{"id":81,"date":"2017-07-18T03:20:44","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T03:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/walterationsmedia.com\/?p=81"},"modified":"2023-12-10T15:40:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T15:40:12","slug":"fish-az-blog-wins-national-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/18\/fish-az-blog-wins-national-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Fish AZ blog wins National Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What started as a once-a-week blog turned into a content marketing machine. In 4 years of WordPress hustling, the Fish AZ blog, created and maintained by Walter Outdoors sole proprietor Nick Walter from 2014-2017 while working at The Arizona Game and Fish Department, had reached a half-million pageviews.<\/p>\n<p>Walter was humbled July 9-12, 2017 for honors from the Association for Conservation Information Inc&#8217;s, which presented a <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aci-net.org\/download\/awards\/2016_ACI_Awards_Results.pdf\">National Award<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in the Online Community Engagement category for &#8220;Fish AZ.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The blog was the featured platform for engagement and was promoted by social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and the weekly fishing report newsletter. The blog turned into a microsite that was finally fazed out in 2022 in lieu of new fishing report options.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Blog content strategy<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The blog utilized polls and surveys and simple questions to help guide a content strategy for the target audience &#8212; beginning anglers to Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Using Google Analytics to create and measure goals, the blog was constantly optimized and content was re-targeted. The eventual result was a blog that hit the target audience (primarily 25-45 year olds and new-ish anglers) with content that spoke that audience&#8217;s language.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/external_clips\/3044092\/Fish_AZ_site_Prezi2019.pdf?1555375610\">See a\u00a0 presentation analytics report.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Online community engagement<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Engaging topics were formed through the ideation process. A good idea for a blog or other piece of content is like setting the coordinates of a space shuttle. If you want to land on the moon, you better have taken time to set a precise course of action.<\/p>\n<p>The blog featured a &#8220;Join the discussions&#8221; call to action on the left sidebar:<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"82\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/18\/fish-az-blog-wins-national-award\/joindiscussions\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Joindiscussions.jpg?fit=650%2C406&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"650,406\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Nick&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1500322395&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Joindiscussions\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Joindiscussions.jpg?fit=650%2C406&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-82 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/getwaltered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Joindiscussions.jpg?resize=610%2C380\" alt=\"\" width=\"610\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Joindiscussions.jpg?w=650&amp;ssl=1 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Joindiscussions.jpg?resize=300%2C187&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And the &#8220;Got questions?&#8221; widget encourages more problem-solving opportunities.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"83\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/18\/fish-az-blog-wins-national-award\/gotquestions\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/gotquestions.jpg?fit=598%2C438&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"598,438\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Nick&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1500322467&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"gotquestions\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/gotquestions.jpg?fit=598%2C438&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" wp-image-83 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/getwaltered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/gotquestions.jpg?resize=511%2C376\" alt=\"\" width=\"511\" height=\"376\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Comments were answered promptly and cheerfully (and drive a customer through the sales cycle &#8212; in this case to the purchase of a fishing license).<\/p>\n<p>This the the cocktail party that a blog can feature!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What started as a once-a-week blog turned into a content marketing machine. In 4 years of WordPress hustling, the Fish AZ blog, created and maintained by Walter Outdoors sole proprietor Nick Walter from 2014-2017 while working at The Arizona Game and Fish Department, had reached a half-million pageviews. Walter was humbled July 9-12, 2017 for&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/18\/fish-az-blog-wins-national-award\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Fish AZ blog wins National Award&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,10,11,13,14],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arizona-online-marketing","tag-arizona-outdoors-marketing","tag-arizona-public-relations","tag-health-and-wellness-marketing","tag-need-a-blog-for-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/FishAZpic2.png?fit=841%2C655&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8mOwp-1j","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1718,"url":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/01\/june-fishing-report-central-region-bartlett-a-hot-spot-roosevelt-now-a-trophy-hole-for-bass\/","url_meta":{"origin":81,"position":0},"title":"June Arizona fishing report: Central region &#8211; Bartlett a hot spot, Roosevelt now a trophy hole for bass","author":"nickwalter","date":"June 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The spot spots to hit right now, and perhaps through June, are: 1) Bartlett Lake, where the water temperature tops out at about 76 degrees, triggering a great top-water bite, and 2) Roosevelt Lake. All the central region lakes (Pleasant, Apache, Canyon, Saguaro) are free of golden algae and fishable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"arizona fishing report\"","block_context":{"text":"arizona fishing report","link":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/tag\/arizona-fishing-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bartlett Lake, Arizona, is a hot spot in the Central region right now.