This document provides guidance for business owners on starting and maintaining an effective business blog. It covers topics such as defining what a blog is, the benefits of blogging, choosing a blogging platform, optimizing blog posts for search engines, adding images and links, engaging readers through calls to action, and preventing blogger's block. The overall goal is to help businesses use blogging to improve search engine optimization, drive more traffic and leads to their website, and increase their online presence and brand awareness.
Marketing has changed dramatically in the past decade, and we’ve entered a new frontier. Reaching clients and potential customers used to be a costly venture – with long printing wait-times and pricey postage. Today, online marketing options offer us a free way to keep in touch with our current spheres and reach potential new clients, but the rules are different. This new school of marketing, with its multitude of social media platforms and opportunities, requires a new kind of marketing savvy and can be overwhelming to navigate. This course teaches you how to combine tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (and more!) along with email marketing and blogging, with the tried-and-true marketing techniques you already know. An intermediate to advanced session for those who are already comfortable with using Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, and other social networks to promote their businesses, this class will look at writing a social media business plan, having a workable strategy, and integrating your social media efforts into a cohesive online marketing plan. We'll also take a look at how to pare down your social media use to a laser-sharp focus to maximize your time and efficiency.
Learn to monitor the web for your brand, product or keyword mentions using nothing but free tools like Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, and Google Alerts.
More info at http://bit.ly/optimareader
Marketing has changed dramatically in the past decade, and we’ve entered a new frontier. Reaching clients and potential customers used to be a costly venture – with long printing wait-times and pricey postage. Today, online marketing options offer us a free way to keep in touch with our current spheres and reach potential new clients, but the rules are different. This new school of marketing, with its multitude of social media platforms and opportunities, requires a new kind of marketing savvy and can be overwhelming to navigate. This course teaches you how to combine tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (and more!) along with email marketing and blogging, with the tried-and-true marketing techniques you already know. An intermediate to advanced session for those who are already comfortable with using Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, and other social networks to promote their businesses, this class will look at writing a social media business plan, having a workable strategy, and integrating your social media efforts into a cohesive online marketing plan. We'll also take a look at how to pare down your social media use to a laser-sharp focus to maximize your time and efficiency.
Learn to monitor the web for your brand, product or keyword mentions using nothing but free tools like Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, and Google Alerts.
More info at http://bit.ly/optimareader
Welcome to a world of conversations and relationships. Facebook is not an evil time-waster, a community just for college students, or something scary or irrelevant for marketers – even you B2B folks. Facebook is a tool (a social utility, as they would say) for connecting people with those around them. And, as with any social media tool, marketers have an opportunity to use Facebook to expand their online footprint and engage with customers directly.
Topics include:
1) Why social media and Facebook are important
2)Tips for increasing your business presence & engaging with prospects directly on Facebook
3) What to measure and how to track the success of your Facebook programs
Building Amazing Author Websites:The Absolute Necessities by Deborah CarneyDeborah Carney
Authors need a website in addition to a social presence as a home base to build their platform.
What are the absolute necessities to building an amazing author website that attracts readers?
Amazon or other booksellers have hundreds of thousands of books – how can you be found?
Home Base – all your social points to home
Search Engine Optimization – Give the search engines a way to find you
Talk directly to your fans and potential fans
Your website needs to represent you as if you were standing in a bookstore selling your books, doing a reading from your books or were at a book signing.
Doug Devitre presents to the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri on 'Generating Sales Through Social Media'. Create profiles that build your authority in your niche, script dialogues on common conversations online and craft an online community of raving fans using common social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Explode your communication on to other blogs and websites using RSS, status updates, and widgets. Dominate the online discussion boards while spending no money and limited time.
Road Blog: Becoming a Travel Blogger for Fun or ProfitMari Kane
So, you love to write and you want to travel. You think you’d like to start a travel blog, but wait! How exactly do you start a travel blog?
