Post on 16-Apr-2017
A PRESENTATION BY JUDITH GOTWALD
Feeding theBlog Monster
My background.Judith Gotwald• Journalism-University of Pittsburgh• Magazine News Editor• Stringer-Somerset Daily American• Publications Manager-Nonprofit• Self-Employed In Publishing since 1978• GotwaldCreation• Blog (personal) 2x2virtualchurch.com• Content editor for several companies
A COMBINATION OF THE WORDS “WEB” AND “LOG”
What is a blog?
Sharing
Why Individuals Share?• The Joy of Expression• To Find the Like-Minded• To Breathe Life into Ideas• To Spark Change• To Build A Structure for Action• To Make Money
Why Corporations Share?
• To Establish Authority• Create Visibility• Extend Reach• To Enlist Support• To Establish Relationships• To Build A Structure for Action• To Make Money• To Save Money
BENEFITS • Inexpensive• Control of Message• Ownership• Power of Serendipity• Forces You to Think• Forces You to See Big Picture• Discipline
BLOGGING STATS
Majority of bloggers are women.
Search Engines find blogsbefore web sites.
85% of searchers find blogs before websites. They may never know it!
7 million blogs
13 million microblogsTwitter/Facebook
7 million blogs
13 million microblogsTwitter/Facebook
SocialMediaToday
SocialMediaToday
ANATOMY OF BLOGGING
Why we run out of ideas?FAILURE
to realize that blogs are not about us.
They are about how we relate to others.The world is a big place.Focus on it—not yourself.
Why we run out of ideas?FAILURE
to understand audience.
Your readers are great sources of ideas!
Why we run out of ideas?FAILURE
to understand that we are all colleagues.
Old thinking has us trained to view the world as competition.
WEBSITE
FB Twitter
YouTubeSlideShare
BLOG IS HUB
8 TYPES OF CONTENT
VISIONARY
HOW-TO PERSUASIVE ANALYTICAL
STORIES NEWS
REVIEWS CURATEDCOMMENTARY
VISIONARY
Are you a dreamer?Write about how you’d liketo see the world/yourfield/your family, etc.
BLOG SAMPLES
Seth Godin: Krypton Community College
HOW-TO
Are you a teacher?How to articles are among the most popular blogs. They tend to attract traffic.
BLOG SAMPLES
Seth Godin, Social Media Examiner, Hubspot, 2x2
PERSUASIVE
12 - 12 - 2012
Do you have a cause?Hammer it home.
Blogs can be influential inchanging the course of history.
BLOG SAMPLES
Any nonprofit
ANALYTICAL
Do you like statistics?People turn to the web forup-to-date statitsics.
BLOG SAMPLES
Kissmetics.com, StatsBlogs.com
COMMENTARY
Do you justwant to be heard?Blogging is the onlysocial mediaPlatform that you control.
Huffington post,indivdual journalists,Leaders in any given field
STORIES/NEWS
Are you astory-teller?A blog is a modern campfire.
BLOG SAMPLES
venturegalleries.com
2x2virtualchurch.comfeatures a story each week
REPORTER
Do you like to be first to share ideas/knowledge?Start blogging!
Mashable, socialmediaexaminer
CURATED
Do you like to collect and juggle all kindsof information?A blog is a modern campfire.
BLOG SAMPLES
Firepolemarketing, socialmediaexaminer
UNDERSTANDING THEBLOG MONSTER’S DIET
FAQs
Polls
Biographies
VideosPodcastsPhotosGlossaries
Case Studies
Petitions
Explore Trends
Lists Comments Breakdown ListsResults InspirationRevisit Old Posts
PoetryTransformational Stories
MicroContentBeginners Guides How ToInfographics
Slide PresentationsSerials
ebooksPress Releases
White Papers
Music
Round-UpsSurveys
TestimonialsList Resources
Reviews
Promote A Charity/Cause
Rate ThingsGuest Posts
Graphs/ChartsExplore Related Fields
Best Of . . .
