A comprehensive guide to blogging for business. Including how to begin, troubleshooting, getting set up, planning and how to maintain the momentum.
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www.standardmarketing.ca Standard Marketing - ebook - Start
Blogging Page 1 www.standardmarketing.ca Standard Marketing - ebook
Start Blogging How to use blogging to increase your Google
Rankings
www.standardmarketing.ca Standard Marketing - ebook - Start
Blogging Page 2 Table of contents Introduction - 3 1. Basic
Blogging Tips - 6 2. Tell Stories and Talk from Experience - 8 3.
Industry News - 10 4. General Information - 12 5. Attracting Search
Enginers - 16 6. Finding Time - 17 7. Promoting your Blog - 19 8.
Blogging Software - 22 9. Other tips and suggestions for blog posts
- 24 10. How Standard Marketing Can Help - 27
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Blogging Page 3 At Standard Marketing we encourage all of our
clients to actively partake in blogging on their website. We have
seen a direct relationship between active blogs and rankings in
Google. To help make your time more effective and to maximize the
marketing power of your website we put together this manual to get
you started. Your blog can be the most powerful online marketing
tool youve ever had, and best of all its completely free. All it
takes is some time and a bit of inspiration. This document is
designed to help you with that inspiration, and to make your
blogging as easy and as productive as possible. At its best a
well-constructed regularly updated blog can transform your website
into a hub for your industry - a place where people go to find out
about new developments, important information, and resolutions to
their problems. Even if your blog is not the center of your
industry it can increase your rankings on Google and bring
qualified traffic to your website. In return for a few minutes a
week you get to: demonstrate your knowledge and expertise air your
opinions create a bond of trust between your company and potential
customers build a larger network and increase social media presence
drive more traffic to your website improve your rankings on
Google
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Blogging Page 4 Before you start writing there may be some
challenges to your creativity. Dont let them get in your way. The
trick is to acknowledge these challenges and understand that even
the best writers have writers block sometimes. So lets put these
challenges on the table and expose them for what they are: The I
cant attitude We encourage you to just write anything that comes
into your head, and then go over it and edit it until youre OK with
putting it on your website. The perfectionist Perfection doesnt
exist, so give it your best shot and we can assure you that your
writing will improve over time. 90% is good enough. Some action,
any action, is better than no action.
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Blogging Page 5 The concern of making a mistake in your facts
Remember what we said above, no one is perfect. Everybody makes
mistakes. Its quite common for readers to correct writers and thats
okay! So do your homework try to get your facts right. But as
mentioned above, theres no need to be perfect. It adds credibility
if you link to your sources. The worry of no one reading it Sure,
you may not get as many readers on your first blog post as your
20th or 50th, but like most things, the more you put into it, the
more momentum youll build up, and the better youll get. The
response you receive will increase over time. The lack of
originality As Pablo Picasso said Good artists copy; great artists
steal. Its hard to find originality so read relevant blogs for
ideas and add your personality. Ideas are free. You can write on
any topic as long as you do it in your own words. Using other
peoples exact words will get you in trouble.
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Blogging Page 7 Blogs work best if theyre helpful, entertaining and
personal. Write your blog like you are speaking to a single reader
and express yourself informally like you would to friend over
coffee, giving your personal opinions as well as your professional
ideas. Its OK to be a little outrageous, as long as youre not so
far out there that youre alienating your potential customers or
hurting your image. Its much easier to get noticed if your blog
entries are different than other peoples. If more than one person
is going to be writing on your blog make sure they each have their
own user name so readers can see who is writing and can feel
connected to each person. In terms of length, there are no absolute
rules. But if you use too many redundant words people will get
bored and leave without finishing. Just make sure you use enough
words to explain your point fully. If you only need 50 words use 50
words. For Search Engine Optimization (SEO) we recommend 300 to 700
words. If you find yourself going off on a tangent save the
thought, copy it into a new document, and use it as the basis for
your next blog post. 1 2 3 4 5
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Bloggin Page 8 2. Tell Stories and Talk from Experience
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Blogging Page 9 People love stories, so try to think of things that
have happened in your business or personal life and use them as a
starting point. Ask colleagues if they have a funny story about
their day at work or an unusual situation they found themselves in.
Think back to the last customer you interacted with and explain how
you solved their problems. Talk about the new products or services
you are offering. If you are a realtor write descriptions of the
new homes you are listing. If you live and sell real estate in an
area that thrives off tourism sell your real estate by building up
the local attractions, parks, trails, beaches, etc. If you sell
clothes write about the new seasons lines. This is your chance to
show people that you care and provide them with information they
wont get from your competitors.
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Bloggin Page 10 3. Industry News
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Blogging Page 11 You know what is important to your potential
clients, so put that information on your blog. News is free, so
learn how to re-write stories you find in the newspapers or see on
television in your own words and add your feelings to them.
Subscribe to the important blogs or journals in your industry. You
can find them just by searching on Google for topics related to
your industry. Read the posts that apply to you or your clients,
then re- write and add your own spin. For example, if you are a
realtor in Edmonton, subscribe to the Alberta governments monthly
economic review, pull out information about home sales and interest
rate trends, then write about how this might help or hinder the
home buyers you deal with every day.
