blogging for business beginners
TRANSCRIPT
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Blogging for Business Beginners
Lorna SixsmithWrite On Track
www.writeontrack.ie
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, categorise, and optimise
• Editing photos• Connecting with other blogs• Preventing Bloggers Block• Calls to Action
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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
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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
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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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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
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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
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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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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
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Photo Manipulation
• Free Tool – Picmonkey• Resize photos• Create collages• Lower res photos for blogging• Rename photos• Put text on photos
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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
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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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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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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....’,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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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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’
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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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Commenting
• Become part of a community• Network• Write an engaging comment• Respond to comments on your blog• Comments lead to friendships and to business
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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 +
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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
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Find Lorna At:
• www.facebook.com/writeontrackresults• http://www.writeontrack.ie• http://www.linkedin.com/in/lornasixsmith• 086 1051007• www.twitter.com/writeontrack_L• [email protected]