Slides: SlideShare.net/HubSpot

Twitter: @rickburnesTwitter: @rickburnes

Advanced Business Blogging

Rick BurnesHubSpot InboundHubSpot Inbound Marketing Manager

Agenda

I. Why Blog?II. Five Keys to a Successful Blog

1. Pick Your Target Personas1. Pick Your Target Personas2. Create a Mix of Posts3 Write Great Posts3. Write Great Posts4. Sustain It5 Spread It5. Spread It

III. How to measure your blog

Outbound Marketing

800-555-1234AnnoyingSalesperson

Inbound Marketing

Content SEO Social Media

Rethinking MarketingOutbound Marketing• Telemarketing

Inbound Marketing• SEO / SEM

• Trade shows• Direct mail• Email blasts

• Blogging• Social Media• RSS• Email blasts

• Print ads• TV/radio ads

• RSS• Free tools/trials• Viral videos

Interruption Permission

Budget vs. Brains

Flickr: Refracted MomentsFlickr: Refracted Moments Flickr: Gaetoan LeeFlickr: Gaetoan Lee

Exponential Effects

S i l M diSEO

Social Media• Even More Traffic

Blog • More Traffic• More Links

• Even More Traffic• Even More Links• More Contentg More Links

More Content Drives More Visitors & Power

10,000,000

Average Pages per Website by Page Rank

1,000,000

pages

100,000

# of W

ebp

10,000Average 

1,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Page Rank (10 is best)

More Content Drives More Visitors & Power

1,000,000 

Average Pages per Website by Alexa Traffic Rank

100,000 bpages

,

ge # of W

eb

10,000 

Averag

1,000 > 10,000,000 (Extremely Low 

Traffic)

5,000,001 to 10,000,000 (Very Low 

1,000,001 to 5,000,000 (Low 

Traffic)

500,001 to 1,000,000 (Medium 

100,001 to 500,000 (High 

Traffic)

< 100,000 (Very High Traffic)

Traffic) Traffic)

Alexa Traffic Rank

Earlier Webinar Covered the Basics

This webinar will not cover:• Why you should blog• Why you should blog• How to setup a blog• How to follow other bloggers• How to follow other bloggers• How to join blogging conversations

Blogging software you can use• Blogging software you can use

All th t’ i “Bl i f B i ”All that’s in “Blogging for Business”http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-webinars/blogging-for-business-webinar-archive/

Agenda

I. Why Blog?II. Five Keys to a Successful Blog

1. Pick Your Target Personas1. Pick Your Target Personas2. Create a Mix of Posts3 Write Great Posts3. Write Great Posts4. Sustain It5 Spread It5. Spread It

III. How to measure your blog

Key #1: Identify Target Personas

Kadient photo by: David Meerman Scott

Your Content Pulls in Your Personas

“Create the kind of online content that your buyers naturally gravitate to.”

- David Meerman ScottAuthor of The New Rules of

Marketing & PRMarketing & PRwww.webinknow.com

What Keywords Will Attract Your Personas?

• Fill posts with them• Fill posts with them• Build an archive of content full of them

How We Pick Keywords: Keyword Grader

A Word of Caution

• Writing for your personas DOES NOT mean writingDOES NOT mean writing about the products and services you sell themservices you sell them

• Write about the things they want to learn aboutwant to learn about

Key #2: Create a Mix of Posts

Flickr Photo: jek-a-go-go

Plan a Mix of Posts

NewsOpinion

FeaturehPhotos

Video

Many Types of Posts Get Traffic

PostPage Views

Post

Did You Graduate From Link Building High School Yet11,270

State of the Twittersphere ‐ Q4 2008 Report 8,768

You Oughta Know Inbound Marketing 7 498You Oughta Know Inbound Marketing 7,498

6 Tips for Making a Business Marketing Video 4,211

Twitter in Real Life: The Follow Back [cartoon] 4,137

Raisin Bran – Basic, Everyday Posts

• How to postsp• Rich in keywords• Get good at• Get good at

whipping them outout

• Make sure they’re sef luseful

Flickr Photo: greeneyesmilw

Spinach – Healthy, Thoughtful Posts

• Should establish ityour site as a

thought leader in th i d tthe industry

• Put time into them

• Don’t do too many

Flickr Photo: ulteriorepicture

Roasts – Big Blog Projects

• Lots of work• Lots of links,

discussion and attention

• Pick them well

Tabasco – Posts That Start Fires

• Make a bold statementstatement

• Be prepared to defend yourselfdefend yourself

• Lots of comments and links

• Too many of these posts could lose trust

Flickr Photo: ANOXLOU

Chocolate Cake – The Sweet Stuff

• These posts make your blog funyour blog fun

• A chance to poke fun at yourselffun at yourself

• Lots of traffic/links • Often video, images

Flickr Photo: scubadive67

Key #3: Write Great Posts

Flickr Photo: Olivander

No Need to Be Hemingway

Just follow a few simple rules.

