introducing 

Strategic Blogging for Business

Presented at The South Carolina Womens’ Business Center

Why Blog?

• Develop your firm’s reputation• Establish your firm’s “difference”• Enhance your firms’ placement in organic search engine results pages (SERPS)

• Increase traffic to your website

• Take Away Tip: You are a self‐publisher!

Requirements

• Self‐hosted blog on your domain• Blogging goals

– Reason for blogging• Drives topics

– Frequency for blogging• At least once per week

• Blogging Calendar

Research

Blog Posts

Business Goals

What your customers care about

What you care about

What you blog about

What do you write about?

Research

• “Act like a customer”– What results do you gain when you research most often used phrases?

Research

• Competitors– Keywords

• Google Keyword External Tool

– SEO position• Alexa

– Analyze for their Point of Difference

• Take Away Tip: Know your competition.

To find this, search for “Google Keyword External Tool”

Keyword suggestions

Searching for keyword “dessert”.

Add Alexa Extension to Toolbar or go to http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo

Research

• Consumer Trends– Search the web for news articles, reports, analysis, surveys about topics or services your customer needs

– Note what is important to consumers using your products and services

• Take Away Tip: It’s all about the customer!

Plan Blog Categories

Desserts

Pies Cakes Ice Cream

Parent Category Child or

Secondary Categories

Plan ‘Tags’‐Micro Categories

Apple Custard

Blueberry

ChildCategory

Pies

Tags

Editorial Calendar

Elegant Desserts

Desserts for Cookouts

Family Style Desserts

Desserts

Chocolate Layer

PoundCakes

SunSatFriThursWedTuesMonTopic

Blog Post Basics

• 300 words• Use subheads to lead reader forward• Use keywords in posts, subheads• Link keywords to your website’s anchor content (your primary content on your major topics)

• Illustrate with photos, graphics, or images with correct alt and title tags

• Use videos if you have them

When you get ‘stuck’

• Run dry of ideas? – Try this list of great ideas for business blogging.– http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/100‐smb‐blogging‐ideas.html

Publicize Your Posts

Questions?

Photo Credits

• Flickr Creative Commons User– Magnified computer screen Clearly Ambiguous– Questions image  UvaFragola

• Brands of the World– Digg logo– Twitter logo

• Facebook– F logo

• Stumble Upon• Delicious