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Content marketing draws leads to your business through the creation and publishing of meaningful and distinctive content about your industry. The goal of this content is to generate discussion, grow a following, and to develop the social presence expected by the search engines. Blogging is the most effective way to add your voice and experience to the online conversation that surrounds your industry.
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The Power of Blogging for Professionals & Small Business Presenter: Doug Hay, CEO
Dead Simple Internet Marketing™ Series
Presenter: Doug Hay
• Early adopter of Internet marketing & social media
• 30 year marketing veteran • Sought after speaker -
presented at local, regional and national conferences
• Lectured at two universities for the Sales & Marketing Executives program
Dead Simple Social Media Series
• Social media overview• Blogging• Google+• Facebook• Twitter• Pinterest• LinkedIn• Using a Dashboard• Content Marketing
Our Services For Small/Medium Biz
• Website design & programming • Social Media consulting,
implementation & training • Small business SEO – Search
Engine Optimization: Keywords, link building & content creation.
• Press release writing, optimization and reporting
• Blog set up, strategy, and training • Email programs• Online reputation management• Video production & marketing• Staff training
Doug [email protected]
Direct: 250-756-0306 Toll Free: 877-226-3823
Free Internet
Marketing Analysis
More Sales?
More Leads?
Presentation
Q & A
Ask for Slides
Agenda
1
2
3
Blog lingo
A blog is a website in the form of a ‘journal’ that is available on the web. • Blog. Slang for (weB LOG)
on the Web.• Blogging. The action of
updating a blog.• Blog post. The content of the
blog entry – an article.• Blogger. Someone who
maintains a blog. • Blogosphere. The
information available in blogs on the Internet
Your Site
Visitor
VisitorVisitor
Objective: Leads & Sales
Content marketing is the creation and publishing of quality, meaningful and distinctive content for the purpose of generating discussion, growing a following and developing a social presence now expected by the search engines.
More than eight out of ten companies surveyed
said they were using some type of content marketing to better engage with potential and existing clients.
“The future of marketing is not about selling so much as it is about engaging. This is what resonates with customers and why marketers have embraced content marketing in such large numbers."
Source: Survey, conducted by HiveFire
Sales Funnel
Prospects Sales
ReadersSocial Media Leads
Content MarketingBlogs Newsletters
Technorati Media - 2013 Digital Influence Report
Blogs Outrank Social Networks for Consumer Influence: New Research
Social Media Examiner: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/blogs-outrank-social-networks-for-consumer-influence-new-research/
Internet Marketing
You Are Not Alone Out There
WWWYour Web Site
How can our site get found?
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
OfflineMarketing
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
OfflineMarketing
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
OfflineMarketing
Referrals
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
OfflineMarketing
WebSite
Referrals
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
Blog
OfflineMarketing
WebSite
Referrals
IntegratedMarketingStrategy
SocialMedia
Blog
OfflineMarketing
WebSite
Referrals
Think Like a Publisher
Web site
Video
White
PapersAudio
Emailed Newsletters
BlogsPress
Releases
Case Studies
Articles
Universal SearchGoogle Universal
Brand
Brand
Brand
New Marketing
Brand
Brand
Brand
Brand
Brand
Brand
Blogging
Benefits of Blogging• Get connected with
prospects• Helps make your website
show up in Google• Generates leads• Key part of content marketing • Use in Social Media• Helps your reputation
management• Allows you to connect with
influencers• Tool to grow a following• Low cost marketing
SuccessBlogging
Blog Success
• Wegman’s - family-owned supermarket chain with less than 100 stores
• Accolades from customers and media• Named them the top US grocery chain in 2009 –
Consumer Reports • Founder's simple mantra that “it is essential to treat
customers and employees right.” • Blogged about behind-the-scenes stories from their
organic farm. • Posts from both top executives and individual store
employees (chefs, deli workers, etc.).
Source: Inc. Magazine
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-alaskan-mom-brings-millions-to-her-carpentry-blog/ (2012)
Social Media Stats:• Website: Ana White Homemaker• Facebook: (Under “Knock-off Wood”): 50,000 (2012) fans• Twitter: 2,550 followers• YouTube: 30 videos
Highlights:• Ana White’s blog draws nearly three million unique page
views every month.• 90-95% of her Facebook content comes from fans, and
she leaves it all public.• Pinterest is the #1 referring site to her blog, bringing 6,000
unique visitors a day.• In year two, the blog began bringing in enough advertising
revenue to support her family.
