This document summarizes best practices for blogging, including what a blog is, popular blogging platforms, how to set up a blog, write blog posts, and promote blog posts. It discusses that a blog is an online platform consisting of short entries around a key topic. Popular blogging platforms include Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal. When setting up a blog, you should choose a theme, ensure constant new content, and select a platform. When writing posts, aim for 500-700 words, include multimedia, use catchy titles and compelling content. To promote posts, leverage social channels, add posts to company calendars, provide tweet suggestions, and comment on other relevant blogs.

1. Social Media Brownbag:
Blogging Best Practices
June 20, 2013
Alison Yu

2. Agenda
• What is a blog?
• Blogging platforms
• Informatica Perspectives
overview
• How to set up a blog
• Writing a blog post
• How to promote your blog
post

3. What is a blog?
• An online
platform that
consists of short
entries or “posts”
• All entries or
posts revolve
around one key
topic
• Can be the work
of a single
person, or many
people

4. Blogging Platforms
Blogger
• Powered by Google
• Advantages:
• Use free blogger templates or easily customize your blog
themes using CSS or HTML code
• Can use a custom domain
• Search engine friendly and a high ranking for your content
• Limitless themes
• Disadvantages:
• Chance of your blogs being shut down any time by Google
without prior notification
• Can’t integrate social media channels

5. Blogging Platforms
WordPress
• Advantages:
•
•
•
•
•
Wide variety of plugins and widgets*
Reliable hosting
High level of security
Social media integration
• Can share posts through a widget
Disadvantages
• Limits storage space and design
• Can’t host videos on the site, must embed them into your post

6. Blogging Platforms
LiveJournal!
• Advantages:
• Large volume of readers and users [10M-100M/month]
• Offers many blog templates
•
• Drag and drop, no coding
• Can customize with HTML if desired
Disadvantages:
• Doesn’t allow you to integrate social channels
• Can be slow and cumbersome

7. Setting up a blog
• Choose a theme that interests you
• Make sure that you have a constant stream of new content
• EX. A culinary blog where you teach people how to make certain
dishes
• EX. A blog on your industry (big data, cloud, MDM, etc.)
Select a blogging platform to use
•
• Customize your domain (if possible)
• Create the look and feel of your blog
• Start posting!

8. Writing a blog post
• Ground rules
• 500-700 words
• Include multimedia when possible
• Experts predict by 2015, the majority of SEO results will be
video*
• Catchy, on topic title
• Compelling content

9. Write Your Blog
• Write about a trending topic or something that is
noteworthy
• Add value to your readers
• Share your point of view about a topic, remember what is
obvious to you might not be obvious to someone else
• Write in an authentic tone
• Remember this is a blog post, not a press release – let your
personality show through in your writing!

10. Optimize Your Blog for Search
• Have keywords in mind
• Include keywords in:
•
• Title
• Heading
• Body
• Metadescription
• URL
Hyperlink within your blog
• Make sure the text matches the link
•
• EX. PowerCenter links to the PowerCenter product page
Categorize your blog post – make it easier to find within
your blog
• Tag your blog with keywords

11. Posting Your Blog
• Timing is everything
• Think about where your core audience is
• What is your content about?
• More technical or business related posts do better in the
morning – this is when journalists are looking for compelling
content to write about
• More personal interest related posts do better in the
afternoon/evening when people get off of work and are looking
for a leisurely read
• If you are posting on Perspectives make sure to reserve a time
and date

12. Promote Your Blog
• Promote via other social channels
• Leverage your social channels to spread the word widely –
LinkedIn Groups for technical/business blog posts are a
great way to generate more readership
• If you blog for Perspectives, the blog automatically will be
distributed from Informatica’s twitter and facebook profiles
• Add your blog to the Informatica Conversation Calendar
• Provide a set of tweets to promote and send to Alison by EOD
Thursday the week prior
• Comment on other relevant blogs
• Add value to them, do NOT just spam!
• Comment on something that they wrote and
follow up with a teaser and link to your blog

13. Questions?