expanding your blog audience
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Expanding Your Blog Audience
Mandy Jenkins@mjenkins
#CTSocial May 2012
Reasons You Might Blog
O Give commentary & analysis outside your reporting
O Explore a passion outside your beat
O Tap into a niche community around a place or topic
O Publish your notebook’s “extras”
O Publish user-generated content
O Publish brief info around a subject area
It’s Not A Dumping Ground For Unwanted Content
Posting BasicsOThere’s no such thing as
too long or too short a post (just too boring)
O Have a descriptive and SEO-friendly title
O Get to the point right away
#1: Find Your VoiceOThink like
you’re talking to someone over writing a story or column
ORead your posts out loud
Don’t Be Afraid of Opinion
* When in doubt, ask your editor
#2: What a Link Can Do
OAdd context and backgroundOBring in other points of viewOCite your sources and give
attributionOLends authority to your assertionsOEncourage link-backs from othersOImprove your SEO
#3: Keep Content Fresh
O Posts consistently and often
O Post when your readers are online
O Keep evergreen posts at hand for slow times
O Get creative
Think Beyond TextO Interesting bits
of social mediaO New
videos/photos from your staff and beyond
O Source documents
O Maps
O InfographicsO DatabasesO Resource links
and documentsO FormsO PollsO What else?
When Stumped for Posts: Think Like A Curator
You’re reading and researching this stuff daily – so share it.
Curated Posts
O Daily/Weekly “Link Round-ups”
O A single piece of source material can be the start for a post
O Milk a hot topic to death
Set Email AlertsO Google.com/alertsO YouTube alertsO TweetBeep.com
Watch Trends
Trendsmap.com
#4: Be Easy On the Eyes
O Break long posts into readable chunks w/headers
O Use visualsO Use lists & bulletsO Be brief when possible
#5: Be of the WebO Reach out to other bloggers in
your topic area, link oftenO Get listed on topic listsO Leave good comments on other
blogs w/link back to your blogO Maintain a blogroll of related
sites/blogs
Showcase Your ExpertiseO Answer questions from
your topic area on Quora, LinkedIn or WikiAnswers
O Participate in panels and the like
O Have an “about” page or post
#6: Be a promotion whoreO Share links to your blog
posts often and on many channels
O Put URL in your email signature
O Put URL on business cardsO Put URL on every social
profile
#7: Engage Your Readers
O Always respond to comments
O Answer questions above all else
O Take the conversation to social media – and vice versa
Get ResponseO End most posts with a
question “Does this affect you? What do you think?”
O Actually use responses in future posts/stories
O Crowdsource in your blog posts
Encourage Good Comments
O Do a “mailbag” feature to answer questions
O Allow guest posts O Write posts around
interesting commentsO Feature their tweets/FB
comments in posts
More IdeasO Give surveys to your
readersO Hold contests and gamesO Hold regular reader chatsO Meet readers IRL, hold
meetups
Mandy Jenkinsmjenkins@digitalfirstmedia.com
@mjenkinsBlog: Zombiejournalism.com
These slides & more at slideshare.net/mandyjenkins
THANKS!
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