Write On Track

Blogging Effectively For Your Business

Lorna SixsmithWrite On Track

Write On Track

What is a Blog?

• A blog is a page on your website

• Similar to diary entries as they permit frequent updates.

• Blogs can be standalone websites

• Blogs can be used to tell your customers what your product/service can do for them

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Why Blog?

Benefits of Blogging• To improve SEO• To drive more traffic to your

website & increase sales• Communicate with customers• To increase brand awareness• More PR and media attention• Credibility• Trustworthiness• Core of online presence

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More Reasons To Blog

• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads each month

• B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month

• Companies that blog have 55% more visitors• Source Hubspot

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How to Blog Effectively

• Writing good titles• Effective opening paragraphs• Adding Images to posts• How to hyperlink• Increasing backlinks• Using the Keyword Tool• Using the All in One SEO plug

in• Effective Calls to Action

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A.I.D.A

• Attract attention with a great title• Interest them in your topic• Desire – arouse desire for your product or

service but don’t give away all the informtion• Action – always end with a call to action

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Hook Readers with a Great Title

• List Titles – 10 Ways to ......, 9 Secrets of ....• Keyword comes first in a statement – Wallpaper

Wednesday: 3 Nautical Wallpapers• ‘How to’ – How to write a blog post a day• Promises – e.g. The Best Way To ..., The Ultimate Guide

to ....• Rhetorical Questions with personal pronouns – e.g. Do you

know how to upholster a chair?• Benefits – e.g. Free, Create ... in minutes, • Part of a club – e.g. What Everybody Knows ...’, Join Us

For....’,

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Opening Lines for your Blog Post

• Start with a question that either makes them answer ‘yes’ and read on or will make them want to find out the answer.

• Start with a statistic• Start with a reader’s question• Begin with a quotation• Tell the readers what benefits they will achieve by reading

the post• State a common problem• Make a controversial statement • Begin a story

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Google Keyword Research Tool

• Free• Need a gmail email account• Type in your word/phrase• Select country/language• Aim for low competition

and high search results• Look at the suggestions too• Use 3 or 4 keywords per

post

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How to get good traffic to your blog

• Highly searched keywords into blog post• Use keyword analysis tool• Comment on other blogs – community• Tweet links to your blog posts• Use Stumbleupon or similar• Offer sneak peeks, giveaways, contests,• Be original, topical or slightly controversial

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Calls to Action

• Always ask your readers to do something• Like your facebook page / follow you on twitter• Ask them to share the post with their friends if

they enjoyed it• Ask them to sign up for your newsletter• Ask a question and ask them to let you know their

opinion in the comment box• Ask them to check out the product you were

writing about

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Tags for Your Blog

• Tags will be picked up by Wordpress / Searchers• Tags are keywords that people may search for• Ensure the tags are used in the body of the post

too• Max of 8 tags• You might have 20 categories but thousands of

tags for your blog• Tag Cloud

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Blog Categories

• Good for Navigation• Readers can tell at a glance

what your blog is about• Good for SEO• Choose a Max of 5 categories• Ensure they are relevant

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Inbound Links

• Inbound links – links from other websites/blogs• Calibre of link depends on where it comes from• Commenting on other blogs = ‘no follow’ now• Guest post on other blogs or directories• Exchange links with complimentary businesses e.g

florist/wedding cars• Ask suppliers/customers/networks to list you on

their website• Write great content – others will link to your post

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Cross Links

• Cross links are links within your own website and blog (or websites owned by you)

• Linking to other blog posts on related content• Include highly searched keywords within the

hyperlink• Don’t use ‘click here’ for the link, web users

now understand they need to click when they see the highlighted text.

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Why Add Images to Blog Posts?

• Images break up the text• Add visual interest• Draw the reader’s eye• Make it look more appealing• Make your posts more memorable• Loading Time – reduce pixels of photos• Credit images

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Adding Images to Posts

• Place cursor where you want image to go

• Click icon and browser upload

• Upload photo• Insert Title, description etc• Choose size and position for

the image• Click insert into post

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Creating Hyperlinks

• Highlight the link (use descriptive language rather than ‘click here’)

• Click the link icon• Paste in the link address• Click for ‘open in new

window’• All these instructions can be

found on the Write on Track blog in ‘For Beginners’

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All in One SEO PlugIn

• Free with wordpress.org• Has to be a self hosted blog• On the ‘new post’ page at

the bottom• This will show up on the

search page • Include keywords• Call to action in the opening

160 characters

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Preventing Bloggers Block

• Be consistent• Schedule posts• Keep a list and note any ideas as they strike• Have a regular focus once or twice a week

e.g. Wallpaper Wednesday• Do something different if there is a busy

time e.g. A-Z• Guest posts / interviews• Brainstorm with colleagues• Refer to another blog post and add your

own spin on it.

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KLCK Bloggers Network

• Join the KLCK Bloggers Network• www.facebook.com/klckbloggersnetwork• Monthly meetings – free• Kildare, Laois, Carlow and Kilkenny• Next Meetings – Mon 12th March in

Bennettsbridge, Mon 16th April in Silken Thomas in Kildare, Mon 14th May in Carlow

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Find Lorna At:

• www.facebook.com/writeontrackresults• http://write-on-track.com• http://ie.linkedin.com/in/lornasixsmith