Blogging
for
Business
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Dean DeLisle – Social Media Specialist
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Founder and CEO of Forward Progress
Over 25 years in business Coaching and Consulting
Campaign Development in Social Media
Call Center, Internet, eMarketing, Event Management,
Intense Lead Generation, Web Seminars, eSelling
Over Billion Dollars Sales, 25 Million Leads, Coach and Trained
Thousands of People using Internet Based Lead Generation
Financial Services, Real Estate, Professional Services, Legal, Accounting,
Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Technical, Insurance, Agencies,
Auto, Retail, Banking and Channel Sales…..
(877) 592-6224
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What is Blogging?
A blog (a contraction of the
term "Web log") is a Web site,
usually maintained by an
individual with regular entries
of commentary, descriptions of
events, or other material such
as graphics or video.
(877) 592-6224
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Why blog?
 A blog can be an incredible
tool for sharing information
and expertise.
 A blog can be used to directly
promote products, services
and events.
 A blog can assist in
promoting company vision
and developments.
 A blog can foster customer
loyalty, build relationships
with clients and customers.
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Why blog?
 A blog can garner
feedback and
suggestions from clients
 A blog can give
customers information
on how to use products,
services and how to buy.
 A blog can develop client
community around a
product.
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Why blog?
Weaving Your Own Web
Dean
• The Magic Thread…..
Activity!
Bev
Kim
Dan
Bob
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Joe
Pat
Karen
Beth
Dave
Sam
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Getting Started
Identify your audience.
A basic precept of any business is
just as essential with your blog.
It's critical to pinpoint your
audience and, in the process,
decide what you're going to say
that will make them read what you
write.
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Getting Started
Decide where your blog should live
www.WordPress.com is a
great site to set-up your blog.
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Next up is determining where
to locate your blog. There are
numerous software packages
that let you add a blog section
to an existing Web site. A more
automated and perhaps easier
option is a blog hosting site
(with a link from your Web site
bringing visitors over).
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Getting Started
Ways to Increase Comments on Your Blog
 Invite Comments
 Ask Questions
 Be Open Ended
 Interact with comments left
 Be humble
 Be gracious
 ‘Reward’ Comments
 Make it Easy to Comment
 Invite “Expert” Guests
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Getting Started
Emphasize keywords
Search engine hits are
another element of
generating traffic.
One strategy to attract search
engine interest is through
careful use of keywords in
both your headlines and blog
copy.
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Getting Started
Emphasize keywords
Study your website, content
and target and list an
effective set of keywords that
are “Relevant” to your
objective.
This how people would
search for your target!
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Getting Started
Keep it fresh
Nothing is more discouraging
to prospective readers than
returning to a blog site to find
old or outdated material. So,
be prepared to work at
keeping your blog as fresh
and current as possible.
Have a system – empower
the team!
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Getting Started
Watch your traffic closely
Monitor the amount and
quality of the traffic you
receive. If things seem slow
or stagnant, don't be afraid to
vary your themes or subjects
to boost interest.
But don't stray too far from
your business or expertise.
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Writing Content
Ultimately defining what is ‘good content’ is a subjective
exercise (perhaps in a similar way to defining what is a
‘good book’ or a ‘good movie’) and so a post is likely to
cause a little debate as each person will define it differently
depending upon their personality, their needs, the topic
that they are talking about and perhaps even their ethics.
Not only will bloggers themselves each have a different
view on what is ‘good’ content - but readers tend to also.
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Writing Content
Be Unique and Useful
For a blog to be successful
your content needs to be
useful and unique to your
readers.
Start with the customer or
prospect - find out what they
want and give it to them.
Perhaps the best advice on developing useful content is to research
your readership (or potential readership).
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Writing Content
They Are Hungry for Knowledge
Writing for your target
DOES NOT mean writing
about the products and
services you sell them
Write about the things they
want to learn about
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Remember Variety is the Key!
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Writing Content
Be the Thought Leader
Should establish as a
thought leader
When starting put time into
your plan and posts
This will reflect your
reputation
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Writing Content
Researching
Survey customers, look a lot at other blogs on a topic
(especially the comments section to see what types of
questions people are asking) and particularly look hard in
forums and discussion groups on topics where there is
usually a lot of question asking going on.
As you do this you’ll begin to put your finger on what
people are wanting and what you might be able to provide
to meet these needs.
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Writing Content
Search for Blogs
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Writing Content
Hidden Areas
Everywhere
Other blogs
Keep a list
When you learn something,
flesh it out
Check your email outbox
Ask your readers/friends
Great speech’s
Hot relevant news
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Writing Content
Subscribe to other blog feeds via RSS
A great way to see what other
blogs are talking about in your
industry is to subscribe to them
using and RSS reader. There are
many RSS reader tools available
from Google Reader to Feed
Demon.
RSS Readers will update you
when there is new content on a
blog.
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Writing Content
Distinguish yourself
Do some analysis on what sort of content other bloggers
in your industry are producing. In most niches you’ll find
that sites are all presenting very similar information in
pretty much the same voice, tone and style.
You can either replicate what they are doing and try to do
it better OR you can distinguish yourself in someway
from what others are doing.
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Writing Content
Couple of Simple Rules
Put Effort into Your Headings
500 words (or shorter!)
Lists are OK (just not too many)
1 idea per post
Don’t over engineer
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Measure your response
WordPress has some great statistical data.
 Check it after each post.
 Measure which posts receive the highest reader count.
 Check which keywords where used to find you blog.
(877) 592-6224
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Let’s Get Social – Get Read
Facebook
Go Direct –
OR
Ping.FM
Hootsuite
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Getting Found Through The Web
Post to Twitter & Facebook
With
HootSuite
you can:
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Post to multiple
Twitter Accounts
Set feed url
Prepend all of
your tweets
Set frequency of
postings
http://hootsuite.com
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Getting Found Through The Web
Post to Twitter & Facebook & LinkedIn &……
With
Ping.FM
you can:


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Post to multiple
Social Accounts
Shorten URL’s
Not as Fancy
http://hootsuite.com
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Getting Found Through The Web
Use a Share Button on Each Post
A “Share Button”
allows visitors to
share your
information on
multiple networks and
through email
http://www.addtoany.com/buttons/for/wordpress_com
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www.CenterCars.com
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---- Post to your social sites!
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Best Practices
 Make your opinion known
 Include Bullet point lists
 Link like crazy
 Edit your post
 Write less
 Make your posts easy to
 250 Words is enough
scan
 Be consistent with your
style
 Create a system
 Link to Your Social Sites
 Make Headlines snappy
 Write with passion
 Litter the post with
keywords
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Assignment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Define a target audience
Research competition blogs
Research what customers are looking for
Define your Blog Team
Categories
Agree on Keywords
Discuss Schedule
Get Social
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Upcoming Classes
 How to Setup and Promote Your Business using
LinkedIn Less Than 20 Min a Day - 2010 Edition
 $99 - Starts Thursday – 6 Sears Left
 2 – Part Class – Recorded & Live
 www.linkedin99.eventbrite.com
 How to Setup and Promote Your Business using
Facebook Fan Pages – 2010 Edition
 $99 - Starts April 22 – Just Opened
 2 – Part Class – Recorded & Live
 www.facebook4biz99.eventbrite.com
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Let’s Connect!
 TWITTER: www.twitter.com/deandelisle
 FACEBOOK: www.Facebook.com/deandelisle
 FAN PAGE: www.Facebook.com/ForwardProgress
 LINKEDIN: www.LinkedIn.com/deandelisle
[email protected]
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