This class was sponsored by the Valley Community Development Corporation and held at The Jones Library in Amherst, MA on October 1, 2009.

1. 10/01/09
Building Your Brand
by Blogging
Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
413.537.2474
© 2009, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company
What’s the difference between
a blog and a website?
• Content
o Regular & frequent blog updates
o Most recent info on top
• Syndication
o People can subscribe via software that automatically
p y
pulls in new posts
• Conversational
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2. 10/01/09
Website Blog
Informative but static Regularly updated
Why do people blog?
• Demonstrate knowledge g
• Position yourself as an expert
• Increase visibility & credibility
• Build network
• They have a passion for the topic
• E t t i & inform
Entertain i f
• Sell products & services
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3. 10/01/09
Selling on a blog
Link to
Esty Shop
Building your brand through blogging
• Generate buzz about your product or service
y p
• Use blog as customer service extension
• Establish an additional communication channel
• Address negative press
• Deliver information efficiently
•LLaunch new products
h d t
•Add a human component to your business
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4. 10/01/09
Popular blogging platforms
• Blogger – free, do-it-yourself with templates
& plugins
• Wordpress.com – free with templates
• WordPress.org – open source & free with
many plugins, but you must build your blog
and decide on hosting
• TypePad – paid service with do-it-yourself
templated design and expert customer
support
The anatomy of a blog
• Title
• Posts
• Company information
• Archives
• Subscription option(s)
• Li k t other blogs
Links to th bl
• Search
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5. 10/01/09
Making a commitment to blog
• What is involved?
• Writing posts
• Adding photos
• How often should you post?
• Shared authorship
Identifying your audience
• What are their demographics?
• What do they want/need?
• What do they like? Believe?
• What are their ambitions?
• What inspires them?
• What pleasures/pain do they have?
• How can you satisfy the above?
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6. 10/01/09
Writing your posts
• Proper grammar, spelling and punctuation
are a must t
• Try to draft them within the blog editing
environment for easiest formatting
• Write in a casual style
• Think before you post
• Use white space and be as brief as your
audience demands
Overcoming the topic hurdle
• Coming up with ideas
• Keep your content fresh, timely and
relevant
• What are others doing?
• Remember that people only read
something that adds value to their lives
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7. 10/01/09
Promoting your blog
• Add your blog URL to your email signature
and l tt h d
d letterhead
• Comment on other blogs with a link back
to yours
• Post links to your blog posts on your social
media sites
• Start a fan page on Facebook
Tracking your blog’s statistics
• Review your site stats regularly
• WordPress has a plugin
• Typepad has limited statistics available in
the admin
• Watch frequency, where visitors come
from,
from what they look at how long they
at,
stay, browser info, repeat visitors
• Google Analytics is a great tool
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8. 10/01/09
Sample of Google Analytics Info
Statistics glossary
• Hits
• Page views / impressions
• Unique visitors vs repeat visitors
• Subscribers: email vs RSS
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9. 10/01/09
Stay within your niche to
• Brand your company
• Earn loyal readers
• Develop a community
• Keep advertising relevant
• Optimize blog for search engines
Handling comments
• Moderated or not?
• Use them to promote conversation
• Handling bad ones
• Dealing with spam
• Dealing with criticism on other
blogs
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10. 10/01/09
Monitoring your competition
• What do they do well?
• What do they write about?
• What do they neglect?
• What questions come up in
comments?
• Who are they writing for?
• How often do they post?
• How many comments do they get?
Jazzing up your blog with podcasts
• Injects some personality
• Adding your voice and/or image
helps build a relationship with your
readers
• Upload to a hosting service
p g
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11. 10/01/09
Jazzing up your blog with photos
• Blogs without photos are boring
• Break up text & monotony
• Add visual interest
• Where to find royalty free photos
• Editing images
Editing photos
• Better to upload at the size & resolution you
want to display
• Google Picasa is free, robust image editing
software
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12. 10/01/09
Google Picasa
Making money from your blog
with advertising
• Paid advertising
• Text based ads
Text-based
• Banner & button ads
• Contextual advertising keeps ads
relevant to your readership
• Beware cluttering your blog with too
much advertising
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13. 10/01/09
More ways to making money
by blogging
• Sponsorships
• Paid
P id postst
• Sponsored reviews
• Beware cluttering your blog with too
much advertising
• Professional blog content writer
• Affiliate marketing thru Amazon.com
Tips
• See who links to your blog in Google
via li k
i link:yourdomain
d i
• Use Google Alerts to monitor yourself
& the competition
• Read your posts out loud
• Remember that your blog is about
your reader not yourself
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14. 10/01/09
Resources
• One Cool Site: Blogging Tips -
http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/
• 250 free photo sites -
http://mediamilitia.com/250-free-
stock-photography-sites/
Introduction to Microblogging
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15. 10/01/09
Use to
• Meet new people
• Offer & solicit assistance
• Build relationships based on trust
• Monitor your brand
• Position yourself as an expert
• Remind contacts that you’re here
Home Page
• This is your home page
Set up Twitter here
Custom
background
can be
created, but Post your update here < 140 characters
start with a
default
Tweets by those you follow
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16. 10/01/09
Using as a business tool
• Tweet under personal name
• Refrain from unprofessional conduct
• Be helpful
• Monitor your brand
• Utilize it as a customer service function
• Always strive to offer value
• Engage, don’t preach or push
Using TweetDeck
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17. 10/01/09
Christine Pilch
Social media speaking & training
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
413.537.2474
GrowMyCo.com
Linkedin.com/in/ChristinePilch
Twitter.com/ChristinePilch
Facebook.com/GrowMyCompany
© 2009, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company
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