Retail Conversations - Pure Networks’ Network Garage blog

Kicking off a series of interviews with online retailers is Libby Waldo of Pure Networks. You may have heard Libby on the Get Elastic podcast episodes #7 - Analyzing Analytics and Testing and #12 - Maximizing Results with Limited Resources recorded at eTail Midmarket in San Francisco.

In this Retail Conversation, she speaks about the benefits of blogging experienced by Pure Networks, a software vendor who make the vast majority of their sales online.

Retailer Details Who: Libby Waldo Blog: Network Garage - www.networkgarage.com Company: Pure Networks makers of Network Magic Software Website: Pure Networks - www.networkmagic.com Quote: “We’re just trying to communicate more often with our users and to drive a little more traffic to our site.”

Getting started

When did Network Garage launch?

We launched NG in the fall of 2005. Can’t believe it has been live for almost a year and a half!

Who writes on on Network Garage?

The main contributors are myself, our CEO – Jeff Erwin, and our CTO – Brett Marl. But in reality it’s open to anyone who feels inspired. We’ve had everyone from customer support to developers writing on there.

Do you have an editorial policy?

Keep it clean and some what relevant. While it’s not the place to write about your personal life, we definitely encourage our employees to write about relevant personal experiences. So if they set up a new home network one night or are trying out a new router (or any other device) we love it when they post about it.

What was the driving motivation behind launching the blog?

Another way to reach out to our community. At Pure we believe in being up front and honest with our customers and we like to consider ourselves as their “geeky best friend.” The Garage is just another way we can do that.

Did you have any specific objectives in mind when you launched?

Funny, because we didn’t have any objectives specifically other than to let it take on its own life. And it has. At first it was more of a news source about all things home networking where we’d mention things about Network magic along the way. However, now it is mainly dedicated to Network Magic and communicating with our “fan base” about the latest and greatest happenings over here at Pure.

Measuring Success

How do you gauge the success of your blog?

Watching its page rank grow and comments. For a long time our Google page rank fluctuated between 0 and 3. Then one glorious day about a year ago, it jumped to 6. That was a very happy day for me :-). Any way a company can get more relevant content out there that inevitably links back to your site, you’re that much better off.

What measurements or metrics do you use?

Nothing specifically. We monitor its traffic and comments are a good metric for blogs since if your readers are inspired enough to interact with you, then you must be doing something right.

Has blogging affected your conversion rates and customer service?

That’s a tough one to gauge, but most likely it’s bolstered our credibility in the market place, which makes more people want to download, which then turns into sales. Anyway you can be seen as the credible source in your space as well as communicating directly to your customers what is up is always helpful.

Technical Bits

What blogging platform do you use? Why? Hosted or Local?

We use Movable Type. It was a favorite a few people at Pure so we went with it. It’s hosted locally.

Have you implemented media-casting (audio/video)?

We’ve thought about it and posted a few setup videos on YouTube, but we haven’t quite had the time to go further with this.

Any problems with comment spam?

Comment spam doesn’t get approved for posting so we keep it off. That’s really the biggest challenge with maintenance, weeding out the ridiculous SPAM that comes through.

How do people find your blog?

It’s linked to from every page on our website. Also the latest three postings are published on our home page www.networkmagic.com

What tips can you offer for retailers considering blogging or just getting started?

Just keep at it. It takes a while for these things to take off. However, people are listening. It’s a great way to build trust with your consumers, but only if you are honest and up front with them.

By the Way

What does Pure Networks do anyhow?

We are the makers of a home networking software, called Network Magic. Network Magic seeks to eliminate the issues related with keeping all of your computers and devices running on the Internet within your home. We make it easy for users to share files to all their computers (even Macs and Vista!) as well as making it so any computer can print to any printer, automatically.

With our new 4.1 (coming out very soon!) we also have two new feature. Network Reports will send you a daily email letting you know what your kids are up to on the Internet. Things like sites they visit and applications used.

The new Network Magic Advisor is a recommendation engine of sorts that gives advice on upgrading the computers and devices you currently have as well as just general advice on home networking and the latest trends in technology.