Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

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Better Blogging: Advanced Course for Bloggers Amanda Kendle
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Transcript of Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Page 1: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Better Blogging: Advanced Course for Bloggers

Amanda Kendle

Page 2: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers 4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 3: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers 4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 4: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Watch someone read your blog*

• What were your first impressions?• What did you first think my blog was about when you arrived

at it? What were your feelings?• Did you find it easy to read/navigate/understand?• What suggestions do you have on how I could improve my

blog?• What questions do you have after surfing my blog?• What words would you use to describe the design?• What are the main elements you remember about my blog

now you’ve stopped looking at it?• Would you come back and read it again? Why or why not?

*An exercise from Darren Rowse's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge

Page 5: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Introductions - Explaining your blog

It's time to consider how to succinctly explain what your blog is about and why you write it.

Introduce yourself and your blog in just a few sentences.

(... thinking music ...)

I'm Amanda, an avid traveller, and my blog, "Not A Ballerina", contains posts about my travels in various countries and my experiences working as a travel blogger. I also like to write about different cultures and languages and all the great things you can learn from travelling. 

Page 6: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

What have you learned from blogging?

Click over to this post from Life in a Pink Fibro -

12 things I've learned in my first year of blogging

(All the links I'll show today can be found at a post at amandakendle.com - keep it open in a tab and you'll be ready to read whenever I talk about a link).

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Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 8: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Writing part 1: What to write

• Getting and saving ideas - how do you do it?• Using Google Alerts: www.google.com/alerts

- track your name and blog- follow specific topics that are relevant

• Following other blogs by RSS: www.google.com/reader/ 

• Setting up an editorial calendar (see the post from ProBlogger in my link post)

• Consider personal boundaries (see link post)

Page 9: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Writing part 2: How to write

• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - keywords in title and early in post - so readers find what they're Googling.

• Titles - read 5 Worst Ways to Title a Blog Post then we'll look at some case studies from amongst our bloggers!

• Check your grammar and spelling. Blogs are casual but they should be correct. It's now been proven that sales are boosted if your website has correct grammar! This research made me very happy :-) (see link post)

• Voice and tone - be natural and be you. (Some more case studies here!)

Page 10: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 11: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Keeping readers on your bloog

1. Add Link Within - easy and effective way to keep readers surfing around your blog.

2. Be sure to link back to previous posts whenever this is relevant. 

3. Consider putting together some kind of "best of" posts highlighting some of your previous posts (see example at Not A Ballerina - Country Guides).

4. Do some work on your labels/categories to make a useful archive for readers to explore.

5. Sign them up (RSS, Facebook, Twitter) - more on this when we talk about community building and promotion. 

Page 12: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers 4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 13: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Building a community around your blog

1. Find similar blogs and interact with them(use Google's blog search google.com.au/blogsearch) leave meaningful comments without fishing for visits. We will do this NOW!

2. Encourage comments on your own blog by ending your posts with a question, and then respond to the comments your readers leave.

3. Ask other bloggers if you can do a guest post; invite them to do guest posts for you.

4. Encourage reader questions and answer them with a post.5. Make regular readers feel special by mentioning them.6. Run interesting give-aways or competitions and encourage

readers to spread the word.

Page 14: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers 4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 15: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Promoting your blog

• Social media is your best friend. You *need*:- Facebook fan page (you or your blog) - provide something extra that is beyond what readers see on your blogs (some personal interaction, photos, a poll)- Twitter account (even if you only tweet your blog posts - although a bit more interaction would be better!)- clear ways for your readers to subscribe by RSS or email

• Take part in some high-quality link-ups or blog hops - for example: Weekend Rewind, Flog Yo Blog Friday or for some travel-ish themes, my Weekend Wanderings

• Consider offline alternatives - add your blog address to your business card (or email signature), promote it in conjunction with your work, etc. 

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Not A Ballerina promotion examples

• Not A Ballerina's Facebook fan page• My personal Twitter account (I tweet about everything

including travel - and follow a lot of travel writers)• Blog hop/link-up - Weekend Wanderings• Guest post at Woman Seeks World• And while we're at it, you should add lots of these kind of

links to your About page

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Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

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The ultimate blog design ...

... is a very good question!

Consider what draws you in to blogs you like and are in your niche. Important principles include:• Having the most important elements "above the fold" (what

a reader sees without having to scroll down). These elements may include highlighted posts, advertising, About page, Contact page, and so on.

• Leaving enough "white space" (empty space).• Minimising the gadgets so your blog is not overcrowded.

Part of your blog design, I'd argue, is to HAVE YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME! I can't stress that enough (can I?!)

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Content of today's course

1.Introductions2.Writing even better blog posts3.Keeping readers 4.Community building5.Promoting your blog6.Improving your blog's design7.Goals and statistics 

Page 20: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Using statistics to improve your blog

Case study: Not A Ballerina

My statistics from Google Analytics showed:• "reverse culture shock" and "Heilbronn Germany" were very

common search terms• my "Passport Pirouette" posts received a high number of

visitors• 2 out of 3 visitors were from the United States• I received a large number of visitors via the

vagabondish.com site• my About and Contact pages received a large amount of

trafficSO - WHAT DID I DO? (your ideas first, please!)

Page 21: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

Creating short and long term goals

Take a few minutes to consider your blogging goals. Ideas include:• Post X posts per week or month• Exceeding X visitors or page views• Being linked to by X blog• Guest posting on X blog• Gaining X fans on your blog's Facebook page• Earning $X from advertising• Creating and selling a product (like an e-book)• Get an average of X comments per post• Achieve a page rank of X (2, 3 or 4 are good goals)

Page 22: Better blogging advanced course for bloggers

That's all folks ... 

Go forth and blog well!

Remember you can revisit links mentioned today at:

http://amandakendle.com/2011/08/advanced-blogging-course-handy-links/

(aka http://bit.ly/uwaeblog)

Please keep in touch - [email protected]

and visit my blog at NotABallerina.com