Blogging, What is all the fuss?

Aanu Ojo & Mary-Ann Mosaad

THE BLOGGING BASICS

• Abbreviated version of “Weblog” which are websites that are essentially online journals that are updated frequently with commentary on one or many topics.

• A blog is the fastest and easiest way to provide regularly updated information to your audiences, because blog creation process is simpler than website creation or print design and production.

VS.

Micro Blogging Blogging

So what is MicroBlogging?

• Micro blogging is a combination of blogging and instant messaging that allows users to create a short message that is posted on their profile. Websites such as twitter also allow these messages to be delivered on cell phones, which allow micro-blogging to provide a quick way to communicate with a group of people.

• Essentially “micro”-small blogs.. limited to 140 characters such as twitter.

Blog Elements• Brief entries running one-three paragraphs in length.• One or more columns on the page, with new content added to the

largest column.• Sidebars linking to other blogs, previous posts or other

comments.• Updates added at the top of the blog, so that entries read in

reverse chronological order. This approach makes it easy for readers to find the most recent content.

• Lots of links within blog entries (to other blogs, websites, and articles in your e-newsletter, as well as audio and video files). Some blog entries also feature photos.

• Regular updates• Current contact information• A URL and name that’s easy to remember.

Is it more beneficial for B2B or B2C?

• Blogging is beneficial for both B2B AND B2C

B2B Benefits

• See what your competition is doing

• You can communicate with employees within the company easily and effectively

• Consistently updated blog content can keep customers returning to the website.

B2C Benefits

• Increase engagement

• Be seen as an expert

• Develop a relationship with customers through casual dialogue

How Could Blogging Help a Business

• Develop a casual dialog with your customers.

• Fast communication of current information.

• Increase your visibility in search engine results

• Share multimedia content.

• You are in control (mostly)

• Be seen as an expert

How often should one blog

“I once surveyed readers here on ProBlogger about the reasons they unsubscribed from RSS feeds, and the number one answer was “posting too much.” Respondents expressed that they developed ‘burnout’ and would unsubscribe if a blog became too “noisy.”—Darren Rowse

Quality vs. Quantity• 2 to 3 beneficial and informative posts a week go further than posting for

the fun of it every day.

• Consumers and businesses don’t want to be burnt-out from information they may not find useful.

• The Answer to how often one should blog lies within how much relevant, informative and interesting information you have to share, in essence, don’t just post to post.

Blogroll

• A blogroll is typically found in the sidebar of a blog and it includes links to other blogs that the blogger recommends. A blogroll can be divided into categories if there are a number of blogs included that all discuss different topics.

Benefits:• Allows you and your blog pack to promote and send blog traffic

to each other

• Gives your readers more of what they’re interested in: good blogs on a topic they care about

• Having a blogroll is another way to provide value to your readers, turning your blog into a relationship hub of activity around its topic

• Linking to other bloggers lets them know you exist

Main URL Vs. Permalink

• An example of a blog’s main URL (which shows all the posts for a given period of time:

http://www.bloggingbasics101.com

• An example of a permalink:

http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/101/2008/11/what-is-a-permalink/

• A permalink is the link to an individual blog post. These are important because if you ever need to link to an exact blog entry, you use the permalink as your link. It’s poor blog etiquette not to use the permalink making it more difficult for blog readers to get to the information they want.

•  

Benefits for Non-Profit & For Profit

• Blogging Increases Trust And Credibility

• Helps to increase traffic to business website

• Lengthen The Lifetime Value of a Customer

• Positions You As the Expert in your industry

Examples of Companies who use

blogging to leverage their

business.

3 Popular Blog Publishers.

Tumblr A micro-blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio through an easy-to-update dashboard.

100% FreeYou don’t have to pay monthly expenses to own/maintain an account

Not Fully FeaturedYou don’t have much control over the Themes/template and added plugins Limited customization, integrated capabilities such as plugins/flashAdd widgets side bars.

SimpleOne of the easiest blogging platforms to use. Its not rocket science. You don’t have to be a coding guru or geek to figure it out or navigate through it. The how to’s are pretty much laid out for users on the dashboard.

Visually appealing ContentTumblr is know exclusively for its visuals. It has a visually oriented audience and a strong user community.

Best platform for fashion brands, musicians, artist, etc..Their job consists of showcasing their products and talents, and telling a story through pictorial representations.

How reblogging works An original post by one Tumblr user is reblogged by another user by embedding a quote of the original post, link and publishing username in the repost, with the option of making a comment in reply to the previous post.

You can reblog a post that has been re-blogged by another user that way the original contents gets more exposure and traffic to the source as its passed down the chain within the Tumblr network.

WordPress Server Self Hosted

Limited Theme Support Full Theme Support

No plugins allowed All plugins allowed

Free Monthly Expense

No Ads allowed Monetization Freedom

No Maintenance Site Maintenance

No control Full Control

No domain Own domain

.com• A free blog Hosted by wordPress server. WordPress will host your blog

at no cost. All you have to do is provide content and Start blogging instantly.

· No technical skills required.

· Limited to theme functions (can’t add widgets, side bars)

· Lack of control over your content.If wordPress server is down, there will be no way for you to access your content.

· WordPress holds the right to terminate your account if you break any one their rules in their terms of service. One of their rules being that you are not allowed to drive traffic to your main website for monetary purposes or boost search engine ranking of your business website. If you do so, you get the boot!

· Visit the terms of service here http://en.wordpress.com/tos/

.org• Self-hosted

• Download the software from wordpress.org for free and upload it to your own web server (go daddy, blue host). Takes 5 mins to download.

• The content belongs to you. You can transform your page to anything you can possibly imagine

• Need a domain name as well as a hosting a account.

• You can make money through Ads because you control the contents.

• You have all the freedom.

100% Free

You don’t have to pay monthly expenses to own/maintain an account

Unique Features

Blogger lets you to change your subdomain name as often as you like.

Fully Featured

Blogger allows customization of it templates.

Hosting

You can host through blogger or own server

Blogger Ads

Blogger provides a simple way for you to make money with your blog. AdSense is Google's content-targeted

advertising program. If you use AdSense, you don't have to select keywords or categories for your ads.

Instead, Google's servers determine what your posts are about and display the most relevant ads to your

readers.

Analytics

Built-in visitor stats.

Simple

• Easy to use

What is an RSS Feed?

RSS Subscription & Management Tools.

Recommended Blogging

Resources.

Work Cited

• http://gettingattention.org/articles/42/blogging/nonprofit-blog.html

• http://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/08/11/how-often-should-you-blog-hint-the-answer-might-surprise-you/

• http://www.brickmarketing.com/define-blogroll.htm

• http://remarkablogger.com/2009/04/20/should-you-have-a-blogroll/

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4rCWWKAQAc&list=PLIfnWxUeUK3-ebA16V2GQziOg0oER3J9z&index=3

• http://www.google.ca/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

• http://www.tumblr.com

• http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1

• http://en.wordpress.com/tos/