A Blog is for Life, Not Just for Christmas - Blogging for Creative Businesses

Slide 1: Blogging for Creative A talk for Create KX (www.createkx.org.uk) Businesses at the British Library Business & IP Centre (www.bl.uk/bipc) 8.5.07 Mark McGuinness www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/blog

Slide 2: statcounter here

Slide 4: What is a blog? • A website with entries (posts) displayed with (usually) the most recent at the top • Easy to update • Easy to search - runs on a database • Readers can interact via comments + links • Readers can subscribe to receive latest posts

Slide 5: So what is a blog?

Slide 7: interface

Slide 8: Good News

Slide 9: Ken McCarthy’s Formula Traffic Online = + Success Conversion www.kenmccarthy.com

Slide 10: Main Sources of Traffic • Search engines • Links from other sites

Slide 11: Google loves blogs

Slide 12: The best £8.57 I ever spent on marketing

Slide 13: Why Google loves blogs • Fresh content (regular updates) • Relevant (keywords) • Authoritative (links)

Slide 14: Bloggers love links • Bloggers link generously • A link from a top blog will help your search engine rankings • It will also send you quality traffic - people who are interested in your topic • You gain status from having an influential referrer

Slide 15: Conversion Visitors to your blog can: • Subscribe - via RSS or E-mail • Leave a comment • Refer other readers (word of mouth) • Link to you (digital word of mouth) • Buy! (maybe, eventually)

Slide 16: More Good News

Slide 17: Raise Your Profile • Establish yourself as an authority • Let people get to know you • Build trust • Develop your network • Learn from readers, bloggers, customers, prospects and competitors

Slide 18: Networking on Steroids • Networking is key to success in the creative industries • Blogging connects you with many more people than you would normally meet • Combine online and offline networking

Slide 19: It’s Cheap! • Most blogging software free or low cost • Lots of free blog templates available • Start out low-cost - upgrade when the blog is earning its keep

Slide 20: A Window of Opportunity • Small proportion of UK businesses blogging • Lots of niches up for grabs

Slide 21: Fun!

Slide 22: Bad News

Slide 23: A blog is for life not just for Christmas

Slide 24: Criticism • People WILL criticize you • You are expected to engage with them • Sometimes it gets personal

Slide 25: Technical Knowledge • It’s a lot easier than building a website • It’s a bit harder than using Word

Slide 26: The Legal Minefield • Blogs have same legal status as magazines and other publications • Libel and defamation • Copyright, trademarks

Slide 27: A blog is not enough

Slide 28: Good Blogs

Slide 29: Be Yourself

Slide 30: Don’t Sell

Slide 31: Be Patient

Slide 32: Good Business Blogs • Focused • Original • Generous • Useful / Educational • Entertaining

Slide 33: www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/kx • All the links from this talk • Information about blogging software and other tools • An explanation of RSS!

Slide 34: www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/blog • More about creativity and creative business • Free updates via E-mail or RSS

Slide 35: Mark McGuinness I’m a poet and a business coach specialising in work with creative professionals and their managers. My blog about coaching, creativity and business is at www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/blog and this is my poetry blog - www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/poetry E-mail: wish@wishfulthinking.co.uk Web: www.wishfulthinking.co.uk