Writer/blogger Mari Kane will explain how to get your blog together and take it on the road.
The BACTW Communication Director blogs on BCATW.org as well as managing and contributing to numerous blogs, many of which she has built. On one of her blogs, Blogsite Studio, she gives weekly advice on how to blog with WordPress and she has authored two ebooks about blogging on WordPress, Create a WordPress Website in Ten Easy Steps and Escalate Your WordPress Website: Twelve Ways to Take Your Blog to a Higher Level.
At a BCATW Meetup on July 8, Mari showed travel writers:
• How to choose a niche and domain name
• The blogging ecosystem
• How to create a beautiful design
• What to write for your blog
• The importance of images
• How traffic = monetization
• Why be a joiner
Subscribe to Mari's blog at http://blogsitestudio and follow her @blogsitestudio
Visit BC Association of Travel Writers at http://bcatw.org
A presentation for Community Media Workshop's Making Media Connections Conference created with Stephen Franklin. Steve's a spiritual guy, thus the presentation name change to Nirvana. :) He provides lots of great examples of nonprofit blogs. The technical insights come from me. :)
The African Blogging Journey by Moses Kemibaro at WordCamp Kenya 2011Moses Kemibaro
The African Blogging Journey is a presentation I gave at the inaugural WordCamp Kenya 2011 where I spoke about my experiences in blogging over 4 years and gave tips on what works and does not work.
Latest off page seo techniques to boost your blog rankingFakharuddin Manik
Follow latest off page SEO Techniques to rank your blog/website easily in the SERPs. This will help to get huge search traffic to your blog. Follow these SEO techniques and rank your blog easily & quickly.
How to use facebook for your business, learn what is important in your facebook marketing, the importance of creating compelling content and how to do it, along with many more tips for facebook management.
The seminar was presented in March 2012 to the Canadian Association of Professional Speaker's Toronto Chapter.
It's a step be step guide to creating your own social media and internet strategy.
Welcome to a world of conversations and relationships. Facebook is not an evil time-waster, a community just for college students, or something scary or irrelevant for marketers – even you B2B folks. Facebook is a tool (a social utility, as they would say) for connecting people with those around them. And, as with any social media tool, marketers have an opportunity to use Facebook to expand their online footprint and engage with customers directly.
Topics include:
1) Why social media and Facebook are important
2)Tips for increasing your business presence & engaging with prospects directly on Facebook
3) What to measure and how to track the success of your Facebook programs
Building Amazing Author Websites:The Absolute Necessities by Deborah CarneyDeborah Carney
Authors need a website in addition to a social presence as a home base to build their platform.
What are the absolute necessities to building an amazing author website that attracts readers?
Amazon or other booksellers have hundreds of thousands of books – how can you be found?
Home Base – all your social points to home
Search Engine Optimization – Give the search engines a way to find you
Talk directly to your fans and potential fans
Your website needs to represent you as if you were standing in a bookstore selling your books, doing a reading from your books or were at a book signing.
Doug Devitre presents to the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri on 'Generating Sales Through Social Media'. Create profiles that build your authority in your niche, script dialogues on common conversations online and craft an online community of raving fans using common social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Explode your communication on to other blogs and websites using RSS, status updates, and widgets. Dominate the online discussion boards while spending no money and limited time.
Road Blog: Becoming a Travel Blogger for Fun or ProfitMari Kane
So, you love to write and you want to travel. You think you’d like to start a travel blog, but wait! How exactly do you start a travel blog?
Writer/blogger Mari Kane will explain how to get your blog together and take it on the road.
The BACTW Communication Director blogs on BCATW.org as well as managing and contributing to numerous blogs, many of which she has built. On one of her blogs, Blogsite Studio, she gives weekly advice on how to blog with WordPress and she has authored two ebooks about blogging on WordPress, Create a WordPress Website in Ten Easy Steps and Escalate Your WordPress Website: Twelve Ways to Take Your Blog to a Higher Level.
