A few days ago, I sat down with Composure Marketing to talk about my switchover to Ramshackle Glam.
Natasha: How did you transfer all your blog posts so easily from nonsociety.com toRamshackle Glam?
Jordan: The transfer went much more smoothly than I expected it to, but that was mostly because I had some help in the form of a tech-savvy friend. I initially secured ramshackleglam.tumblr.com, and then once I was ready to make the switch I just went into my Tumblr dashboard and redirected my content from my previous address to my new one. A few weeks later, I hired a web designer to help me make the move over to a WordPress platform, and asked her to set up a system whereby my WordPress posts would also appear on my Tumblr, so that I wouldn’t have to abandon my much-loved Tumblr community.
Natasha: On your twitter account, one day you were @JordanBerkow and the next you were @ramshackleglam. You just changed the Twitter handle username to do this – why did you choose to switch usernames? [Check out this post on How to Change Your Twitter Handle]
Jordan: I’ve never liked using the @jordanberkow handle, mostly because that’s not a name that I use anymore; Berkow is my maiden name, Strauch is my legal name, and I write as Jordan Reid (my middle name). I have a lot of names – it can get a bit confusing, I know. Unfortunately, when I first began Twittering I discovered that @jordanreid was taken, so when I started Ramshackle Glam I thought it made sense to establish a degree of consistency between the site and my Twitter. Also, by using@ramshackleglam I keep the focus on the site, rather than on me; of course the subject matter is usually where I am and what I’m doing, but the only reason I use Twitter is to increase my ability to communicate with the Ramshackle Glam audience.
Natasha: How do you manage to retain visitors that come to your site for your
more “popular” posts that cause spikes in traffic? I’m sure other lifestyle bloggers will be interested to hear your strategy.
Jordan: I pay very close attention to my traffic, and have developed a pretty solid understanding of what types of posts make it “spike.” Spikes are incredibly valuable, but ultimately only mean something if you’re able to hold onto at least a percentage of the new visitors (my goal is to retain approximately 25% of the new readers attracted by a given spike). To that end, whenever I post something that I think will create a “spike,” or whenever I know that another media outlet is writing about me (articles on big sites that reference your site will always create a spike), I make sure to surround that post with the best possible content. Also, whenever a media outlet writes about me I make sure to return the favor by posting about them, and Twittering and Facebooking the article that they wrote; I can’t emphasize enough how valuable these kinds of relationships are.
Natasha: As you made the transition from nonsociety.com to your own blog, have many people followed you? Where do most of your visitors come from – referring sites, direct traffic or search engines?
Jordan: I actually have more traffic now than I had at NonSociety, which has come as quite a shock. Honestly, I’m not sure how this happened: I left so abruptly that many of my readers didn’t have any idea where I’d gone, and I feel extremely lucky that so many of them took the time to Google around to find me. When I first switched over to Ramshackle Glam most of my traffic was from referring sites such as TheGloss, which wrote an article about me immediately following my departure from NonSociety, but now approximately 70% of my traffic is direct. Approximately 25% of my traffic is from referring sites (predominantly my Tumblr site, my Twitter, and the other sites that I write for, including TheGloss.com, Styleite.com, and TimeOutNewYork), and the remaining 5% comes from search engines.
Natasha: Which social networking site has been the best platform for you to
market yourself?
Jordan: Well, I was initially skeptical of WordPress – right when I switched over, I feared that I would lose all of my readers, because I thought that everyone who read me read me via Tumblr. And there was a little dip for a few days, but my readership now is higher than it’s ever been. I love WordPress – I think you can craft much more creative posts, and it’s much more customizable than Tumblr – but for a first-time blogger, I would definitely recommend Tumblr. There’s just no simpler, more user-friendly way to start building an audience.
Thanks again to Jordan for sitting down with me for this interview.
