Fast Running Blog

For those of you who do not know yet, we do have business cards. However, I am wondering how effective they are. We passed out about 100 at Heart of Holladay, many of them were high quality pass-outs too - I made sure to explain what the blog is all about and how it will help the runner. Got lots of positive reactions in response, yes I need something like this, etc. Many of those were the people I knew, or who knew who I was too. So far not one blog sign-up I can track to that effort.

Jeff Shadley also passed out lots of cards at the Shamrock Marathon. Still nobody I can track back to that effort either.

What has been effective for the blog growth so far:

* Inviting current or former training partners more than once. It is often a long process, but persistence pays off.
* Inviting family members. Same note about persistence.
* Beating somebody in a race that you could not beat before, and then inviting him to join the blog. This has been particularly effective in bringing in the die-hard non-bloggers. Actions speak louder than words :-)
* High search engine rankings. http://www.asksasha.com/boston-marathon-qualifying-time.php which ranks number 3 on Google for "boston marathon qualifying time". FRB main page ranks number 10 on Google for "running blog". Eventually the quantity starts converting into quality.

Name recognition will come with time. And with name recognition, the interested runners will come on their own.

Remember the 2002 Olympic trials. Few people knew who the Hanson's team was, but along came some crazy dude (Brian Sell) who led 80% of the race. A few years later any semi-imformed runner knows about them. Same thing will happen with the blog: people will see the shirts enough and eventually come around for a look, and eventually join. I suppose a brightly colored uniform wouldn't hurt either.

As for search rankings I don't understand why a googled "Dallen" puts my old blogger blog at #2 (was #1) but my fastrunning blog is nowhere to be found. It's way beyond my understanding, but it seems like we could comehow improve our search rankings.

One last thing. Sasha how about making a poll or survey to find out why the current bloggers joined up.

The reason your old blog ranks higher than your new one is that your old blog talks about Dallen almost just as much, but it has been around for longer. The new blog is actually pretty high as well, or at least it was when I searched - I found it on the first page. Probably in six months to a year the new blog will outrank the old because it has a bit more Dallen in it - dallen in the URL, and Dallen in the title.

Will add the survey shortly.

If peple even notice the shirts.  People notice the Hanson shirts because they are super flashy and you can read what is on them.  People allways noticed the Sojourners shirts because they have the big hawk on the front.  I don't think people even notice our shirts.  The words are small and hard to read.  And the long sleeves are dark on dark so you can't read whats on them as well.  This is coming from feed back from others watching, and myself.  I would have no problem designing something.  When I was racing on sat. I saw someone with a singlet just like ours so I caught up to see who it was but when I cought up it had no writing on it.  I couldn't tell from not to far back that it wasn't ours, and the only way I new it was ours is because I know what they look like. 
One person did ask Michelle what FBR stood for but only because she had it painted on her leg.  And we both put out a good word for the blog as well.  But I do think it is just going to take time, but it will grow and catch on.  I can feel it in my bones:)

I agree we could do a better job on the shirts. The shirt design contest is on. Feel free to submit your designs.

Oops, there it is at number 7. I must be blind as a bat. Or maybe it was all that sun from today's afternoon run.

Yeah, I pass out quite a few of the cards at the elite check-in table (men and women).  I focused mostly on the women as they were asking how they would identify the pacer, so I had a stack of FRB cards for them to take with them and handed them out to each women I talked with.  I also wore my FRB warmups to the elite dinner which  Brooks-Hanson team attended as well, so I tried to represent the team as best I could.  We got Katie back blogging, but seem to have lost a blogger who raced at Shamrock (JeremyStaples on the blog). 

If we are redesigning the shirts, we need to make sure they still clash with my green shorty-shorts.  I would hate to actually be in style and match.

Maybe Jon should have his own special shirt that makes him look even more like a leprechaun to go with his shorts!

The name itself can be a bit intimidating.  When I first found out about the site, I didn't join for a few weeks because I didn't feel "fast" enough. 

I was thinking of the dark blue on the guys uniform with bright yellow, something that stands out.  And coming up with a catchy, big logo.  That would still clash nicely.

I had come across this blog a year ago just searching for tips on running.  Later on I realized that Pachev was on the winning Ragnar Del Sol relay team.  I sent him a message of congratulations, and he sent me a personal invitation to join the blog.  That's how I joined.  So I think personal invitations are great, but I agree that persistence is the key.  Just today I suggested that a friend of mine join the blog, but she thought she was too slow.  I told her that yes, sometimes I get discouraged because I'm so slow and a lot of the bloggers are so fast, but there are plenty of beginning runners on here as well.  I'm going to hit her up again, and I think she'll join.  As far as the business cards go, there is no way to be persistent and follow up.  You hand the card out and you never see the person again.  Even though people are interested and say, "This is exactly what I need...", they're not joining.  So maybe if they express interest, pass the card out and get their email address.  That way you can follow up.  The beauty of it is that you're not selling anything.  Rather, there's no obligations or awkward commitments you have to make.  You just log your miles and meet new people. 
Speaking of selling things, I went to the FRB store and didn't see anything other than a bunch of books, magazines, and a Garmin.  I'm not on the official FRB running team, but I would like to buy maybe a T-shirt or something that shows that I am part of the blog.  Is there any chance of a clothing line coming out?

Burt- you link on the stgeorgerunningcenter.com one.

Here's the actual link:

http://stgeorgerunningcenter.com/FRB/

This is the official FRB clothing available.  You may have to call Steve to find out what he has in stock.

I found out about the blog through an internet search.  I think my exact search terms were actually "fast running blog" or something very similar.  Even though I am not fast, I specifically searched for "fast" because I wanted to learn how to get faster.  And I think I threw the word "blog" in the search because I wanted something free.  The blog was very easy to find.  Once I read the blog's homepage, I figured out very quickly that there are people of all levels on the blog, and I didn't feel intimidated.  I think I joined right away.

I do talk about the blog to my running partners.  At this point, I am still slower than most of them, but once I start getting faster, they might be more inclined to join.