At a BCATW Meetup on July 8, Mari showed travel writers:
• How to choose a niche and domain name
• The blogging ecosystem
• How to create a beautiful design
• What to write for your blog
• The importance of images
• How traffic = monetization
• Why be a joiner
Subscribe to Mari's blog at http://blogsitestudio and follow her @blogsitestudio
Visit BC Association of Travel Writers at http://bcatw.org
A presentation for Community Media Workshop's Making Media Connections Conference created with Stephen Franklin. Steve's a spiritual guy, thus the presentation name change to Nirvana. :) He provides lots of great examples of nonprofit blogs. The technical insights come from me. :)
The African Blogging Journey by Moses Kemibaro at WordCamp Kenya 2011Moses Kemibaro
The African Blogging Journey is a presentation I gave at the inaugural WordCamp Kenya 2011 where I spoke about my experiences in blogging over 4 years and gave tips on what works and does not work.
Latest off page seo techniques to boost your blog rankingFakharuddin Manik
Follow latest off page SEO Techniques to rank your blog/website easily in the SERPs. This will help to get huge search traffic to your blog. Follow these SEO techniques and rank your blog easily & quickly.
How to use facebook for your business, learn what is important in your facebook marketing, the importance of creating compelling content and how to do it, along with many more tips for facebook management.
The seminar was presented in March 2012 to the Canadian Association of Professional Speaker's Toronto Chapter.
It's a step be step guide to creating your own social media and internet strategy.
Blogging 101 - Presentation on how to build and manage a successful content w...Robert Scales
Blogging 101 - From "what is a blog?" to "how to write original content" and user engagement, this presentation covers the basic information you'll need to start your own dynamic content publishing website (Blog).
Webinar: Should a blog be a part of your marketing plan?Sonnhalter
Sonnhalter drew from its blogging experiences and developed a list of questions to help manufacturers decide if a blog is the right choice for their organization and gives them advice on how to get started in the world of blogging. John Sonnhalter and Rachel Kerstetter present the questions that need answered before starting a blog and give advice for integrating a blog into your marketing plan.
SEC Copywriter & Social Media Consultant Gloria Rand shows you the Blogging Blueprint that will help you quickly and easily get more web traffic and sales.
With so many kind of social media and online networks, is good ol’ blogging still useful for business? Yes! This session, intended for independent professionals and business owners, will cover the basics of why and how to create a blog for business, and then how to go beyond the basics to make something amazing. Why blog, how to start, where to find content, how to connect it with other marketing and business processes, and where to find help (especially free resources).
This is an introductory presentation on blogging for business.
Learn what blogging is and how it can help grow your business. Discover what to blog about, how to craft a good blog post, and how to measure your success.
Presented by Drew Becker of Convey Media Group and Stephen Peacock of Peacock Creative Services to the Fuquay-Varina Chamber of Commerce June, 2012.
Organic traffic is one of the best ways to get authentic viewers to your website. Our top 9 ways to drive traffic include: Blogging, Optimize For Your Persona, Guest Blogging, Long Tailed Keywords, Social Media, Video, Great Headlines, Pictures and Internal Links.
Digital Marketing for ISMT College for BSC. IT College about Content Marketing, Digital Marketing opportunity in Nepal and how to do content marketing.
How do you write effectively for readers on the web? We all read printed text very differently to how we read text on our computer screens and it is estimated that we only read 28% of text online.
Here's how to attract readers to your blog and keep them reading.
Looking for help with Facebook? Our slides include tips on creating compelling content, using the new changes such as offers and promotions, engaging more people and improving the ratio of people 'talking about ' your page.
Learn how to use Pinterest effectively for your business.
See examples of pins for visual and non-visual businesses.
Learn about pin etiquette and more
Effective blogging for your business june 2012Write On Track
How to blog effectively for your business
What makes a good business blog post?
Tips for creating effective calls to action.
Traffic to expect from a new blog
Are you wondering how you can achieve 100% completeness on your Linked In profile? Wondering how to improve your Linked In profile. These slides take you through some tips on how to use Linked In effectively and how to update your profile so it is engaging and impressive.
Wondering why you should blog?
How you should blog?
Wondering how often you should blog?
Which platform you should use?
Wondering how to increase your blog traffic?
2. How To Blog
• What is a blog?
• Why blog?
• Various Blogging Platforms
• Google Keyword Tool
• Set up a wordpress.com blog
• How to add
text, photos, links, tags, catego
rise, and optimise
• Editing photos
• Connecting with other blogs
• Preventing Bloggers Block
• Calls to Action
www.writeontrack.ie
3. What is a Blog?
• A blog is a page on your
website
• Similar to diary entries as
they permit frequent
updates.
• Blogs can be standalone
websites
• Blogs can be used to tell
your customers what your
product/service can do for
them - Benefits
www.writeontrack.ie
4. Why Blog?
Benefits of Blogging
• To improve SEO
• To drive more traffic to your
website & increase sales
• Communicate with customers
• To increase brand awareness
• More PR and media attention
• Credibility
• Trustworthiness
• Core of online presence
www.writeontrack.ie
5. More Reasons To Blog
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more
leads each month
• B2C companies that blog generate 88% more
leads per month
• Companies that blog have 55% more visitors
• Source Hubspot
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6. How to Blog Effectively
• Writing good titles
• Effective opening paragraphs
• Adding Images to posts
• Hyperlinking correctly
• Increasing backlinks
• Using the Keyword Tool
• Using the All in One SEO plug
in
• Effective Calls to Action
www.writeontrack.ie
7. A.I.D.A
• Attract attention with a great title
• Interest them in your topic
• Desire – arouse desire for your product or
service but don’t give away all the informtion
• Action – always end with a call to action
www.writeontrack.ie
8. Blogging Platforms
• Tumblr – micro blogging, great for photo blogs
• Blogspot – owned by google, free, great for
personal blogging, easy to use
• Wordpress.com – hosted by wordpress (can pay
$30 pa to rid url of wordpress part and ensure no
ads shown
• Wordpress.org – for business use, requires self
hosting
• It is possible to move a blogspot or wp.com to
wordpress.org
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9. Google Keyword Research Tool
• Free
• Need a gmail email account
• Type in your word/phrase
• Select country/language
• Aim for low competition
and high search results
• Look at the suggestions too
• Use 3 or 4 keywords per
post
www.writeontrack.ie
10. Photo Manipulation
• Free Tool – Picmonkey
• Resize photos
• Create collages
• Lower res photos for blogging
• Rename photos
• Put text on photos
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11. Starting a Wordpress blog
• Go to wordpress.com
• Start a New Blog
• Decide on domain name (see what’s available)
• How to choose a theme
• How to add your header
• Static page – blog page
• About Us page
www.writeontrack.ie
12. Blog Categories
• Good for Navigation
• Readers can tell at a glance
what your blog is about
• Good for SEO
• Choose a Max of 5 categories
• Ensure they are relevant
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13. Tags for Your Blog
• Tags will be picked up by Wordpress / Searchers
• Tags are keywords that people may search for
• Ensure the tags are used in the body of the post
too
• Max of 8 tags
• You might have 20 categories but thousands of
tags for your blog
• Tag Cloud
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14. Hook Readers with a Great Title
• List Titles – 10 Ways to ......, 9 Secrets of ....
• Keyword comes first in a statement – Wallpaper
Wednesday: 3 Nautical Wallpapers
• ‘How to’ – How to write a blog post a day
• Promises – e.g. The Best Way To ..., The Ultimate Guide
to ....
• Rhetorical Questions with personal pronouns – e.g. Do
you know how to upholster a chair?
