Presented by Pam Wilson, Librarian, Dorothee Pike Memorial Library (SD) & Miranda Brumbaugh, Librarian, Platte Public Library (SD) on February 28, 2013 as part of the Big Talk From Small Libraries Conference. http://nlcblogs.nebraska.gov/bigtalk/
7. Insights page shows total likes and
friends of the people who like your page
for a total reach
8. ● Definition of BLOG
– A Web site that contains an online personal
journal with reflections, comments, and often
hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the
contents of such a site
– blog – verb
– blogger – noun
– blogging – noun
Merriam-Webster
What is a Blog?
10. ● Images of new books in our library
● Photos of programs and events
● News about upcoming programs and events
● Community events
● Interviews/features about local businesses and
organizations
What are we posting?
19. ● Post Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 2
pm
● Begin by posting weekly; auto posting optional
● Build up to posting daily for the most effective
networking
● Invite readers to comment on your posts to
encourage social engagement; reply to
comments
● Include widgets for sharing to social media
Better Blogging Practices
22. ● Posts about blogs and websites from
businesses and organizations in your
community
● Encourage local businesses and organizations
to post about your library blog on their blog
● Reblog posts from other blogs that have similar
interests, such as other library blogs
● Guest post on other blogs, and hyperlink to
your own blog in the post
Building a Network
Editor's Notes
Using Wordpress We started the blog in August 2012 So in seven months we have had 578 views; we are still learning and developing our blog and our network Our goal with the blog is to promote the library online and to connect with potential patrons and those interested in our library who for whatever reason, such as distance or disability, can't come into the library
Some of the news we include on the blog is New books we have at the library News about our book club Photos from our story time Other things we could and should include: News from our community Photos from community events Interviews with local business owners featuring potential community partners The Golden Rule for posting is 70/30: 70 percent about other blogs/people/organizations and 30 percent about your library
Other than news and current events, we use the blog to provide up to date information about our library Pages include details on getting started with OverDrive program Contact information with email, address, phone, FB link, name of the director Links to websites relevant to the library
You can create a blog using a variety of websites including Wordpress, which is the site I used for our blog All of these sites offer a free package that provides you with the basics Upgrades are available if you want to get a more advanced blog template or if you want to purchase your domain name, for example so it's listed as plattepubliclibrary.com instead of plattepubliclibrary.wordpress.com
Here we have all of the behind-the-scenes activity We screen all comments before they are posted because you receive a portion of scammers who post comments about selling products You can see the stats of our blog; for instance, we've posted 58 posts
Here is a popular librarian's blog that is also featured on Wordpress On Wordpress you can go to the Reader and search for blogs based on any keyword, such as library, books, South Dakota When you see a post from another blog that you like you can hit reblog and add a comment if you'd like and it will post directly to your own blog Great way to increase your posts when you are short on time Great idea for expanding your network
One of the big deals with getting your website or blog recognized by web users has to do with search rankings, such as Google search which is the most well known The ultimate goal is to get your blog ranked high enough that when a web user searches in the keywords for your library, they will end up seeing your blog as the first result in the search. To do this you need to build a network.