Blogging 101

“ Your website is your house, but your blog is your front porch.”

Agenda

What is blogging?

Why is it so popular?

Why should I be doing it?

The language of blogging.

How to blog.

How to use your blog to market your business

Best blogs and resources

Personal or business website

Interactive

Dynamic

Collaborative

Functional

Conversation

Not necessarily the news

Any subject, anyone

Gives everyone a voice

Platform

Sources

“ The rest of the story”

The inside scoop

Ever changing

Search engine friendly

You shouldn’t

It’s not for everyone

Takes discipline, time

You have to know who and why

You have to be willing to suck at it

Need to post regularly

Visibility + Credibility= profitability (Ivan Misner)

Categories

Tags/Clouds

Posts

Reader/RSS/Feeds

Blogroll

Inbound/outbound links

Pinging

Widgets

Plugins

Subscribers

Publish

Sign up for a free blog account

Blogger.com

Wordpress.com

Typepad.com

Set up your pages

“ About Us”

“ Contact Us”

Add some Links

Set up your appearance

Themes

Columns

Sidebars

Widgets

Customization

Set up your pages

“ About Us”

“ Contact Us”

You are ready to post!

What do I write about?

How to’s.

Lists: 7 Things, tips, rules, etc

101 People

Why something is wrong

What you feel

Keep a list of topics

Photoblog

Write the title first

Less than 500 words is best

Bullet points

Reviews

Use links and

Keywords

Have a schedule

2-3 times a week is best if your goal is traffic

Be patient

Blog at your own pace

Where do I get photos/media?

Free

Flickr.com (creative commons)

Microsoft .com clip art

Wordle.net

Google Images (Advanced)

YouTube

Make them

Purchase

I-stockphoto.com

Gettyimages.com

Note: Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s free to post. Beware of copyright violations. )

How do I get people to read my posts?

Headlines

Social book marks

Stumble upon http://www.stumbleupon.com

Digg.com http://www.digg.com

Social Networking

Twitter

Facebook

Linked in

Hint: you can automate the feed

How do I get subscribers?

Great content

Consistency

Multimedia

Add value to your audience

Have an opinion

Tell a story

Don’t be same-o

Be controversial

Tell us something we don’t know

Two most important words: You and because: (Copyblogger.com)

How do else do I get found?

Submit to search engines

Google.com

MSN.com

Yahoo.com

Submit to blog catalogs

Technorati.com

Alltop.com

Submit to local directories (if a business)

Local.com

Write guests posts on other blogs

Comment on other blogs

Ask other bloggers for guest posts

Repost your best content

Ezine articles.com

AZCentral.com

Write tips relevant to your audience

Give away free stuff

Post testimonials

Have contests

Ask for comments

Don’t sell

Be real

Make it easy for people to subcribe

Gather emails

Targeted marketing strategy

Speaking

Cross promotion

Write guests posts on other blogs

Comment on other blogs

Ask other bloggers for guest posts

Repost your best content

Ezine articles.com

AZCentral.com

My Favorite Blogs

The Future Buzz: http://www.thefuturebuzz.com

Mashable: http://www.mashable.com

Mental Floss: http://www.mentalfloss.com

23Kazoos: http://www.23Kazoos.com

The Picky Palate: http://picky-palate.com/

The Pioneer Woman: http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Blogging Resources

http://www.dragosroua.com/100-ways-to-improve-your-blog/

http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/09/02/blog-content-in-demand/

http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/09/gaining-blog-subscribers/

http://www.copyblogger.com/find-blog-post-images/

http://mashable.com/2009/08/04/free-blog-media/

http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-write-headlines-that-work/

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/09/03/9-things-to-do-to-make-sure-your-next-blog-post-is-read-by-more-than-your-mom/

09/27/09 Copyright @2009 23 Kazoos LLC. All Rights Reserved Wendy Kenney Founder, 23 Kazoos Creative Marketing Strategies for Small Business [email_address] Free e-Book: Build Buzz for Your Biz: 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies that Will Get You Noticed! www.23Kazoos.com