Post on 14-Feb-2017
Topics❖ What is a blog❖ Why blogging is important❖ Target markets for blogging❖ What to write – content strategies❖ How long should your blog posts be?❖ Make a schedule❖ Tips for increasing blog SEO❖ Ideas for blog posts❖ Great headlines❖ Cross promoting your blog with Social Media❖ ROI to measure blog success
What is a blog?❖ Blog = ‘web log’
❖ A website or part of a website updated with new content periodic basis.
❖ Usually maintained by an individual or individuals with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
❖ Can be setup within minutes online using WordPress or other blogging software.
Why blogging is important
❖ Blogging should be an integral part of your online content marketing
❖ Drive traffic to your website❖ Increase your SEO/SERP❖ Positing your brand as an industry leader❖ Develop better customer relations
Drive traffic to your website
❖ Post links to your blog articles (with great images) on all your social sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.❖ LinkedIn Long Form Published Posts
❖ Give your followers a reason to click through to your website.
❖ Include links in your blog articles to other pages on your website.
Long-Form Published Posts❖ LinkedIn members can publish long-form blog posts
❖ Publishing allows you to further establish your professional identity.
❖ When you publish a long-form post on LinkedIn:❖ Your original content becomes part of your
professional profile. It is displayed on the Posts section of your LinkedIn profile.
❖ It's shared with your connections and followers.
Increase your SEO/SERP
❖ Blogs provide you the opportunity to add fresh content to your website. This makes Google happy and you will be rewarded.
❖ Identify the keywords that you want to be found for. Use these keywords and related expressions in your posts.
❖ Blogging regularly about your business, industry, product or customer lifestyle will help increase your search results.
Position your brand as an industry leader
❖ Well written articles demonstrate your company as an industry leader
❖ Post on topics that resonate with your target market and show your knowledge.
❖ You’ll build trust.
Develop better customer relations
❖ Blogs provide another way to deepen your connections with your customers.
❖ Clients will be able to get to know your business / products from your website.
❖ Be sure to respond to comments and interact with your customers.
Target market for blogging❖ You need to know your target market.
❖ This gives you insight about what your customers want to read.
❖ Ways to determine your target:❖ Review your customer base❖ Check out your competition❖ Analyze your products / services❖ List out demographics of your target❖ Define market segments
Review your current customers
❖ Who is currently buying your product or service? Why do they buy from you? Do they have similar interests or characteristics? Are there other potential customers like them?
❖ Analyze who your best customers are – what do they want to know about?
Check out your competition
❖ Look at who your competition is marketing to and what is their approach.
Analyze your products / services
❖ Know your product! How is it used? Who would want and need it?
❖ You can target some of your blog posts to new markets by explaining the value of your product.
Define market segments
❖ Different products/services may have different segments
❖ Segment out by geography, types of businesses
What to write?❖ Determine themes that will support your goals
❖ Show industry leadership? Drive traffic to your website? Develop better customer relations?
❖ General content themes:❖ Solutions for common problems❖ News updates ❖ Ways to make life better❖ Points of view❖ Relevant Videos
❖ Integrate these general themes with relevant topics
How long should blogs be?
❖ Typical blog posts are 300 – 800 words.
❖ Depends on how much you have to say.
❖ Typically businesses should blog 1 or 2 times per month.
❖ It’s ok to keep them short but make sure to add value.
❖ Include eye catching images – pixabay.com
Make a schedule
❖ Consistency is key.
❖ Having a schedule increases readership and also keeps you on task.
❖ Establish a routine – reinforces your trustworthiness.
❖ How you schedule will depend on who is doing your writing. Many companies write themselves or outsource.
Increasing blog SEO❖ Blogging strategically – use your keywords naturally in
your writing.
❖ Boost your blog SEO:❖ Target your content❖ Google Keyword Planner❖ Link to other sites❖ Link to internal pages on your website❖ Use alt text
Target your content
❖ Using your content themes and knowledge of your target market, you’ll be using the keywords your customers are searching on.
