Blogging For Business

Blogging for business – Today I’m going to show you

How to create a blog , a blog post and how to populate it.

By the end of this session you will

•Be able to identify the different sorts of blogging platform

•Set up a group Wordpress.org blog

•Installed a Wordpress.org theme

•Written and published a blog post to the group blog

•Installed a Wordpress.org plugin

What is a blog?

•A blog is a website or part of a website that is updated regularly.

•Blogs have the facility for readers to leave comments

•Most blogs are run via blogging platforms such as Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr and Posterous

Why blog?

•Websites with blogs get 55% more unique visitors.

•Bloggers have 79% more twitter followers

•Bloggers get 97% more inbound links

Source Hubspothttp://bit.ly/kSYMTMhttp://bit.ly/keGHlY

Why blog?

•SEO – Search Engine Optimisation

•Establish you as an expert

•Brand awareness

•Communication with customers

•Hub of social media activity

Why blog?

•SEO – Search Engine Optimisation

•Establish you as an expert

•Brand awareness

•Communication with customers

•Hub of social media activity

What makes a successful blog?

What makes a successful blog?

What makes a successful blog?

What makes a successful blog?

What makes a successful blog?

Which blogging tool?

•Blogger – For non business bloggers

•Wordpress.com (hosted by wordpress) – For non business bloggers

•Facebook – Quick and easy blogging for beginners

•Tumblr / Posterous – Mini Blogging

•Wordpress.org – Self hosted for business blogging

Getting started with Wordpress.org

What you need

•Domain log in details (ask your web developer)

•Hosting package – www.blacknight.com

•Domain name

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Getting started with Wordpress.org

Installing a theme

dkret3

Customise your theme

dkret3

Customise your theme

dkret3

Customise your theme

dkret3

Customise your theme

dkret3

Customise your theme

dkret3

Plugins

•Akismet – Spam Filter (premium)

•All in one SEO pack - Search Engine Optimisation

•Addthis Social Bookmarking Widget

•fbLikeButton

•TweetMeme Retweet button

Installing a Plugin

Installing a Plugin

Installing a Plugin

Installing a Plugin

Getting an API Key for Akismet

www.akismet.com/wordpress

Constructing a blog post

•Headline

• Make it catchy and a ‘must click’

• Include numbers or phrases like ‘how to’ e.g. ‘6 ways to improve your blog’

• Short and snappy – Max 60 characters

Constructing a blog post

•Leading paragraph

• Short and snappy the first 160 are the most important as they are what the search engine adds as a description

• Include search terms you’d like to be found for whenever you can e.g. ‘Carlow’ ‘hair’ ‘property’ ‘nutrition’

• Make it compelling for readers, why would they want to read on?

Constructing a blog post

•Body of text

• Break it into short digestible chunks – sub headings

• Be yourself

• Link to explanations of technical terms if necessary

Constructing a blog post

•Final paragraph

• Ask for a comment

• Call to action – further reading, subscribe to newsletter, call us for more info.

Constructing a blog post

•Tags

• Anything that was mentioned in the post – consider search terms

•Categories

• Create some categories that your blog posts will fall into, always categorise blog posts

Creating a ‘New Post’

Creating a ‘New Post’

Finding inspiration

•Set up an RSS reader – Google Reader

•Google Alerts – Keep up to date with developments in your industry / area of interest

•Find and follow blogs of interest – Google Blog Search

•What questions do your customers ask you?

•What are you an expert in?

•Create a content calendar • Google Calendar

Finding inspiration

Getting people to read your blog

•Add to blog catalogues – Technorati, Irish Blogs, Irish Blog Directory, Blog Catalog, Alltop

•Social share – Feed to Twitter and Facebook

•Comment on other blogs

•Join forums and add to signature (but don’t spam)

If you get stuck

Email me: amanda@spiderworking.com

Phone me: 01 442 9410

Skype me: spiderworking.com

Get these slides: http://bit.ly/ckblogslides