intro to b2b corporate blogging
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was built to serve as an intro for content creators who were unfamiliar with the more common elements of blogging.TRANSCRIPT
Blogging 101
Blogging Effectively
• A Blog’s Look & Feel• Best Practices: Writing a Blog
Post• Best Practices: Using
Multimedia
A Blog’s Look & Feel
Glossary of Blog TermsTerm Definition
Blog
(n) a blog is defined by its format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the website that hosts the blog.
(v) to maintain or add content to a blog
Post (n) An individual blog entry
Blogger A person who blogs
Blogroll A list of other blogs that a blogger recommends by providing links to them (usually in a sidebar list).
(RSS) Feed
Really Simple Syndication is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS Feed is a file containing a blog’s latest posts. It is read by an RSS aggregator/reader and shows at once when a blog has been updated
Tag Free-form index of terms that classify blog posts by topic structure
Comments Replies from readers of an individual post
Header
Main navigation & search
SidebarSubscription options,
featured content, Social Media &
blogroll links
Main ContentPosts, Pages, etc
FooterRepeat subscription options & links
The Anatomy of a Blog
The Anatomy of a Blog
Tags
Subscription options &
social media links
Post
Best Practices: Writing a Blog
Post
A Successful Blog Posto Provides relevant, useful and valuable information
• The audience is our customer base. Picture yourself in their shoes and take their perspective
o Uses clear, concise and interesting headlines so readers know what they’re getting (or are intrigued)
o Is typically more casual & conversational than other forms of writing. Use a personal voice.
o Is easy to skim
o Is well-written. Spellcheck. Fact-check. Proofread.
o Incorporates visual content to liven things up
The Introduction• When writing the introduction, here are some
ideas for how to begin your posto Pose a Question
o Open with a Quote
o Provide a Personal and Powerful Story
o Quote an Enticing Fact or Statistic
o Create Context, provide background
o Use Analogies
Writing for the Skimmer
• Break up your post into bite-sized sections using:o Italics
o Call out box or block quote
o Short paragraphs
o Bullet points
o A short numbered list
Linking• Hyperlinking in
Postso Link to content that
is referred to in post
o List additional resources at the end of an article
o Hyperlinks increase Search Engine optimization and provides the reader with further research
Comments
• Ask for and respond to comments:o Make a point to invite our
readers to share their opinions in your comments on every post
o Acknowledge their comments, even when their viewpoint differs from your own.
Best Practices:
Using Multimedia
Embedding Multimedia: Images
Images break up text heavy post and provides visual relief.
o Images don't have to include just photos
o You can use screenshots, diagrams, charts, graphs, illustrations, and more
Best Practices:o Use a maximum of 2-3
images per posto Include a link to any
online images in your post or send the source file to Social Media Manager
Embedding Multimedia: Video
Why to consider video:o Video adds visual and audio
interest to text-heavy web pages
o Video can often be more compelling
Best Practices:o Keep video to 2 minutes or lesso If you are writing your post in
html, cut and paste the embed code from a video streaming site in to the post
o If your are writing your post in a word processor, just include a link to the webpage