Question the Accepted Ask A Question
InterviewsQuotes
Behind the ScenesTip of the Day
Personal ReflectionsNews
Provide Links
Showcase Colleagues
PraiseCrystal Ball Predictions
Recipes (not just food)NewslettersCartoons
Op/Ed
Contests
History
Humor
REPURPOSE
PRESENTATION TITLE AND COMPANY NAME
12 - 12 - 2012
• Different formats• Different platforms• Ezines, white
papersTHINK EVERGREEN
INGREDIENTS
STORYTELLING
A good story has the power to move mountains.Know your audience. There may be more than one!
✴ Choose one to three personas.
✴ Describe them. Give them a name.
✴ Find a photo to represent them.
✴ Names, vital statistics, work, hobbies, friends, dreams.
✴ Why should they read your blog?
PERSONAS
Rememberthe power ofthe“Soccer Mom”
✴ About 80 Characters
✴ Key words
✴ Use Numbers, (9 Ways to Edit Your Blog)
✴ Why or How to
HEADLINE
Copyblogger.comgood source for help!
✴ Who, What, When and Where
✴ Key words (again)
✴ Get to the So What Factor(Why should they keep reading)
LEAD PARAGRAPH
✴ Search for an Image or from a free stock servicesuch as photopin.com (include a link), pixabay.com, morguefile.com
✴ Key words (again—this time in the tagging section of the photo)
✴ Edit photos in Photoshop or picmonkey.com
IMAGE
✴ OLD ADVICE is 250 to 500 words
✴ CURRENT ADVICE: Google likes longer, meatier posts and rewards good writing.
✴ WRITE to be helpful
WORD COUNT
✴ Subheads
✴ Bulleted Lists
✴ Quotes
✴ Indents
BREAKING UP TEXT
✴ Review for your copy for potential links.
✴ Don’t be afraid to credit other bloggers or websites.
✴ Blogs are fueled by connection.
LINKS
5 5 5Blogs in your field Blogs in
related fieldBlogs that you
enjoy
Where to Get Ideas
5 Bookmark things thatmight be useful in the future.
evernote.com
Where to Get Ideas
Keep eyes and ears open.
Twitter is an idea mill!
Keep a Notebookor record Voice Memos
Visit topsy.com
Where to Get Ideas
DON’T GET OVERWHELMED
What is thepurpose of your blog?
Determine a direction.
If you don’t you will jointhe large percentage of bloggers
who quit after five posts.
Plan Three Months of ContentBefore you Start Posting
BRAINSTORM!
Choose three platforms.(Blog, Facebook, Twitter)(Blog, Pinterest, Twitter)
(Blog, Slideshare, YouTube)
EACH PLATFORM IS WORK!
✴ Write 50 topic ideas
✴ Decide how to address each of the 50 topic ideas on each platform.(Study the tabloids—they are good at this!)
✴ Start to lay them out on a calendar grid.
You may never look at this after the first week,but it will be there when you’re stuck.
EDITORIAL CALENDAR
✴ Write or review your mission.
✴ Develop your personas.You’ll introduce them to us next week.
✴ Write 50 topics ideas or headlines.
✴ Consider your keywords.
✴ Choose your platforms.
✴ Next week: Editorial Calendars
HOMEWORK
✴ socialmediaexaminer.comGreat up-to-date articles, community, training
✴ hubspot.com (helpful how-to books),topsy.com (analyzes your field)google key word analytics
✴ James Wedmore for video helpAmy Porterfield, Mari Smith for Facebook helpMark Schaefer for Twitter and marketing Seth Godin for marketing and fun thinkingJoe Pulizzi for content marketing strategy(and me! Judith Gotwald)
HELPFUL LINKS
Just a few!
There are many
experts out there
sharing FREE
help!
Hope you enjoyed this presentation.
Judy Gotwaldcreation@dca.net@jigotwald.com
Gotwaldcreation.com2x2virtualchurch.com
THANK YOU!
Brainstorm Cartoonphoto credit: neilslorance via photopin cc
Dear Diaryphoto credit: incurable_hippie via photopin cc
Anatomy (brain cross section)photo credit: Patrick J. Lynch via photopin cc
frogphoto credit: Jess*Lo via photopin cc
PHOTO CREDITS