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Webmarketing

Blogging

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TIME

• 2006 – person of the year

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What’s a Blog ?

• Forums• BBS• Online Communities• Personal Logs

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Blog

• Title• Description• Search• Entries• Tag Cloud

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Why a Blog ?

• Attract an Audience• Inform, Interact and Learn from tha audience• Retain your Audience• Energize your Audience and Motivate Action• Recruit help and contract employees• Respond to Customers

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Blog Side-Effects

• Grow Links for traffic and to improve search rankings

• Build familiarity and trust• Communicate and establish your brand• Grow a sense of Community• Offer a better service• Initiate more sales

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Some Characteristics

• Browser Based Blog Platforms– Easy post– Reverse Chronological Order– One-Click Editing features– Permalinks– Blogrolls– TrackBacks

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Top 5 Mashable Reader Blogging Platforms Platforms

5. Livejournal

4. Tumblr

3. Posterous

2. Blogger

1. Wordpress

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Blog Types• Personal Blogs• Topic Blogs• CEO Blog

– Executive Blog• Group Blog• Company Platform• Advocacy Blog• Promotional Blog

– Sponsored Blogs• Media Blogs

http://www.slideshare.net/rohitbhargava/the-25-basic-styles-of-blogging-and-when-to-use-each-one

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Top CEO Blogs1. Jonathan Schwartz (President & CEO, Sun Microsystems)2. Craig Newmark (CEO, Craig’s List)3. Mark Cuban (Owner, Dallas Mavericks)4. Ross Mayfield (CEO, Socialtext)5. Matt Blumberg (CEO, Return Path)6. Alan Meckler (CEO, Jupiter Media)7. Kevin Lynch (Chief Software Architect, Adobe)8. Robin Hopper (CEO, Founder – iUpload)9. Jason Calacanis (CEO, Weblogs)10. John Dragoon (CMO, Novell)

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The Social Media Marketing BlogA Year @Ford

The early results were impressive: SMPR material used in over 5,000 posts and articles, Flickr photos viewed over 120,000 times, and over 500 subscribers on the YouTube channel with over 1.2 million views of 140 videos.

Read more: http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/07/year-at-ford-part-1.html#ixzz0wMfLT9OI

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Advocacy Blogs1. RaceWire: RaceWire follows stories about race in economics, politics2. The Race Equity Project: This blog focuses civil rights and race issues 3. culture kitchen: This smart blog mostly follows race and politics, 4. Afro-Netizen: This blog follows news stories and pop culture on African Americans 5. Racialicious: representation of race in pop culture 6. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: This blog uncovers civil liberties 7. The Angry Black Woman: about “politics, race, gender, sexuality” and “anger,” 8. The Field Negro: considers all types of racial issues in politics, 9. Race Blog: “Religion, Race and Discrimination” and “Drive-By Racists.”10. Latino Politics Blog: Texas and California politics, abortion, education and more

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Blogs Vs….

• Websites:– Static Pages of information or sales letters

• Newsletter:– Information sent to inbox to drive action

• Forum:– Conversation and interaction

• Blogs combine all the above !!!!

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Is Blogging Right for you?

• Is it a no-brainer ¡?– Do you want to do it ? – Do you have a topic in mind ?– Are you passionate about the topic ?– Are you knowledgeable about the topic ?– Do You communicate well ?– Do you have a thick skin ?

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What is your edge ?

Audience Needs

ExperienceYour Positioning

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What to talk about?

What you Know What they Want

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Is blogging only for writers ?

• LISTEN !– Technorati

• http://technorati.com/

– Google• http://blogsearch.google.com/

– BlogPulse• http://www.blogpulse.com/

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Is blogging only for writers ?

• Engage

– Comment

– Link too

– Link from

– Answer

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Why Should I care ?

• Website maintained by an individual:– Commentary– Thoughts– Ideas– Photos– Graphics– Audio – Video

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Attract, Retain, Recruit

BLOG

SE

O

EMAILRSSTWITTER

REFERALSFORWARDSRE-TWEETS

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Drive Them HOME

Blog

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Write ! - Secrets to Success• Succint• Transparent• Responsive• Accepting• Insightful• Genuine

• Humorous

• Timely

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Succinct

• http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/succinct – marked by compact precise expression without

wasted words– Keep entries short ! – Make your point quickly– RSS– Keep Headlines declarative and clear

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Transparent

• Never try to fool or mislead people.

• Reveal objectives and motivations

• … it can be a long time before you (or your brand) regain credibility

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Responsive

• Blogs invite comments by their nature.

• Acknowledge responses ! • Moderate dont Censor

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Accepting

• Its inevitable that you’ll hear from critics.• Accept their comments.• Its ok to ignore flamers

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Insightful

• Give People a reason to read your blog • Provide insight about an issue. ANY ISSUE• Demonstrate that you know what you are

talking about

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Genuine

• Show readers that there’s a human behind the screen.

• Use Anecdotes to illustrate a point. • Talk “I” instead of “we”. • You are a person, not a press

release !

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Humorous

• No one expects you to be a laugh riot but a funny story will always be appreciated.

• Again… be human

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Timely

• Make your topics current and relevant. • Respond• Update• Generate activity !

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Write ! - Secrets to Success• Succint• Transparent• Responsive• Accepting• Insightful• Genuine

• Humorous

• Timely

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Who should NOT blog?

• Be present, Be interested, Be authentic• Listen, Serve, Delight• Starting a blog, raises expectations of

openness and interactivity

IF YOU DON’T WANT A CONVERSATIONDON’T START ONE !

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Stickiness

• Harder + More Expensive to attract new visitors

• Happy Loyal visitors are also much more valuable than a constant stream of strangers.

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Some Extra Tips:

• Start Slow• Have an objective !

– Get a job? Generate Business ? Tell the world about… ?

– Dont do it alone– Be creative– Be personal– Do what comes naturally

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Donts !

• Don’t Me-Me-Me - its not all about you !• Don’t Force It• Don’t Over-sell - Give • Don’t use unatural talk • Don’t Control• Don’t IGNORE the audience !

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Activity (optional)• Define platform• Post Often• Use Catchy Phrases• Ask questions• Comment on other blogs - often• Use multimedia• Structure for scanning • Choose a topic• Dont copy

• About Page• Be Real• Travel and link• Decide on mission• Use Photo Galleries• Dont overload• Be yourself• Link to social profiles• Spend time reading