Blogging for Business

1 pm, 28 July 2010

If you are going to have a business blog, it should be a part of an overall marketing strategy.

Creating content, especially for technical topics, where to find content?

Paying attention to what’s going on in the field.

Writing about things you’ve learned.

Solutions to problems - can generate a lot of traffic, because people are looking for answers.

LifeHacker style - “this is the one thing that will make your life easier if you do it today”. Nick finds that kind of topic meaningful if posted by someone he trusted or valued.

Roundups - list of 50 blue web site designs, things like that. People like that type of content.

When do you publish content? You need an editorial calendar for your blog. Onus is on you to establish expectations with your readership. How often will they find new content on your blog. They need to understand the 36,000 foot view of what value your blog brings to their life.

Map out your content.

How many times a week?

What time of day will you publish?

All important components of a successful blog.

Consider publishing in set categories.

Set times of the day - publish during “distraction times”. If target audience is people with day-jobs, usually between 9 and 10:30 am, 12-1:30 pm, 4-7 pm.

All RHW’s blogs (redheadwriting.com) are live by 9 am - hits key times here, and the second

Make sure you are blogging to your customers and not your colleagues. The people you are selling to. 

Length of blog posts?

Katrina likes 500 words or less.

If you are doing SEO, no shorter than 250 words (SEO standards for “quality” content)

Thoughts on re-posting or summarizing someone else’s blog post. It’s crap! Don’t do it, it’s stealing content. Post a link instead. That’s valuable for the blogger.

Credit the author in your post that was inspired by theirs, give a link back to that blog, and make a comment on their blog.

Duplicate content penalty we’ve heard of about Google is a myth. What does matter is that it’s someone elses content. 

Three most important things to RHW:

- Determine why do you want to blog in the first place, do you have the time to make it work?

- who are you talking to and who do you want to talk back to you (2 different things)

- how will you differentiate yourself from everything else out there

Your content affects your choice of technology:

Photo blogger - could use WordPress, but Tumbler might be better

All about your friends, only want your drinking buddies to read it, use the notes section on Facebook - Google and clients won’t find it.

Blogging for business - WordPress, can be styled like the rest of your web site

Wanted to sound “cool” like other blogs she was reading. Very hard to try to write like someone else. Much easier to just say what you want to say - find your own voice, your own identity.

Important way to get a sense of what others are saying - leave comments on others’ blogs. Gives you good content ideas too. Do what you want others to do 

One-to-one comment policy. If someone leaves a comment on her blog, she’ll leave a comment on their blog.

RESOURCE: disqus - comment notification system plugin for WP, also let’s people login to your blog using OpenID, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Can be used to follow conversations of comments. 

IntenseDebate is also a good platform.

Techniques for helping you focus: Create a profile sheet - identify your ideal client. Talk about who that specific person is, what they do for a living, for fun. Helps you understand how to write for them. These people are looking for you. Use keywords they would use to look for you.

Kick Ass Blogs:

DustinCurtis.com

ProBlogger (also has a book 31 days to better bloging)

RedHeadWriting.com (check out her FB fan page too)

TheOatmeal.com - premier humor site. No comments on blog, but FB fan page has 4000+ likes

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

ChrisBrogan.com

CopyBlogger.com - a strong community built here for engagement and interaction, built on Thesis WP Theme. - They are doing lots of things right. They understand their responsibility to their readers.

CohereCommunity.com

Feld.com

Katrina’s health and wellness blogs.

Useful components:

Blogroll to reach out to people - list of links to other blogs (e.g. see redheadwriting.com)

Important to keep that vital, change out top few links from time to time.

How do you monetize your blog?

You don’t.

Affiliate marketers are selling you a bill of goods.

RHW is a contract writer, her blog is her “close” and gets her writing gigs.

Chris Brogan for as big as he is, his blogs are just now paying his 

Daryle: It is hard to make a living from blogging, has had success with getting sponsorships - getting the money up front rather than waiting for people to click (on affiliate links). Daryle used footers so the ads made it into the RSS feed but was subtle. 

RESOURCE: RSS FOOTER

Clearly defined focus: Old Town Lofts. (Kevin Buecher)

Images.

Where to find royalty-free images, images that aren’t copyrighted.

iStockphoto (photos for purchase, many very inexpensive)

CreativeCommons licensed images - make sure to cite them.

WikiCommons?

CompFight.com - Flickr search tool

When using images on your blog, be sure to specify the Alt Text, useful for SEO. Can include keywords, but be sure to include a description of the photo.

Use Twitter and Facebook to promote your blog. 80/20 rule, 80% should be about other people, everyone else, 20% about you. RHW Tweets in the “distraction” periods mentioned above, or during lulls in other time zones where she has readers.

Try different headlines. RHW uses catchy, snarky titles. Works for her brand. What is going to get someone to click that link. You have to dare them! “5 simple things”, “One thing you must do now”.

Have a marketing strategy as well.

Leverage you audience. Send them the exact Tweet you want to go out and ask them for a lunch time push.

Tell the story: how you got your skills, how you got inspired, how you got your chops. 

RSS subscriptions: subscriptions are great to have, but there are a lot of things to take into account when gauging the success of your site.

Use Google Analytics, use Clicky

A lot of readers may just come once, and that’s not a slight.

RHW gets four times as many page views as RSS subscribers. People are finding her other ways, including her marketing efforts. Friends, blog directories like Technorati, FB, Twitter. 

RESOURCE: Article about good places to list your blog: http://kikolani.com/increase-traffic-and-authority-by-listing-your-blog.html

Don’t shove it down peole’s throats. When people find what they like they will tell others, they will share your content. Your audience is the best marketing you will ever have.

markwilliammann.com. Just redesigned it, including the sidebar. How do you design the sidebar so people don’t want to vomit. Keep things simple. People are smart, trust them to find what they are looking for. Be choosy.

Best times to promote your blog: