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Blogging101final
This document provides an overview of blogging, including a brief history, different types of blogs, how to get started, developing a blog strategy, tips for success, building an audience, using analytics, and resources for images and keywords. Key points covered include the evolution of blogs from the 1990s to today, common blogging platforms, the importance of focus, tone, target audience and goals in a blog strategy, and tips for writing engaging blog posts and building readership over time.
Blogging101final
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- 7. • Short Historyof Blogging • Blogging Types/Platforms • Getting Started (platforms, writing, strategy) • Blog strategy exercise • Success Tips • Building an Audience/Analytics • Questions What we will cover
- 8. • Advent ofonline diaries = Early 1990’s • “Weblog” coined = 1997 • “Blog” coined =1999 • LiveJournal founded = 1999 • Advent of niche blogs = 2001 History of Blogs
- 9. • Single author/personalBlogs • Multi-author blogs • Microblogs (Twitter, Tumblr, Weibo) • Multi-media blogs (vlogs, photoblogs, sketchblogs) • Reverse/”reader generated” blogs Evolution of Blogging
- 10. o 6.7 Millionpeople blog on blogging platforms o 77% of Internet users read blogs o 23% of Internet time is spent on blogs o 14% of bloggers earn a salary through blogging o Average annual income = $24,000 o Average blogger salary = $33,000 o 95% of blogs abandoned after 120 days The “Blogosphere” today (stats from Pew, Technorati, Wordpress)
- 11. o Niche/Topic Blogs oSports o Pop Culture o Humor o Fashion Blogging Types
- 12. oReview/How-To Blogs o Makeup oRecipes o Fashion o Home Improvement Blogging Types
- 13. o Personal/Journal Blogs oDiary o Parenting o Photo/Travel Blogging Types
- 14. o Business/Professional Blogs (Marketing,Public Relations/Branding) o Internal/Employee Blogs o Business to Business blogs o Business to Consumer blogs Blogging Types
- 20. Four Things YouNeed To Get Started •Blogging Platform (Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Medium, Squarespace) •Host: (Host Gator, Blue Host) •Domain Name: (GoDaddy, Fat Cow, Web.com) •Analytics: (Google Analytics, Clicky)
- 21. Platforms in anutshell
- 22. How to choosethe right platform • Are you not super tech-savvy? (Wordpress.com, Medium) • Do you want to start for free? (Wordpress.com, Tumblr, Medium) • Do you want/need to host on your own server? (Wordpress.com, Squarespace) • Do you want to host ads? (Wordpress.com, Squarespace) • Do you have a specific niche audience you want to focus on (Medium, Tumblr)
- 23. Blog Strategy It’s notmeant to lock you in, but to keep you focused, and prevent you from becoming the 95%
- 24. Starting A BlogStrategy •Focus: Consider potential blog topics that you’re interested in and keep track of associated topics (also helpful for figuring out domain name and editorial calendar) What don’t you want write about? •Tone and Voice: Serious, Funny, Snarky, Academic? •Target Audience: (Men, Women, 20-somethings? Where do they live? What do they like? What else do they read?) •Competition/Affiliates: Research blogs similar to yours or blogs that you like. Keep an eye on high traffic blogs. •Endgame/Goal: What is it? To build a brand/establish expertise? Monetization? Promotion for business?
- 26. A Blog Strategy– The Learned Fangirl (2007- Present) •Focus: A woman-focused blog about pop culture and geek culture. Not newsy, more essay driven. •Tone and Voice: Smart but irreverent. A “slightly academic tone, “slow-read” and not newsy. •Target Audience: “Gen X/Gen Y Women who went to grad school in film studies and never use their degree.” •Competition/Affiliates: Bitch Magazine, Bust Magazine, The Mary Sue •Endgame/Goal: Build a platform for women writers doing smart pop culture criticism. Build a large enough audience to get ads/sponsorship to pay people.