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Bloggin Page 12 4. General Information
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Blogging Page 13 Think of the questions your customers ask, and
write about how to solve them. They may be long term issues you
take for granted, or new problems and issues you just dealt with
for the first time. For example, if you sell running shoes, tell
people how to measure and fit a shoe correctly and give them
information on common injuries you see in runners and how to avoid
them or on how different types of running shoes can help. Not only
will followers of your blog find this information useful, but your
post could be pulled up by Google when somebody searches for
measuring feet for running shoes, and you could snag another
lifelong customer as well as higher rankings.
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Blogging Page 15 Include your primary keyword first and a
descriptive title after, such as Vancouver Real Estate Another Day
in Stanley Park. Try to keep the wording in your blog posts as
natural as possible. Avoid stuffing keywords all over them. But
when there is an opportunity to get keywords into titles and body
text put them in. Its likely that if you are talking about your
industry there will be keywords in your posts anyway.
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Bloggin Page 16 6. Finding Time
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Blogging Page 17 Blogs should be kept up to date. Two entries a
week or more is what you should be aiming for, but just do what you
can. Something is better than nothing. Finding time to write is a
challenge for most people, so consider these techniques: Set aside
a few minutes three times a week to write your blog. When you get
ideas for a new post jot them down on a piece of paper. Write
several blog posts at one time. Head to your favourite coffee shop,
give yourself three hours, and try to write five or six blog posts.
Publish them one at a time over the next five or six weeks. Take it
seriously, set aside a space for writing and learn to prioritize
tasks. a. b. c. d.
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Bloggin Page 18 7. Promoting Your Blog
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Blogging Page 19 Add your blog to blog directories. Comment on
other relevant blogs and forums making sure you add a link to a
relevant article on your own blog. Invite big names in your
industry (including important bloggers) to write posts for you.
They might promote your blog on their blog. Build a large network
in Twitter and other social media sites Share your blog posts on
social media and add social sharing buttons to your blog a. b. c.
d. e.
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Blogging Page 20 Get your Google Authorship Join relevant online
communities (Google+ and Linkedin) and share your blog posts when
appropriate.Share your blog posts at the right time find out when
here. Promote others as well as yourself. It may just come back to
benefit you. Encourage your readers to share your blog posts by
offering a prize draw for those who share your blog posts on their
social networks. Build an email list and send out blog posts with a
personalized message. f. g. h. i. j.
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Blogging Page 22 WordPress is the best blogging software on the
market at the moment. Its simple for beginner bloggers to add and
organize blog posts, and its free. WordPress really comes into its
own when it is customized by professionals. Almost everything can
be improved, from the fonts and title sizes to the images and
colours. Most importantly the blog needs to be enhanced so your
posts can be picked up and indexed by Google.
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Bloggin Page 23 9. Other tips and suggestions for blog post
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Blogging Page 24 Invite guest authors to write on your blog. They
want the publicity so theyll be happy to do it. Interview somebody
important within your industry, or a staff member who has seen the
industry change over the years. People read blogs for advice, news
and entertainment. You can give them all three. Define terms used
in your industry. Get your suppliers to write about their products
and add this information to your blog. Start off with a question to
get people thinking and mentally engaged in the article. The first
sentence is the key to generating enough interest in reading the
entire article. a. b. c. d. e. f.
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Blogging Page 25 Format the text in your blog post for skimmers,
using many headings, bullet points, and bold font for important
points. Open your blog article with industry research and studies.
People want to know facts. People are also more likely to share
articles that introduce and discuss interesting research and
relevant facts. Using quotes and block quotes is a great way to add
some credibility and support to your claims and opinions. Dont
forget to be yourself and express your own opinions if people agree
with you great. If they disagree, thats great too because it means
that your blog affected them enough to respond. Being regular is
better than being sporadic. Your readers will come to expect a new
article from you and look for it. If you miss a week they may be
turned off. g. h. i. j. k.
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Bloggin Page 26 10. How Standard Marketing can Help
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Blogging Page 27 We can get you up and running by installing a
WordPress blog and database on your website, designing a look for
the blog so it looks similar or identical to the rest of your site,
and optimizing the blog so your posts will be picked up by Google.
Its always best to write your own blog, but if this isnt possible
we can write posts for you in your voice, or provide editing and
proofing services. We can add an RSS feed to your blog so people
who want to can receive your blogs in their RSS reader or by email.
And we can link your blog to social media sites like Facebook and
Twitter, so whenever you write a blog entry it automatically is
posted on your social media accounts. Its better to write different
entries on your social media accounts, but publishing your blog
posts automatically is better than nothing. Read our blog:
http://www.standardmarketing.ca/blog Like us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook. com/standardmarketing Follow us on Twitter:
http://www.twitter. com/standardmarktg
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Blogging Page 28 An active and well managed blog is a very powerful
marketing tool and the best part of all is - its free! Now that you
know what it takes to start and manage your own blog, why dont you
put it to the test and see how it can become even more effective.
Let us evaluate your blog and well offer suggestions and guidance
that will maximize your blogging efforts - for traffic, conversion
or whatever your business goal may be. Free Blog Evaluation Get my
Free Blog EvaluationGet my Free Blog Evaluation
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Blogging Page 29 By Anthony Baisi Anthony Baisi manages social
media & customer relations at Standard Marketing. Hes also
responsible for developing clients content strategy and carrying
out their Search Engine Optimization. He strategizes each clients
content to address the needs of their target audience while
establishing a professional and consistent persona for the brand.
Hes an important part of our marketing strategy team. Written by
Anthony Baisi Follow me on Twitter @anthonybaisi