Business Blogging in 4 Easy Steps

Michael Gray4-4-2014

http://OnlineBizSmarts.com

How to Blog

1. Why Should I Blog?2. Who Is My Audience?3. How Do I Optimize My Blog Posts ?4. How Do I Promote My Blog Posts & Where?

Basics of Blogging

1. Why Should I Blog?2. Who Is My Audience?3. How Do I Optimize My Blog Posts? 4. How Do I Promote My Blog Posts & Where?

Basics of Blogging

Don’t build your (marketing) house on rented property!

Think Conversions!

Why Should I Blog?

Why Does Blogging Benefit Your Business??

Builds Traffic Search engine traffic(SEO) More site visitors More conversions

Increases Credibility Builds pre-sell trust Establishes you as an expert Voice and Authority

Humanizes Your Company Generate Leads Customer Service

1. Why Should I Blog?2. Who Is My Audience?3. How Do I Optimize My Blog Posts? 4. How Do I Promote My Blog Posts & Where?

Basics of Blogging

Who is the WHOIdentify Your Target Audience

who is your target audience? break your target down into 3

or 4 segments. where do they spend their time

online? http://leanstack.com/

What are their... • interests?• goals?• problems?• pain points?• hot buttons?

Who is the WHO 2• Who (age, location, gender, education, job title)• Environment (when and where are they using your site? What

device are they using?)• Tasks (what are they trying to complete/learn)• Motivation (what is their broader desired outcome?)

• Goals, Problems, Pain Points?• Avatar or nickname & representative photo

Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/user-personas-for-seo/

Drilling Down

1. Why Should I Blog?2. Who Is My Audience?3. How Do I Optimize My Blog Posts? 4. How Do I Promote My Blog Posts &

Where?

Basics of Blogging

Start with the Topic/Title but…Before you pick a topic… Listen!

Social Media

Conversations

Surveys

Questions

Clients’ FAQs

Clients’ Emails

Common Problems

Pick Inviting Topics That Make People Want To Click And Read

Answer the questions your customers are asking.

Tools For Topics

Google Trendshttp://www.google.com/trends/

Why is a headline important?

“The anatomy of post”

People judge a [post] by it’s [headline]

Catchy… [ if not, they may not click! ]

High SEO valueInclude your keyword phrases

PerfectTimeless

Shareable

Write Headlines that SHINESpecificity / Helpfulness / Immediacy / Newsworthiness / Entertainment Value

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-to-write-headlines

A Scientific Approach to Writing Page Titlehttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/03/06/a-scientific-approach-to-writing-page-titles

52 Headline Hacks!http://headlinehacks.com (by Jon Morrow)

3 Tools to Help You Write Amazing Headlines

How to Achieve Your Blogging Strategy

Conclude with a call to action: ask an engaging question ask them to comment, share, connect Ask for an opt in Ask for a purchase

Include email subscription box after the post Make it easy for them to take the action you want them

to

make it easy to share

make it easy to subscribe

The SEO – Search Engine OptimizationDefinition –

optimizing your site and content to match the phrase someone would type into a Google search box.

The Simple Guide to SEO

SEO techniques are important, but…write for people and for search engines write great post titles and include your keywords/keyphrase provide quality content with related keywords/keyphrases include relevant and helpful links

when you do that… people will link back, share on social media, etc.

Blog Posting Template for Generating Website SEOhttp://onlinebizsmarts.com/postseotemplate

Yoast for WordPress SEO http://yoast.com/wordpress/ Optimize your website for search Optimize each blog posts for search

1. Why Should I Blog?2. Who Is My Audience?3. How Do I Optimize My Blog Posts? 4. How Do I Promote My Blog Posts &

Where?

Basics of Blogging

Social Publishing or Curation Publish where your target audience spends

time Publish when your TA is online Publish for search

Publish where your target audience spends time.Publish when your TA is online.AutomatePublish for search by answering client questions.

Social Publishing or Curation

Recap Write for people & Google Optimize the SEO but don’t overdo it. Make it memorable Make it easy to share Close with a call to action Make it easy to subscribe via emailDouble Bonus – Now that you have people on your

website, what do you want them to do? Think Conversion!

Michael Gray

www.OnlineBizSmarts.com