Blogging

Build Traffic, Links, Engagement

Roan Fair

Web Marketing Consultant

www.intergage.co.uk

Today’s agenda…

• What is blogging?

• Why is it important?

• Why should I use it?

• How do I use it?

• Hints and tips

What is blogging, a blog?

• A website with an ongoing series of entries, opinions, comments…

• An online diary of what matters most to you, your company, your followers/customers…

• Your personality, your brand’s personality online…

• Your site’s ‘editorial’ column

• Your digital soul (a bit poetic perhaps)…

…but it’s all about passion!

Why blogging matters

Build relationships, trust, brand recognition

Why blogging matters

Connect with new customers, strengthen links with existing ones

Why blogging matters

Build and cement your reputation for expertise, share best practice

Be a centre of authority!

Create unique content…

…and listen

But will it drive sales?

• Yes! Keep your products and services in front of your customers

• Yes! Boost customer satisfaction and loyalty

• Yes! Drive more traffic to your site, higher quality traffic

• Yes! Drive word of mouth marketing

• Yes! Learn from the feedback

How do I start?

Free software…

Blogger v WordPress

But which is better…?

Blogger – pros and cons

• Owned by Google

• Free

• Quick to set up

• No technical knowledge needed

• Customisable html…but not much

• You can’t host your own Blogger blog

WordPress – pros

• Free

• Quick to set up

• Can be hosted in-house

• Great community support

• Huge library of plug-ins for extra functionality

• Extremely customisable!

WordPress – cons

• Advanced features can come at a cost

• Can become overly technical

• Free version has limited editable areas

• Security?

How do I start?

• Define your goals – why does your blog exist?

• Schedule your posts – post consistently, regularly

• Develop a rhythm

• Readers should look forward to it!

What should I post? Reviews

Review post – review a product, a service, another blog

Don’t be afraid to have an opinion when you review. You want feedback

What should I post? Opinions

The Opinions post:

• Positions you as a specialist

• Builds your blog/site as a centre of authority

• Don’t be afraid to take a different tack

What should I post? Lists

The List post:

• Magnificent seven software apps…

• Seven deadly sins of…

• Five fabulous free ways to…

• 10 great ways to…

What should I post? Updates

The Update post:

• Revisit past topics, celebrate/criticise new developments

• Link to previous posts as a running story

What should I post? Featured Reader

The Featured Reader post:

• Reward one of your readers with a featured post about them

• What do they bring to the party that is new and exciting?

• Reader comments can inspire blog posts

• Way to work in or link to case studies, testimonials

What should I post? Ask A Question

The Question post:

• Ask an important question about a topical issue

• It can provoke a response

• Deliberately controversial v sit-on-the-fence? Be yourself

It’s demanding…

• Your blog is the voice of your website

• Needs to have its own style, feel

• But it can feature guest posts (they can make it even more interesting!)

• Or use a ghostwriter

Will a blog help with my SEO?

• Yes – WordPress and Blogger posts both have ‘follow’

• Comment on others’ blogs that have ‘follow’

• But not all blogs allow ‘follow’ on comments

Microblogs

• Twitter – 140-character limit

• Tumblr (without an ‘e’)

• Traffic and links benefits

Twitter

• ¾ of Fortune 500 companies had a Twitter account in July 2010

• 2 billion tweets in June 2010; 1.76 billion tweets in April 2010, 47% up on January 2010

• 105 million registered users

• 48% of people who see a brand on Twitter go on to search for it

Why use Twitter?

• Great introduction to quick and easy blogging for very busy people

• Converse, network, reply

• News – Stop Press!

• Announcements, events

• Link building* (despite tweets = ‘no follow’) • Research, prospecting

Why use Twitter?

• Private tweets – staff updates• Live coverage of events• Acquire votes (Digg, Buzz)• Get feedback, monitor it• Respond to negative feedback• Answer questions, FAQs• Helpdesk• Sourcing/recruiting staff• Research, read news

Twitter profile

Twitter profile

Using Twitter

• Very easy to create, edit, update, customise

• Access it via PC or mobile

• Superb ‘listening’ tool, even if you never tweet (but you should tweet)

• Hundreds of apps to get the best out of Twitter – bit.ly, Hootsuite, Topsy