Photo: Wikipedia

Tips for Post Structure

• Use Headings500 800 ords (or• 500-800 words (or shorter!)

• Lists are OK (just not too many)

• 1 idea per post

Always Add a Photo

• Flickr• iStockphoto• Shoot your owny

How to Search for a Flickr Photo

Go to Advanced SearchGo to Advanced Search

Then search for CC licensed photosThen search for CC licensed photos

Where Do You Get Ideas?

• EverywhereKeep a list• Keep a list

• When you learn something, flesh it out

• Check your email outbox!• Ask your readers

Write Great Headlines

How to Write Great Headlines

• Write the headline before the articleImagine the reader on’t see the article• Imagine the reader won’t see the article

• Surprise people• No spelling errors!• Use your keywordsUse your keywords

Key #4: Sustain It

Flickr Photo: michalo

Pick a Publishing Schedule

• Once a week? Every Monday and Wednesday?and Wednesday?

• Stick to it• The goal is to build up a body

of keyword-rich content (create an asset)

Different Ways of Doing Posts

• Email interviewsVideo inter ie s (conferences office isitors• Video interviews (conferences, office visitors, clients)

• Guest posts from people with similar blogs• “Best of” lists• “How we do it” posts

Should I Hire People?

It depends.ProsPros:

• You don’t have to do the work• You hire a “professional writer”

Cons:• Nobody knows your business like you do• You don’t build your personal reputation• You don’t participate in the conversation

Key #5: Spread It

Flickr Photo: felipearte

Think of Blogging Like a Job Search

Would you sit at home and wait for a call?

Take Comments Seriously

• Make sure you comment backFind o t ho the people are• Find out who the people are• Follow their links• Subscribe to their blog follow them on Twitter• Subscribe to their blog, follow them on Twitter

Use these links

Publish on Social Media

• Post directly• Post directly• Post via twitterfeed.com automatically

• Post to your status• Post automatically via a feed to your fan or

profile pageAlso consider LinkedIn, other sites.so co s de ed , o e s es

Where Do You Link to Your Blog?

• Your homepage• Press releases• Business cards• Email signatures• Email signatures

Engage People; Stay on Their Radar

• Write posts that link to or follow up on biggerfollow up on bigger bloggers’ radar screens

• Most people do Google or Technorati searches for their name, so they’ll see your post

Agenda

I. Why Blog?II. Five Keys to a Successful Blog

1. Pick Your Target Personas1. Pick Your Target Personas2. Create a Mix of Posts3 Write Great Posts3. Write Great Posts4. Sustain It5 Spread It5. Spread It

III. How to measure your blog

Metric #1: Subscriptions

• A measure of you blog’s total reach• A “sticky” number

Metric #2: Pageviews

Great for media sites selling display advertising• Great for media sites selling display advertising• Potential problems for your business:

• Doesn’t measure RSS• Weak measure of engagement• What’s the business value of a “view”?

Metric #3: Comments

Q tit ti l d i di t f t• Quantitatively, a good indicator of engagement• Qualitatively, a great way to listen to market

Metric #4: Inbound Links

• Measure the SEO impact of your blog• An indicator of your blog’s role in outside conversations

Metric #5: Conversions

What Does HubSpot Do?It’s a software system that helps you get found by more visitors, generate more leads online, and , g ,measure all your inbound marketing efforts.

Search Marketing Tools

Social Media Tools

Tools

Blogging & CMS Tools

Thank You!

Learn more about HubSpot:htt // H bS t /Dhttp://www.HubSpot.com/Demo

Free tools:htt //G d

Rick Burnes

http://Grader.com

Inbound Marketing MangerHubSpot

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Rick-Burnes/512433884LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickburnesed p // ed co / / c bu esTwitter: http://twitter.com/rickburnes