2. Is Blogging worth the time?
• What is a blog?
• How do I blog effectively?
• What are the benefits?
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3. What blogging?
• The term "blog" is short for "weblog," which
refers to an online journal
• Blogs can be for businesses, news,
networking, and other professional means
• Blogging is about having conversations in a
public space that position you as a subject
matter expert.
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4. How do blogs work?
• Blogs consist of a series of posts made by
one or more bloggers
• Posts appear in reverse chronological order,
with the most recent post at the top of the
main page
• Readers can browse these back through the
blog to read older entries
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5. What do I Blog
about?
• Message that you want to convey
• A professional service that you're looking to sell
• A simple desire to have your words published for
others to read
Blogs can accomplish these goals simply and easily.
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6. A Niche Market
• Blogs usually have limited readership, since most
people aren't interested in the day-to-day lives of
strangers.
• Niche blogs that focus on one specific topic have
a wider range, and these can become very
popular.
• Like-minded people with similar interests become
regular readers, and sometimes small
communities are formed this way.
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7. You are a niche
market!
• Blogging is VERY effective, but….
Are you blogging effectively?
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8. Effective Blogging
• Blogging is an intensive media, requires a high
level of:
– Effort,
– Skill,
– Planning,
– Resources
– Strategy.
• Basically it isn’t easy to do effective blogging.
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9. Common problems
• Too much content?
– Rather focus on your original content
• Say something worth reading
– Be specific
• Take advantage of other SM mediums
– LinkedIn, twitter, Facebook G+
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10. Too much content
• Promote your content using SEO and effective
online reading studies
• What will you achieve by blogging to nobody?
(Other than Google, but more on that later)
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11. Say something
• Most blogs say the same things as everyone
else… and nobody cares.
• Its easy to write a blog on Botox, but how
many people write blogs about 35 year old
soccer moms?
• Yes, this might pigeon hole you but you can
build later.
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12. Social media
• Share your blogs with your other media and
share audiences
• Comment on other blogs and encourage
sharing
• This takes effort, and of course similar effort in
other SM mediums
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13. A good blog
• Written with a plan
• Posted effectively
– Tags, links, pull quotes, images
• Promoted by other SM, Bloggers and online
means
• Shared across all platforms
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14. What are the benefits?
• Communicate with your patients directly –
builds loyalty
– Its not always about getting new clients
• Lets you educate non-patients – external
marketing (they find you online)
• Get honest and quick feedback
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16. SM Problems
• Small business who enter the SM market
(Including blogging) are not understanding the
role
• An online presence is essential to how you are
judged. Blogging may or may not bring masses
through your door.
• It will give you credentials
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17. Blogs and Google
• Blogs can be SEO’d
• Blogs link – each carries Google rankings
– Website
– LinkedIn
– Facebook
– Google +
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18. SEO and Blogging
• Blogs allow you to:
– Add images
– Add links
– Add pull quotes
– Bullet point posts
In other words, Blogs can function just like mini
websites
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19. Where do I START?
• Find free blogging platforms (Google loves
Wordpress)
• Register your name (company/brand name)
• Complete your profile, including logo and
description
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20. Conclusion
• Blogging for business is a popular content
marketing tactic that is still on the rise.
• Business blogging positively attracts traffic to
your website and considerably affects your
lead goals
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21. Thank you
• Any Questions?
• About blogging or Social
Media in general?
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22. Instar Consulting
• Social Media
• Brand development & Management
• Website development & Design
• Prodcution
• Tel: 011 706 9763
• e-mail: colin@instargroup.co.za or
info@instargroup.co.za
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