- 27. What’s Your BlogStrategy? •Focus: •Tone and Voice: •Target Audience: •Competition/Affiliates: •Endgame/Goal:
- 28. Anatomy of aBlog Post Titles MatterTitles Matter Pick great artPick great art Link for contextLink for context Concise, snappy copyConcise, snappy copy
- 29. Blogging success tips •Writewith keywords (the words or phrases that Internet users search for online) in mind. •Be concise. Meandering sentences and wordy paragraphs can turn casual readers off (unless your focus is literary)
- 30. Break up yourcontent
- 31. Blogging success tips •Links to source/references are your way of adding “authority" as well as context. • Don’t go shorter than 300 words for a post (You’ll be penalized by Google), but if you go longer break up the text with subheaders for scannability
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- 33. Blogging success tips •Varycontent -- some items for "newbies" & some for return visitors. •Add context to newer blog posts by linking to your own previous posts -- establish a sense of authority and keep people reading. .
- 34. Blogging success tips •Setup some search engine alerts, follow recent news to become an expert over time and add value to your postings. . •Keep a schedule of blog post topics (at least at first) to get used to making it a habit.
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- 38. Blogging success tips •Sharebut don't steal (always attribute quotes/pictures to the original author) •Consider picture quality (original pictures if at all possible)
- 39. Building an Audience Findpower users and write great content for them to share SEO, Ads, Facebook and Twitter are great but to boost numbers significantly, don’t forget: • Stumbleupon • Reddit • Digg • Guest blogging on high-traffic sites • Conferences • Newsletter
- 40. Analytics Find out whoyour visitors are, what they are reading, what they are responding to. I do a weekly blog traffic report for my job: • Number of unique visitors • Most read posts • Referrers (what websites our visitors are coming from) • Clicks (what links people are going to most often.
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- 42. Resources Keyword Search • https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com •http://ubersuggest.org/ • http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/ • http://www.wordpot.com • http://keywordtool.io/ • http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/ /
- 43. Resources Free art • http://wikimedia.org •http://freerangestock.com/ • PhotoRogue.com • Photopin.com
Editor's Notes
- #8 1. Go over "As we may think" and why the link is important in blogging -- it is like a new part of speech. "Like we think" is what we would say today. 2. Lethem -- in a blog you can create a layered meta document which you author, but it includes contributions of various kinds. Be sure to attribute. Be sure to LINK, don't copy. 3. Quick overview of OS from software to a larger meaning. Tied to transparency, reputation as "currency" & social networks as important.
- #9 1. Go over "As we may think" and why the link is important in blogging -- it is like a new part of speech. "Like we think" is what we would say today. 2. Lethem -- in a blog you can create a layered meta document which you author, but it includes contributions of various kinds. Be sure to attribute. Be sure to LINK, don't copy. 3. Quick overview of OS from software to a larger meaning. Tied to transparency, reputation as "currency" & social networks as important.
- #10 1. Go over "As we may think" and why the link is important in blogging -- it is like a new part of speech. "Like we think" is what we would say today. 2. Lethem -- in a blog you can create a layered meta document which you author, but it includes contributions of various kinds. Be sure to attribute. Be sure to LINK, don't copy. 3. Quick overview of OS from software to a larger meaning. Tied to transparency, reputation as "currency" & social networks as important.
- #11 Quick look at a how big blogging is. Building a community, offering interesting content via links, putting people in touch with news they need--aggregating is a very good aim for a blog
- #12 Quick look at a how big blogging is. Building a community, offering interesting content via links, putting people in touch with news they need--aggregating is a very good aim for a blog
- #13 Quick look at a how big blogging is. Building a community, offering interesting content via links, putting people in touch with news they need--aggregating is a very good aim for a blog
- #14 Quick look at a how big blogging is. Building a community, offering interesting content via links, putting people in touch with news they need--aggregating is a very good aim for a blog
- #15 Quick look at a how big blogging is. Building a community, offering interesting content via links, putting people in touch with news they need--aggregating is a very good aim for a blog
- #21 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #22 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #23 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #25 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #27 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #28 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #30 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #31 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #32 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #33 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #34 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #35 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #36 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #37 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #38 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories
- #39 Blogging is building a community. It is like a space. Why will readers want to visit your site-- here are some ways to do that. Try and "write on top of the news." Give your audience facts, not just opinion and show the facts with links Give an old idea a new spin Link to get links "Perfect is the enemy of done" Focus on specifics and details -- localize stories