BlackVoices.com talks Audience Acquisition
by Angela
AOL’s BlackVoices.com has consistently been the number one African-American web site for news, culture and community over the last 12 months and saw a 66% increase in year-over-year growth. According to the recent comScore Media Metrix report, BlackVoices hit 6.9 million unique visitors this month which is a site record and higher than any other African-American targeted web site or network.
Nice but expected by most since BlackVoices has been the leader of the pack for sometime now. I was able to chat with Tariq Muhammad, Director at BlackVoices to get some insight into what exactly they did on a day-to-day basis to acquire more audience. What I discovered was interesting and surprising coming from BlackVoices but was also something that all of us already knows works, Social Media. Our discussion revealed tactics that have been employed by blogs for some time now (and on a regular basis) can easily work on sites of any scale.
Tariq made a point to note the team at BlackVoices pay close attention to what people are sharing on the web and what stories are Dugg, Stumbled, Reddit, and what is being reported on by popular blogs. He says they have also been willing to give love and partner (sometimes passively) with blogs to send traffic their way (read link sharing a tactic used by many most notably The Huffington Post). BV tends to use social media tools like the ones mentioned above as a way to foster ideas and give editorial direction. What typically ends up on BV is similar content with a different spin and a different perspective. I also learned they look at what people are searching on with tools like Google Hot Trends on a regular basis. Electoral coverage was all the rage on just about every website over the past 18 months, however BV attributes some audience acquisition to Twitter especially during their DNC and RNC coverage. Aside from using social media to acquire audience and promote content sharing they also employed some other strategies:
- Variety: Increased their mix of content for the user; offer entertainment, lifestyle, and general news.
- Engagement: Added engagement by infusing things like polls and drag-and-drop features, this gave the user a richer experience.
- Measure: Internally BV uses Omniture to monitor what works and what doesn’t in terms of metrics (Google Analytics is a great alternative)
- S.E.O.: Tariq says they treat “SEO as a matter of course.”
- The Sum = All the small things and tweaks they have been doing added up.
When asked about being number one Tariq mentioned that as a team they don’t like to focus on being number one for the sake of being number one, they “are number 1 at giving the user what they want” and aren’t self-serving. “A good meal hits the palette in all different ways.” He knows what I like to hear 
.
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Gem2001 says:
I will say that Black Voices does send traffic to “indie” blogs. Both have my blogs have had comments listed in the “Best of the blogs”, but more importantly, they have writers that link to blogs int heir regular stories.
I am not a frequent visitor, but one thing they have mastered is providing frequently updated contents and it is not surprising that they “Get” google trends. There are some sites online that don’t update for days.
It will be interesting to see everyone’s traffic now that the election is over. Will large media properties experience the same drop as the cable news outlets?
Sista GP says:
I don’t recall every visiting that site. I will now. Articles like this helps them also.
Fredric Mitchell says:
I subscribe to the BV blog, but the massive gossip tone of their site and articles reminds me of the BET model.
Yeah, we sprinkle thoughtful and interesting news every now and then, but our bread and butter is pics and pics and pics of celebs with scandalous news.
Urban Media News Report: 12.23.08 – Foxxology Report says:
[...] BlackVoices.com talks Audience Acquisition Nice but expected by most since BlackVoices has been the leader of the pack for sometime now. BlackWeb 2.0. was able to chat with Tariq Muhammad, Director at BlackVoices to get some insight into what exactly they did on a day-to-day basis to acquire more audience. Angela Benton of BlackWeb 2.0.: What I discovered was interesting and surprising coming from BlackVoices but was also something that all of us already knows works, Social Media. Our discussion revealed tactics that have been employed by blogs for some time now (and on a regular basis) can easily work on sites of any scale. (BlackWeb2.0) [...]
Lynne d Johnson says:
@Fredric Mitchell — If news is the angle, then The Root, Ebony/Jet, the sites over at Interactive One, and especially The Daily Voice are competitors. But one thing that BV has that they don’t, the history of Africana and BlackVoices, as well as the deep tie ins with the AOL brand. If anyone is in a position to become the black CNN, so to speak, BV is it, but early entrant doesn’t always mean winner. Sounds like Muhammad is aware of all of this.
TheJennTaFur says:
When I first received an email address in 1996, it was through AOL and I was a regular reader of Black Voices section of AOL. I used to also use their chat room. However, after about 9 months my interest was not there anymore but I always give Black Voices credit for my introduction to black culture on the web.
Thank you for the lesson on how BlackVoices.com is able to get their audience.
There is an entity on myspace – http://www.myblackamerica.com – who is an avid reader and sharer of the information of BlacKVoices.com blogs and that is where I am able to sometimes know what is going on in Black America from them for they have a loyal following on myspace.
Black Voices releases Toolbar, Desktop App, and Email Service | Black Web 2.0 says:
[...] the leading online destination for African-American, is far from satisfied with their steadily increasing year-over-year growth. Today we noticed Black Voices released a toolbar, desktop application, and email service (yes [...]