“Do you have advice for other women who might aspire to a blog-to-book career like yours?I put 90% of my time into creating content and 10% into other stuff like answering emails, social media, and promoting posts. If I had started with the opposite, just 10% on content and 90% on promotion, I don’t think I would be here today. Try to create content that’s so valuable it shares itself, and then you can focus on doing what you love.”
Read more: http://www.thegrindstone.com/2012/10/17/mentors/homemaker-ana-white-i-would-love-to-be-the-rachael-ray-of-diy-719/#ixzz2YT6TWQVQ
Set up business
blog
Homework & goals
Write
posts
Link to website
Blogger relations
Promote your blog
Click thru to website
Homework
What Do You Want To Achieve?
• Set goals • What audiences
should you be communicating with?
• Set up metrics to track the results
• Choose a platform e.g.
WordPress• Build a blog• Add features – called
plug ins
Starting Your Blog
• Download from WordPress
• Hosted by WordPress
• Doesn’t give you search visibility
Free Blogs
1. Find URL e.g. www.yourname.com2. Arrange hosting e.g. GoDaddy,
HostGator, etc3. Purchase theme (design)4. Upload theme to your hosting
(needs a programmer)5. Add content – text, images, video
Your Blog
• System for building a website/blog
• Automatically resizes for monitors, tablets and smart phones
• Custom for each – viewing, navigation and load time
Responsive Themes (Designs)
Keywords
Keywords are words or phrases that describe content such as webpages, blogs, text pages, photographs, audio files or video files.
Search Enginesindex content using keywords to make it easy for users to quickly find things that they are looking for
Key Word Research
• Do your Keyword Research
• Look for words and phrases that people are searching for, so you get the most traffic to your blog
Keyword Research
The Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are keyword phrases that:• Have lower search volume• Competing pages are smaller• Can generate quality search
results• Likely more sales
https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS
Exact match:
Commercial IntentDoes the keyword show the intent that could lead the searcher to become a customer
e.g. used cars for sale Miami (good)e.g. colors of the rainbow (bad)
Writing
Your audience
Content is king Search Engines
• Search engines will crawl your website more often if you have a blog which is updated regularly
What’s in it for the reader?
A Blog is Not… Blogs Are Not
• A blog is not objective—they have informed and biased opinions
• People write blogs—not the corporate communications department using ‘Corporate Speak’
Write For The User
Know the product or service and write compelling content about that sector or industry.
Is It Compelling?
Tell Your Story
• Use blogs to help tell your story
• Brings a face to your organization
• Search engines love them
• Cross link to your site
What a Blog Is
One Topic Per Post
If possible stick to one topic per post.
Format
• Use short sentences and short paragraphs
• Lots of sub-headlines
• Bullet points
Update Frequency
A blog is best updated regularly—daily if possible but at least 2 to 3 times per week.
Become An Opinion Leader
• Your peers respect opinion leaders• Position yourself as a thought leader by
writing blog posts that are factual, timely and interesting
• Be realistic and write to be understood• Be persistent—fame in your niche is not an
overnight activity
Length Of A Blog Post
• Typically not less than 500 words
• Eliminate any unnecessary words—keep it simple and easy to understand
• Keep sentences short• Keep paragraphs short • Short = easy to read
Yes I will read it, no I won’t…
Stay on message
Be unique
Understanding? To Be Understood
• Write clearly: would someone who knows nothing about this subject understand the post?
• One idea per sentence• No jargon that they
won’t understand• Define acronyms with
the first use
Keep It Upbeat
Data Hook
• Provide information others will want
• E.g. 10 secrets to ….
The Humor Hook
Quiz Hook
Create an interesting quiz or puzzle
“How To” Information
• “How to” information is the number one selling product on the web
• Write a unique tutorial
Ask Questions
• At the end of a post
• The whole post
Pictures & Video
• Include pix with your blog posts
• Video can be embedded or included by linking to it
A picture is worth …
Track Your Keywords, Competitors, News, etc
Proof Reading• Respect your readers• Check for typos• Informal writing style is
fine but use good grammar to make it a professional and understandable communication
• Find your style and stick to it
Image credit: http://www.gapingvoid.com
Blogs are informal
35 comments
Headlines1. Get What You Want (In Health, Wealth, Relationships,
Time and Lifestyle) Example: “The Secret To Getting More Money For Your Property!”
