How make a blog that doesn’t suck

I’ve been blogging for 16 years.

A lot of those blogs sucked.

Why do so many (content marketing) blogs suck?1. They offer no value2. They have no purpose3. They are ugly

Three Tips To Keep Your Blog From Sucking1. Think of your audience before yourself

(Who are they? Where are they? What do they like to read?)

2. Plan ahead – Do a content calendar3. Make it look good – always keep design

and images as part of your strategy

THINKING OF YOUR AUDIENCE

•Focus: Consider potential blog topics that you’re interested in and keep track of associated topics (also helpful calendar) What don’t you want write about?

•Tone and Voice: Serious, Funny, Candid, Snarky, Academic?

•Demographics: (Men, Women, 20-somethings? Where do they live? What do they like? What else do they read?)

Think about your audience

Different Platforms, Different Needs• Are you not super tech-savvy? (Wordpress.com,

Medium, Tumblr)

• Hosting it yourself? (Wordpress.org, Squarespace)

• Big into social sharing?: (Medium, LinkedIn, Tumblr)

• Interested in brand building more than pageviews? (Medium)

• Big into multimedia? (Tumblr)

https://blog.bufferapp.com – A good blog!

http://nprinterns.tumblr.com/- A good blog!

https://medium.com/@dhh/ A good blog!

PLANNING AHEAD

• To generate post ideas and topics• Assign writing tasks to team• Helps you maintain a consistent presence online• Allow you to quick changes with ease• Visualize your strategy in an easy• A single point of access for your team

Why Do An Editorial Calendar?

• Google Docs• Google Calendar• WordPress Editorial Calendar

(https://wordpress.org/plugins/editorial-calendar/)• Hubspot (http://offers.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-

calendar)• CoSchedule (http://coschedule.com/editorial-

calendar-template)

Editorial Calendar Resources

Writing Tips

• Blogging is about building a community of readers

• Give your audience context, not just opinion and show your context with images, links

• Give an old idea a new take• "Perfect is the enemy of done.” Don’t be

afraid to be “in-progress”• Focus on specifics

• Open Letters• Lists (Favorite/Least Favorite)• Looking back onto key time periods of your life• Photo Prompt/Song Prompt• Tool/Strategy Roundups• What The Staff is Reading Now• Lessons Learned From Big Mistakes• Detailed “how to”

Blog Post Prompts

MAKING IT LOOK GOOD

Photo/Image Resources

• Creative Commons Search• FreeRangeStock.com• GettyImages.com• PhotoPin.com• StockPhotoRights.com• BigStockPhoto

What’s Your Blog Strategy?

•Focus:

•Tone and Voice:

•Target Audience:

•Competition/Affiliates:

•Endgame/Goal:

A Blog Strategy – The Learned Fangirl (2007- Present)

•Focus: A woman-focused blog about pop culture and geek culture. Not newsy, more essay driven.•Tone and Voice: Smart but irreverent. A “slightly academic tone, “slow-read” and not newsy.•Target Audience: “Gen X/Gen Y Women who went to grad school in film studies and never use their degree.”•Competition/Affiliates: Bitch Magazine, Bust Magazine, The Mary Sue•Endgame/Goal: Build a platform for women writers doing smart pop culture criticism. Build a large enough audience to get ads/sponsorship to pay people.

Questions?

Thanks!

@kdckeidrachaney.com