Google Keyword Planner
❖ https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
❖ Enter a list of keywords and Google will give you the number of local searches per month on that term. Google can also make suggestions of related keywords.
Link to other sites
❖ Referencing other blog posts is great for SEO.
❖ Can also help create networking opportunities and can develop into guest blogging opportunities.
Link to internal pages on your site
❖ Link to other landing pages on your site. If you readers are interested in your posts they’ll likely be interested in your products.
❖ Makes it easy to navigate through.
Use alt text
❖ Alt text allows the search engines to read your images.
❖ This can be added in your blog’s media library.
Themes for posts❖ Be Useful
❖ Be Human
❖ Be Generous
❖ Be Promotional
❖ Be Controversial
❖ Be Entertaining
❖ Be Timely
❖ Be Engaging
Be Useful❖ List Post ❖ How-To Post ❖ Case Study ❖ Problem / Solution Post ❖ SAQ Post – Questions customers don’t ask but should● Checklist Post ● Ultimate Guide Post ● Definition Post ● Series Post ● Definition Posts ● FAQ Post
Be Human
❖ Inspirational Post
❖ Holiday Post
❖ Personal Experience Post
❖ Behind the Scenes Post
❖ Off-Topic Post
❖ Rant Post – not for everyone
Be Generous❖ Profile Post
❖ Interview Post
❖ Link Round Up Post – gather links your customers will find useful
❖ Quote Post – gather quotes from influencers across a specific topic
● Best of the Web Post – links to content, tools, and other resources
● Pick of the Week - single piece of content, tool or other resource that you link to and describe
● People to Follow Post
Be Promotional
❖ Comparison Post – you to your competitor
❖ Project Showcase Post
❖ Company Update Post
❖ Presentation Post
❖ Product Update Post
❖ Product Tip Post
Be Controversial – make sure it works for your brand
❖ What If Post – what would happen if…
❖ Debate Post – write about your opinion on an issue, or write with someone to show both sides of an issue
❖ Attack Post – be careful
❖ Prediction Post
❖ Reaction Post – react to content created by someone else
❖ Embed Reactor – embed video, presentation or other content that is already popular and add your reaction
Be Entertaining
❖ Story Post – create content that tells a story
❖ Satire Post – be humorous through irony or extreme exaggeration
❖ Cartoon Post – create weekly or monthly cartoons
❖ Meme Post - create your own meme or pull together a curated set
Be Timely
❖ Review Post – review product, event or anything as long as it’s newsworthy
❖ Survey Post – survey your audience about a trending topic
❖ News Post – create content on events as they are happening
❖ Trends Post – predict a trend
❖ Issue Post – create content about issues that affect your audience
Be Engaging❖ Question Post – answer questions your audience asks
❖ Answer Post – ask a question and allow your audience to answer
❖ Challenge Post – pose a challenge to your audience
❖ Customer Showcase Post
❖ Feebie Post – allow your audience to get access to a relevant giveaway
❖ Contest Post
How to make successful headlines
❖ Writing a catchy headline is key❖ Write a headline and then rewrite it a few times –
practice makes perfect❖ Use numbers – people love headlines with number❖ Keep it short – under 75 characters, easy to skim❖ Ask a question – pique readers interest❖ Make it a how-to – readers like to learn
Cross-promote your blog❖ Leverage your blog posts by promoting them on your social media
sites
❖ Facebook – post a link to your blog on your FB page.
❖ Twitter – tweet about you blog post. Keep the title interesting, be sure to use haashtags
❖ LinkedIn – write a short up to your contacts and post your blog, post to groups you belong to also
❖ Email – weekly or monthly e-newsletters consisting of your best posts
❖ Share buttons – make sure to have social sharing buttons
ROI of Blogging❖ You need to measure your ROI
❖ Numbers of subscribers – easy to track
❖ Number of shares – helps you know what’s of interest to your readers
❖ Number of comments – encourage readers to comment. More comments the better.
❖ Increase traffic to blog or website – set-up google analytics – Referrals, etc.
❖ Increased leads through email