2. Crystal Ball and History Example: “10 Predictions on the Future of Social Media”
3. Problems and Fears Example “Get Rid of Your Debt Once and For All”
4. Fact, Fiction, Truth and Lies Example: “Little Known Ways To Make Money On The Stock Exchange”
5. How To, Tricks Of The Trade Example: “How To Plan The Ultimate Holiday”
6. Best and Worst Example: “The 10 Worst Mistakes Made by Bloggers
- From Authority Blogger
News Items
Find a news item or statistics that can be used in the blog post
Optimization
Spamming
Don’t use any keyword excessively, as search engines may perceive this as spamming.
How Often To Use Keywords Keywords?
“Keyword Density [is] not really a factor. Yes keyword should be present but density is not important. Include the keyword but make writing sound natural.”
- Matt Cutts, senior engineer at Google
Blog Optimization
• Title tag• Description tag• Headline (H1 Tag)• Sub-headlines (H2 Tags)• Body of the text page – write with
keywords
Tags
Information (code) in a web page/blog not intended for users to see but provides information to search engine crawlers.
Title Tag
• Tag used to define the text in the top line of a Web browser
• Utilized by search engines as the title of search listings
• Make them short - around 65 characters with spaces
• Include at least one targeted keyword (phrase)
• Never duplicate a title tag
Unique Title Tags
• Title tag (label) for each page must be unique
• Just like each child needs their own name
Title Tags Show Up in Search Results
Description Tag
• An tag to provide a description for search engine listings.
• Descriptions should include very specific, keyword-rich writing.
• 130 to 150 characters
Description Tags Show Up in Search Results
Write The Headline
• Use the keywords as close to the beginning of the headline as possible.
• The headline should not be longer than 65 characters (with spaces) for Google or 85 for Yahoo.
65
Write The First Paragraph
• Use main keyword in the first paragraph.
• Put a link to your website at the end of the first paragraph, using a keyword as anchor text for the link.
Write The Body Of The Blog
• Use your main keyword a few more times in the blog and once in the last paragraph.
• Link to your website at the end of the blog
Key Word Repetition
• Start the text of the page with that phrase or word. i.e. beginning of headline
• Use it few times, in context, so that you have around 2% of the word count.
• Make each page/blog 500 words long.
Make Links Informative
Don’t use “click here”. Rather than click here for more information, use descriptive key words:• E.g. Top stock picks for savvy investors
(key word: stock picks)• E.g. Compare widget prices with 5 other
suppliers (key word: widget prices)
Links
Linking Strategy
Write Post• Research,
write & optimize a blog post
Insert Link• Blog post
has one or more links to web page
To Selected
Web Page
• Helps create inbound links to website
Linking
Write The Body Of The Blog
• Use your main keyword a few more times in the blog and once in the last paragraph.
• Link to your website from the blog
Love those links
RelationsBlogger
People Know Other People
Blog Search EnginesBloggers
• Search on the Blog Search Engines
• Find the influencers
Comments
• You commenting on other blog posts
• Others commenting on your blog posts
Engage
Promote
Blog Directories
• Bloglines is a popular blog-collection service
• Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites From Robin Good
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55
• Words In A Row Listhttp://www.wordsinarow.com/blog-registration.html
Metrics
Clic
k th
rou
gh
to w
ebsi
te
Track Results
• Search ranking for blog
• # of bloggers allied• # of positive blog
posts written about your business
• Inbound links to your site and blog
Keeping Score
Better Financial Performance
• Significant positive financial results for the companies who have the greatest breadth and depth of social media engagement.
Source: The ENGAGEMENTdb study (www.engagementdb.com)
Create Great Content by Blogging
Source: Data from over 1,500 small businesses - http://bit.ly/XDkQV
Blogging Attracts More Links
Source: Data from over 1,500 small businesses - http://bit.ly/XDkQV
Blogging Attracts More Visitors
Blogging Generates Leads
Social Media is for Leads and Sales
Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report - http://bit.ly/aewfHr
Social Media Marketing… Givers Get
Takeaways
Set up your blog properly
Do your homework & have a plan
Blogs are informal writing
Engage not just publish
Network with other bloggers
Cross promote on social sites, email, etc
Doug [email protected]
Direct: 250-756-0306 Toll Free: 877-226-3823
Free Internet
Marketing Analysis
More Sales?
More Leads?
Contact
Doug [email protected]
Direct: 250-756-0306877-226-3823
Website: www.doughayassoc.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/doughayFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/doug.hayLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/doughay
Copyright Notice All materials contained in these presentations
are protected by Canadian and United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Doug Hay.
The names of actual companies, products or images mentioned herein may be the copyright or trademarks of their respective owners.
