Presentation from the April 25th Zemanta NYC Meetup at WeWork Labs lounge.

1. Blogging 101
April 25, 2012
Tin Dizdarevic
tin@zemanta.com
@tdizdarevic | @zemanta

2. Will talk about:
• Why blogging?
• Platform choices
• Blogging basics
• SEO
• Social Media Integration

3. Why Blogging?
• Show the world why you’re good at what you do.
• Get search engine attention.
• Set yourself up as thought leader in your space
• It’s easy and cheap!

4. What to do?
• Create a simple spreadsheet to track ideas for posts
• Dedicate a time each week when you’ll write
• Start simple, find audience, go from there..
• Try to post at least once a week to start

5. Platforms
• WordPress.com (free basic service)
• WordPress.org on Hosted Service
• WordPress.com (paid service) and TypePad (paid
service)
• Blogger/Tumblr/SquareSpace/Posterous (specialized)

6. Perfect Post
One page of text
Simple language (SEO)
At least one image
Links to explanations
Further reading (internal & external)
Easy to share
Call to Action!

7. Examples of Posts
Influencer Interviews
- Create a set list of questions that you can reuse
- Allow for flexibility
- Best is in person > skype > phone > email
- Record the interview for use as video as well
- Take into account resources to transcribe and edit the interview

8. Examples of Posts

9. Examples of Posts
Industry Trends
- Quotes from relevant recent media coverage
- Links to blogs by influencers in your space
- Your organization’s stand on these trends

10. Examples of Posts

11. Examples of Posts
Customer Profile
- Highlight your best customers
- Show how they are using your organization’s services or
products (ideally with a video)
- Use direct quotes from the customer
- Allow them to write their own post in their own words
- Can be reused as case studies or can reuse existing material

12. Examples of Posts

13. Examples of Posts
Lists
- Quick links to 10-15 stories of note

14. Examples of Posts

15. SEO
• Domain Name
• Hosting
• CMS (content management system)
• Plugins
• Content
• Link Out
• Don’t give up!!
Also see post by John Doherty for more details:
http://www.zemanta.com/blog/seo-for-new-bloggers/

16. Social Media
• Use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to promote new
blog posts and help bring traffic to older posts.
• Engage with like-minded bloggers to get them to
comment about your blog post.

17. Plugin/Tools Directory
• Writing:
- InboundWriter
- Zemanta
- Enhanced Linking
• SEO:
• WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Scribe SEO by Copy Blogger
• Social Media:
• Buffer
• Twitter Tools
• Share Plugins (many options)
• Other:
• Urtak

18. Other Resources
• Zemanta Business • SEO Myths & WP Magic -
Blogging Series Casie Gillette
• HubSpot - Tremendous • 15 Must Have Tools for
resource for online Better Blogging -
marketing Contently
• Content Marketing • Ultimate Guide to
Institute Corporate Blogging-
OpenView Partners

19. Thank you!