Grow Your Blog

Grow Your Blog“And Increase Your Success Online”

[email protected] 333 9637

BLOGGING FEARS

• Not sure what to write about• Not enough time to write• Too much competition• Nobody Will Read My Blog

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BLOGGING FEARS

FEAR

XPECTATIONS

PPEARING

EAL

ALSE


BLOGGING BENEFITS

Drives traffic to your website Creates content for your social media Helps to set your brand apart from your competition Helps SEO – Google loves new content Establishes you as an expert in your industry Reduces reliance on advertising Generates Leads


WHY MOST BLOGS FAIL

There are NO GOALS.

Blog is FOCUSED on YOU and NOT your AUDIENCE.

There is NO STRATEGY.


CREATE A PLAN

CREATE a STRATEGY

Establish GOALS.

Take ACTION


FOCUS ON PEOPLE

“Create Content That Solves Problems and Helps People”


• Who is the Ideal Person you want reading your Blog• Ask them what they want to learn more about

RESEARCH YOUR AUDIENCE


GREAT CONTENT

Focus On Great Content That Helps Your Audience

• How To Articles• Reviews• Opinions• Reports • Contests


GIVERS GAIN

• Don’t focus on yourself, your products or services– Remember, people don’t care about you

• Shine the spotlight on others– Outside experts– Successful peers

Develop A Giver’s Gain Mindset


WHERE TO FIND INSPIRATION

Don’t just look in your own industry for ideas – find awesome ideas content outside.

Then read their blogs and newsletters• What are they doing well?• What are they not doing?• What can you apply to your business?

Where Are People Asking Questions?• Quora (www.quora.com)• Topsy (www.topsy.com)• Bottlenose (www.bottlenose.com)


YOUR IDEA VAULT

When you find ideas for great content, YOU NEED A SYSTEM

A DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OR CONTENT CALENDAR TO TRACK

A STORAGE SYSTEM TO FILE AWAY THOSE GREAT IDEAS

• Email Folders• Desktop Folders• Evernote• Google Docs


DISCOVERY SYSTEM

Simple steps you can perform to find ideas:

– google.com/trends/– ubersuggest.org– soovle.com– clues.yahoo.com/analysis– LinkedIn Groups– Google Alerts– Amazon or Indigo – What are the hot selling books?– Featured Speakers at Trade Shows in your industry


http://www.google.com/trends/

http://ubersuggest.org/

http://www.soovle.com/

http://clues.yahoo.com/analysis

CHOOSE RIGHT PLATFORM

Platform To Use– Why Wordpress

• 80+ Million Websites• Open Source and Free• Extensive Developer Community


GREAT CONTENT MATTERS

WHY GREAT CONTENT MATTERS• Draws readers to your blog• Encourages “social sharing” of your content• Gets other bloggers linking back to you• FREE marketing• IMPORTANT – List Your Blog On Technorati

“Technorati is the world’s largest blog directory”


ROLE OF CONTENT

SHOULD NOT BE• Product or Service Marketing• A Place to complain

SHOULD BE• Commercial Free• Real Value to readers• Services Your Community

– Answers Questions

GOAL – You want your readers to feel welcome and keep coming back for more


OUTCOME

People will keep coming back

Your blog will be recommended

Some people will want to help you

You’ll be perceived as an authoritative source

You will inspire loyalty

Experts will want to work with you

When you do want to sell something, some

people will want to buy


CONTENT TYPES

1. Step-by-step guideYour complete guide to…….

2. X-number of tips/ways7 Ways to increase your……

3. X-number of examples10 Top…….

4. Expert InterviewsAdds Credibility

5. Product or Service ReviewsBe Objective


WHO SHOULD WRITE CONTENT

• You– Pro – Helps to Build Your Brand– Con – Takes Time

• Employees– Pro – You may have many options to pull from– Con – May require a lot of management

• Contract Writers– Pro – Lots of out of work journalists– Con – Costs money

• Guests– Pro – Can be excellent source of content– Con – Need to keep recruiting


• Jobs.problogger.com

• Skyword.com

• Zerys.com

• Freelancewritingjobs.ca

• HAVE YOUR OWN SYSTEM – “Want To Write For Us?” with a

sign up form• Must have editorial guide – helps writers know what you need• Editorial calendar – Plan, Plan, Plan – dates, topics


WHERE TO FIND BLOG WRITERS

LAUNCHING YOUR BLOG

• Have seed content ready (nice mix of core types)• Consider “Live Event” on launch

– Video interview– Webinar– Contest– Podcast

• Have a clear “personal” About Us page• RSS Feed• Integrate email opt-ins – sign up for future articles• Reply to every comment


THINGS TO REMEMBER

• Different people consume content in different ways– Email, RSS, social media

• Not all content will resonate with all your audience

• You need to work every day to promote– Automate those tasks that can be


GROW AND USE AN EMAIL LIST

• Often overlooked by bloggers – most effective way to get people coming back to your blog

• Use an email service provider – Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Aweber, etc• Consider offering a “Free Gift” to everyone that signs up for your content• Make it easy for them to sign up• Track the analytics – open rates, clicks, etc


POWER OF SOCIAL SHARING

Make it easy for people to share your content– Digg Digg plugin for Wordpress– Twitter integration– Facebook Like box– LinkedIn – don’t overlook the ability to post into your groups– Google+ can be also important for search– Pinterest – visual – high female demographic– StumbledUpon


SUMMARY

Your blog must meet the needs of readers Use right platform and track your metrics Create content that people love and they will share it Leverage email and social sharing to drive traffic


[email protected] 333 9637

www.steveloates.com

GROW YOUR BLOGAnd Increase Your Success Online


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.steveloates.com/