Blogging for Business

Andy Kleist

Intro to Blogging

• What is a blog?• A blog is a website categorized by regular

individual entries or comments, description of events, or other material.

• Why blog?• To share ideas, promote your business, or to just

stand out from others in the social marketing world.

Finding a blog topic

Finding a topic is one of the most important decisions when creating a new blog. Here are a few tips given to me by Clay Travis (www.claytravis.net) and Drew Magary (www.kissingsuzykolber.com)

▫Your topic should be different from current blogs(avoid well-worn topics)

▫Find an appropriate scope (especially for news blogs)

Driving Traffic to your Site

• So you’ve created a blog with a solid topic that you can regularly produce material for. Now how do you bring people to your website?• Word of Mouth will be extremely important early

on, so make sure to spread news of your blogs existence to online groups of people who might be interested.

• Linking and being linked by other similar websites (this relationship with other blogs is often built before your blog)

• Advertising with Google (more on this later)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)• SEO can help you target your audience

through the use of keywords or key phrases.

• Using longer key phrases will increase your chance of hits on Google or Yahoo!

Registering “Prime” Domains

• Location, location, location• Once you have started a blog and have some traffic

to your website, you may want to take it to the next level and purchase a domain.

• Keep it simple, short, and easy to remember• Domains can be a cheap way to increase traffic over

time

Linking and being Linked to

Developing relationships with similar blogs and bloggers can pay dividends.• Being linked from an established blog is essentially

an endorsement of your site and your writing.• This can increase the amount of interested users

viewing your blog immensely.

Maintaining Readership

• Like Newspapers, blogs need to publish new content often to keep readers coming back

• The most important thing to do is update every few days no matter what!

• Even a post about nothing allows your readers to comment and see that while nothing new is up, the blog is still alive

Converting your blog into business• This transformation occurs over time, but you

can take steps to turn a personal blog into a business one immediately

• Advertisements will likely be the biggest form of income, but consider merchandise and games/contests

• Even personal blogs can be resume boosters if they are well maintained

Google Adwords/Adsense

• Google helps us out by making advertising a small blog easy.• Adwords, as used in class can increase site

traffic by linking your site when someone searches for keywords you select.

• Cost per click can get high, so use long-tail phrases for the most interested users

• Adsense• This program adds related advertising to your

website, compensating you for any clicks on links.• This requires a steady, interested readership to work

Content and Ad Synergy

• Synergy occurs when two things perform better together than when separate.

• Site content and Advertisements work in this way, so it is important to keep them related.

• The closer your site’s content is to its advertisements, the greater chance of clicks and eventual purchases for those advertisers.

• So always keep track of your advertisers and your content so you can increase revenue.

Wordpress Addons• Whether you are blogging on WordPress or on

Blogger, you will want to explore the possibilities offered by blog-platform modifiers.

• These mods or addons can be as simple as RSS Feeds and Twitter updates, or they can be extremely detailed layout and graphics addons that may seem like a completely new program.

• Our advantage is knowing what makes a good website.

• Use tools, but don’t add clutter to your blog

Developing a Following on Twitter• With a strong

readership, you will want to encourage user comments and dialogue between readers.

• Twitter can be an easy way to expand your influence and reach readers any time.

Shameless Self-Promotion

How much do you have to promote your site?Promotion is necessary to maintain a blog, and

while sometimes it may get annoying, it pays off in the end.

Internet success is all about connections and keeping up with technology, so keep trying new

things.

Realizing a Successful Blog

• If you’ve managed to start a successful blog, the rewards are plenty.• Payment for advertising• Interactive display of marketable workplace

skills• Accessible group of readers that you can try to

sell to • Hordes of admiring fans • Experience for future web ventures

• Thank you, and good luck blogging!