Milwaukee WordCamp 2014 Presentation on becoming better blogger.

1. Becoming A Better Blogger
Andy Nathan

2. Your content must entertain your readers long
enough to engage, so you can educate them on
the benefits of your point of view.

3. http://socialtriggers.com/perfect-blog-post/

4. The best way to learn about
blogging is to blog!

5. To do this, write a list of 10
questions your clients regularly
ask you

6. Spend 2 minutes creating an intro

7. Create An Intro
When I first started blogging, I knew nothing about writing. In fact, after high
school English I swore off writing forever. It was boring, and I had no aptitude
for writing. At least that was what I believed for most of my life leading up to
the blog I started writing in 2010.
However, as a social media expert, I needed a way to connect with my
audience. Social media made this possible. Over the years, I improved and
even started writing for clients. Despite what my wife calls, the worst
grammar that she has ever seen, I get paid for writing great blog content.
What I have realized after writing 3,000 articles in the past 5 years is that
your content must entertain your readers long to stay on the site, and
educate them, so they remember who you are.

8. Spend 7 minutes creating a body

9. 5 Things Every Blog Post Needs
How do we educate and entertain are audience with our content?

10. Write To Your Audience
“Do you know who you are talking to?”
I always love that line, because in blogging you have to know who you
are talking to be successful.
Stephen King said that he writes all of his books for his wife. She is his
audience. If she likes what he writes, he keeps it in the book. If she
does not, he changes or omits it. Everyone else who likes his work is an
added bonus.

11. Tell Stories
Stories are a bridge between entertainment and education.
Now, what if I also told you that the first day I blogged on my new site,
AndyNathan.Net, I received 5 visitors.
When the blog was active, I had thousands of visitors coming to the site every
month. The blog generated over 300,000 lifetime page views.
Stories give you insights to share normal how-to and stats might now. Told properly,
you can inspire people with your story and educate them as well.

12. Use different types of media to engage with
people on different levels.
As a former teacher, one of my favorite
books was Multiple Intelligences by
Howard Gardner. His understanding of
how we all learn in different manners was
brilliant.
Have videos, photos, and other media
support your writing.
Pictures of attractive women increase the
response rate by 4.5%.

13. Optimize for search and social traffic
Search and social traffic are the top two traffic sources.
Make sure to optimize your posts for search.
This means lengthy articles of 2,000 words that are
broken up for sound bites for social media.
Use Click to Tweet or Pin It Button for Image
Make sure that your paragraphs are not longer than 2-3
sentences. At the same time, use bullets and headings to
breakdown the point of your article.
According to recent research, 60% of your readers never make it past the median scroll
bar. Have a call to action before the mid-point, asking clients to share our content.
Tweet: RT @andynathan the best way to learn about blogging is to blog.
http://startupgap.com

14. How to Advice
The best advice then with all these different ideas is to write like you
talk. In fact, you probably forgot how to talk if you are new to writing.
We spend so much of lives thinking about what to say to people in the
appropriate manner that writing as human beings is just…scary.
Therefore, you need to write all your drafts in free flow without editing.
Those are your true beliefs. If you want to remove something later on
for being too controversial go ahead. For now, just write.

15. Spend 3 minutes with a summary

16. That’s A Wrap People
Now we get to the end of the post. In this part of the blog post we
need to wrap up your entire post. This means that we review all the
great content you shared in the body.
Finally, you will want to end with a rock star call to action. Make it
simple, and compelling for your readers to take action on your content.
Perhaps you want to share the blog post? Or maybe you will comment
on this post?

17. What is the next step?

18. Connect With Me
• Andy Nathan
• Twitter: andynathan
• Google+: http://plus.google.com
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/andrewmarcnathan
• Website: http://startupgap.com