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1024px-Bartlett_Lake_SW02.jpg?fit=1024%2C737&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1024px-Bartlett_Lake_SW02.jpg?fit=1024%2C737&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1024px-Bartlett_Lake_SW02.jpg?fit=1024%2C737&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1024px-Bartlett_Lake_SW02.jpg?fit=1024%2C737&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1676,"url":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/04\/may-fishing-report-central-arizona-region-top-water-time-at-roosevelt\/","url_meta":{"origin":81,"position":1},"title":"May fishing report, Central Arizona region &#8211; top-water time at Roosevelt","author":"nickwalter","date":"May 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The highlight of the central region right now according to Arizona fishing guide and instructor Gary Senft is Roosevelt Lake, which has seen an excellent top-water bite, especially during afternoons when water temperatures rise to around 70 degrees. Bartlett Lake is a bit slow, Apache Lake is experiencing a golden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fishing Reports&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fishing Reports","link":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/category\/fishing-reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roosevelt Lake. Photo credit Chuck Gould","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/chuck-gould-3YbFe0u1Kqk-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/chuck-gould-3YbFe0u1Kqk-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/chuck-gould-3YbFe0u1Kqk-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/chuck-gould-3YbFe0u1Kqk-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/chuck-gould-3YbFe0u1Kqk-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1859,"url":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/shooting-range-at-home-titan-mantisx-laser-pistol-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":81,"position":2},"title":"Shooting range at home? Mantis TitanX laser training pistol review","author":"nickwalter","date":"November 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It's like having a pool table in your own home, and then shooting in a local tournament. Like having a backyard fishing pond. You get it. It's cheating. Sort of. It's Titan MantisX laser training pistol.https:\/\/youtu.be\/-nritvwEdZMTarget shooting mastery: Level up with Laser Academy app In addition to what's mentioned in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Product Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Product Reviews","link":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/category\/product-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Mantis Titan X can be used at home for dry fire training.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Mantis1.png?fit=873%2C746&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Mantis1.png?fit=873%2C746&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Mantis1.png?fit=873%2C746&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Mantis1.png?fit=873%2C746&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1,"url":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/20\/hello-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":81,"position":3},"title":"Marry me? The power of brand storytelling","author":"nickwalter","date":"September 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Brand storytelling is like common sense dating. Don't go straight from the cocktail party to the wedding altar. Like a relationship, trust is formed over time: the first meeting, a coffee date, lunch, dinner, friendship, kiss ... and finally a commitment. In the same way, great customer relationships are formed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brand storytelling&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brand storytelling","link":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/category\/brand-storytelling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/WMcover.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/WMcover.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/WMcover.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/WMcover.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":132,"url":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/21\/campaign-tracking-a-crucial-tool-for-marketing-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":81,"position":4},"title":"Campaign tracking: a crucial tool for marketing success","author":"nickwalter","date":"November 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Understanding how a campaign is performing saves marketers time, money, and probably a ton of coffee. An efficient and accurate campaign tracker is a vital analytics tool we use that allows for optimization of a campaign and keeps your content efforts on a straight and safe path toward your objectives.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing tools&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing tools","link":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/category\/marketing-tools\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Looking-backward.jpg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Looking-backward.jpg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Looking-backward.jpg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Looking-backward.jpg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1768,"url":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/05\/where-hiking-meets-history-petroglyphs-in-prescott-valley-ariz\/","url_meta":{"origin":81,"position":5},"title":"Where hiking meets history: Petroglyphs in Prescott Valley, Ariz.","author":"nickwalter","date":"September 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yavapai County, which encompasses Prescott, is known for its rich array of petroglyphs. Sometimes, hiking just isn\u2019t enough for outdoors men and women. You need a side dish. Maybe that\u2019s a side of rock hounding, fishing, or in this case, petroglyphs. What\u2019s a petroglyph? The word \"petroglyph\" comes from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_0209-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_0209-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_0209-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_0209-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/walteroutdoors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_0209-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1364,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/1364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walteroutdoors.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}