How to blog successfully, including how to set up your blog, write a great blog post, how to I.D. your voice and tone, how to promote your blog.

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Secrets of Successful
Blogging
August 11, 2013
by Jen Beever
Center for Spiritual Living Granada Hills
How do I
…..?

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Agenda
• Introductions
• Facts about blogs
• Benefits of blogging
• What you need to set up a blog
• Elements of a great blog post
• How to promote your blog

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Blog Facts
• Definition:
– a personal Web site that provides updated headlines and news articles of
other sites that are of interest to the user, also may include journal
entries, commentaries and recommendations compiled by the user; also
written web log, Weblog; also called blog
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/weblog)
• Millions of blogs today
• 65% abandonment rate
– Business blogs, www.blogging.org
– +90% in 2008, www.technorati.org
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How Many Blogs?
• Tumblr.com - 101.7 Million blogs with 44.6 Billion
blog posts
• WordPress.com - 63 Million blogs
• Livejournal - 62.6 million blogs with
• Weebly - over 12 million blogs
• Blogster - over 582,754 blogs
• No clear stats for Blogger, Blogsome, or
Posterous.
--Blog post by Eric Pangborn
http://snitchim.com/how-many-blogs-are-there/#sthash.HDk2ziyD.dpuf
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Blog Stats
• Jeff Bullas Blogging Infographic
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/08/02/blogging-
statistics-facts-and-figures-in-2012-infographic/
• Eric Pangborn blog post
http://snitchim.com/how-many-blogs-are-
there/#sthash.HDk2ziyD.dpuf
• 2011 Nielsen Report
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/b
uzz-in-the-blogosphere-millions-more-bloggers-
and-blog-readers.html
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Not a writer?
• Video blog
– http://www.jakeandamir.com/post/422416
661/couch
• Post podcasts
• Post art / photos / images
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Sample Blogs
• Tumblr – http://scienceofmindblog.tumblr.com/
• Wordpress -
http://nickandrea19.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/scie
nce-of-mind/
• Self-hosted Wordpress -
http://michaelhyatt.com/ez-wordpress-setup.html
• Typepad blog - http://daryllorettecafe.typepad.com/
• Google Blogger - http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
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More Sample Blogs
• Livejournal -
http://lisayee.livejournal.com/
http://blue-succubus.livejournal.com/
• Blogster -
http://www.blogster.com/rusty-armor/
• Weebly - http://bibisart.weebly.com/
http://david.weebly.com/index.html
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Blogging Benefits
• Creative self expression
• You don’t have to be a writer
• Repurpose your blog into a book or
podcast
• Google likes blogs – dynamic content!
• Helpful information for your audience
– Content marketing is the new success
tactic
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Marketing Change & Google
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Old
• One to many
• Synchronous
• “Push” marketing
• Geographic
barriers
• Unique Selling
Proposition
• Sales funnel
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New
• Many to many
• Asynchronous
• “Pull” marketing
• Geographic
boundaries fall
• UBN: Unique
Buying Need
• Buying funnel
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“Old” SEO
(still working)
• Meta Tags (for Yahoo & Bing)
• Content - rich with keywords
• Links (Google doesn’t like spammy links)
• Changing content – dynamic sites
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New SEO = SMO
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What You Need to Start
• Topic
• Voice
• Potential Audience
• Register URL / custom domain? - $10
– Host – GoDaddy - $6/month
– Install WordPress
– Select Template
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Purpose / Topic / Voice
• 3 Objectives
• 5-10 topics you want to write about
• What’s your tone of voice?
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• Funny
• Sarcastic
• Helpful
• Spiritual
• Heartfelt
• Controversial
• Witty
• Sincere
• Silly
• Reflective

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Purpose / Topic / Voice
• You can mix and match!
– Categories
– Themes
• Monday – How to
• Wednesday – Theoretical
• Friday – Opinion / Controversy
– Spin Sucks – Friday Gin and Topics
– Maine PR Maven – Monday PR Profile
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Elements of a Blog Post
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headline
byline
lead-in
Blog name
about/photo
Photo / graphic

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More Elements of a Blog Post
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More Blog Elements
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call to action
comment
share
options

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A Real Blog Post Exercise
(the blog post link has been removed from public view)
• Length?
• Topic?
• Headline?
• Other
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Blog Directories (free)
• http://www.dmoz.org
• http://technorati.com
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Promote Your Blog Posts
• RSS Feed (Feedburner)
• Email signature line (general link)
• LinkedIn Profile & Discussion Groups
• Facebook Personal Profile, Co Page
• Twitter
• Emails to contacts
• Google Author, Google +
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RSS Feed
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Email Signature Line
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How to Set up a Custom Email Signature in Outlook
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ5nJH0fJyw)

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LinkedIn Status Update –
(semi – manual)
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LinkedIn Groups – (manual)
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Facebook Co Page – (auto)
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Twitter – (auto)
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Email or eNewsletter
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Google Author -
https://plus.google.com/authorship
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Questions/Feedback
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• CMO for Hire
• Strategic Marketing Consulting
• Certified Inbound Marketing Professional
•
• 818-347-4248
• www.newincite.com
Don’t Leave Your Marketing to Chance
Jennifer Beever
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