you up to date on advertising trends and jargon. Last time we covered effective CPM and this issue we wanted to talk about sell-through.

Sell-through is a great measure of success and performance. It is defined as the percentage of United States based impressions displayed on your site that are sold by Six Apart. Our goal is to achieve the highest sell-through possible by matching relevant advertisers with our publishers and helping you make the most from your blog.

To figure out your site’s sell-through, login to Adify. Simply click on the Reports tab and you’ll see a display of your site’s month-to-date activity. From there, click Publisher Reports > Sites by Country. Now you should see your impressions broken out by country. Looking at the row with the United States total, the two columns you should focus on, for the purpose of determining sell-through, are Impressions and Sold Impressions. When you divide Sold Impressions by Impressions and multiply by 100, you get the percentage of ads that were sold by Six Apart that were paid impressions.

For example: Your site ran 10,000 US impressions in the month of June (Impressions = 10,000.) Six Apart Media served ads to that placement 7,000 times (Sold Impressions = 7,000.) Therefore, your sell-through is 70% ((7,000/10,000) * 100).

So what happens to the 3,000 impressions Six Apart didn’t sell? One of two things: we will place an unpaid PSA in the ad space, or your backup provider will fill any unsold inventory. For more information on how to manage your unsold inventory, please consult our Best Practices Guide on the VIP Blog. You may also copy and paste the following URL directly into your web browser:

http://vip.typepad.com/Managing_Your_Unsold_Inventory.pdf

Bonus Tips:

• Sell-through is typically calculated on a monthly basis in order to get an accurate snap shot.
• Sell-through will vary from day-to-day and longer time-frames represent more accurately what Six Apart Media can provide.

VIP Teleseminar: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income

We're pleased as punch to kick-off our monthly teleseminar series (VIPs only!) with a action-packed hour with Darren Rowse and Chris Garret, authors of Problogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income.

Thank you everyone that joined us on the call.

Here's the audio file from the call (50 minutes, MP3).