• Benefits – e.g. Free, Create ... in minutes,
• Part of a club – e.g. What Everybody Knows ...’, Join Us
For....’,
www.writeontrack.ie
15. Opening Lines for your Blog Post
• Start with a question that either makes them answer
‘yes’ and read on or will make them want to find out
the answer.
• Start with a statistic
• Start with a reader’s question
• Begin with a quotation
• Tell the readers what benefits they will achieve by
reading the post
• State a common problem
• Make a controversial statement
• Begin a story
www.writeontrack.ie
16. Importance of Adding Photos
• Photos break up the text
• Add visual relief
• Demonstrate your points
• Useful for Pinterest
• Essential
• Credit the Source
• Photopin.com – useful
source of photos
www.writeontrack.ie
17. Prevent Bloggers Block
• Brainstorm
• Keep a list of topics
• Read related material
• Think benefits, not features
• Let personality shine
• Interviews
• Save drafts, schedule posts
• Guest bloggers
• Regular topic once a week
• Interaction
• Exercise
www.writeontrack.ie
18. Calls to Action
• Always ask your readers to do something
• Like your facebook page / follow you on twitter
• Ask them to share the post with their friends if
they enjoyed it
• Ask them to sign up for your newsletter
• Ask a question and ask them to let you know
their opinion in the comment box
• Ask them to check out the product you were
writing about
www.writeontrack.ie
19. How to get good traffic to your blog
• Highly searched keywords into blog post
• Use keyword analysis tool
• Comment on other blogs – community
• Tweet links to your blog posts
• Use Stumbleupon or similar
• Offer sneak peeks, giveaways, contests,
• Be original, topical or slightly controversial
www.writeontrack.ie
20. Inbound Links
• Inbound links – links from other websites/blogs
• Calibre of link depends on where it comes from
• Commenting on other blogs = ‘no follow’ now
• Guest post on other blogs or directories
• Exchange links with complimentary businesses
e.g florist/wedding cars
• Ask suppliers/customers/networks to list you on
their website
• Write great content – others will link to your post
www.writeontrack.ie
21. Cross Links
• Cross links are links within your own website
and blog (or websites owned by you)
• Linking to other blog posts on related content
• Include highly searched keywords within the
hyperlink
• Don’t use ‘click here’ for the link, web users
now understand they need to click when they
see the highlighted text.
www.writeontrack.ie
22. Adding Images to Posts
• Place cursor where you
want image to go
• Click icon and browser
upload
• Upload photo
• Insert Title, description etc
• Choose size and position for
the image
• Click insert into post
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23. Creating Hyperlinks
• Highlight the link (use
descriptive language rather
than ‘click here’)
• Click the link icon
• Paste in the link address
• Click for ‘open in new
window’
• All these instructions can be
found on the Write on Track
blog in ‘For Beginners’
www.writeontrack.ie
24. All in One SEO PlugIn
• Free with wordpress.org
• Has to be a self hosted blog
• On the ‘new post’ page at
the bottom
• This will show up on the
search page
• Include keywords
• Call to action in the opening
160 characters
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25. Commenting
• Become part of a community
• Network
• Write an engaging comment
• Respond to comments on your blog
• Comments lead to friendships and to business
www.writeontrack.ie
26. Social Sharing
• Don’t just click publish, you also need to ....
• Pin your post to Pinterest
• Tweet a link to your post
• Share your post on Facebook
• (if business-related) share your post to Linked
In
• Share your post on Google +
www.writeontrack.ie
27. KLCK Bloggers Network
• Join the KLCK Bloggers Network
• www.facebook.com/klckbloggersnetwork
• Monthly meetings – free
• Kildare, Laois, Carlow and Kilkenny
• Next Meetings – Monday 8th April in
Portlaoise, Monday 6th May in Kilkenny
• Don’t forget the Blog Awards – nominations
open 1st June
www.writeontrack.ie