tpc books top 10 diy best blogging platforms

TPC BOOKS TOP 10 DIYBOOK MARKETING TOOLSOF 2010

OMAR LUQMAAN-HARRIS

PARTNER – THE PANTHEON COLLECTIVEWWW.PANTHEONCOLLECTIVE.COM

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/TPCMARKETING

FOREWORDWelcome to TPC Books Inaugural Top 10 Do It Yourself Book Marketing Tools of 2010!

We compiled this list because our mission is to empower and inspire (aspiring) authors like you to take control of your publishing destiny and make your dream come true!

This list, while not exhaustive, is the result of our trial and error from publishing two novels in 12 months.

Also, don’t get too wrapped up in the order. The point is you need to be doing all these things and more to get your book out there!

The Pantheon Collective is (from left) James W. Lewis, Omar Luqmaan-Harris, And Stephanie Casher

WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT

Saving you time

Saving you money

So you don’t repeat our mistakes

So you spend your time and money on things that move books

So you can be wildly successful

And help someone else like we’re helping you!

THE LIST

# 7 BEST BLOGGING PLATFORMS

“YOUR BLOG IS YOUR UNEDITED VERSION OF YOURSELF.” ~ LORELLE

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BLOG

Fir

st b

log

cre

ated

Ter

m “

web

log

” co

ined

Web

log

sh

ort

ened

to

blo

g

Blo

gg

er la

un

ched

Bo

ing

Bo

ing

is b

orn

An

dre

wS

ulli

van

.co

m

lau

nch

edW

om

an f

ired

fo

r d

iscu

ssin

g jo

b o

n b

log

Giz

mo

do

lau

nch

ed

Blo

gad

s la

un

ches

Gaw

ker

lau

nch

esG

oo

gle

ad

sen

se la

un

ches

Web

log

s In

c fo

un

ded

Wo

nke

tte

lau

nch

es“B

log

” d

ecla

red

wo

rd

of

the

year

32 M

illio

n A

mer

ican

sre

adin

g b

log

sH

uff

ing

ton

Po

st la

un

ches

Est

imat

ed $

100

mill

ion

W

ort

h o

f b

log

ad

s so

ld in

20

05

Credits: Clive Thompson, Dave Sifry

BLOGGING: THE WHAT’S AND WHY’S (FROM HUBSPOT.COM)

What is a blog? A blog, or weblog, is a website that allows for regularly posted content or articles.

• Blogging is Inbound Marketing• Blogging helps with SEO• Blogging helps with social news and networking

sites• Blogging is permission centric• The conversation has already started… it’s time

that you’re aware of it and develop a strategy for engaging in it and using it for marketing

BLOGGING: THE HOW’S (FROM

HUBSPOT.COM)• First: Find the right blog software for you.

• Blog functionality: Make sure to use your own business URL (blog.mycompany.com), not a sub-domain of someone else’s URL (myblog.typepad.com)

• Analytics functionality: To truly measure the success of your blog, your software should allow you to report on email and RSS subscribers over time, measure visitors and leads generated, and track search engine keyword rank over time and compared to competitors.

• Support and expertise: If you are new to blogging, you may want your software provider to provide technical support, education and marketing expertise on how to succeed with your blog.

• On frequency: General rule of thumb is to blog at least weekly to maintain steady readership and continue your SEO efforts.

• Promote your blog: E-mail friends and family, replace email newsletter with blog, trade guest articles with similar blogger, promote on social media sites: digg, reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, LinkedIn

WHY BLOGS MATTER TO AN AUTHOR

• Blogs help build a lasting connection with your audience by giving them behind the scenes access to you

• Blogs provide a constant reason for your audience to keep coming back to your website

• Blogs become a marketing tool to expose your audience to new writing, ideas, or contests and promotions you are running

WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT• Develop a narrative

• What are you most passionate about?

• What do you know a lot about?

• What are you curious about?

• What are your hobby’s and pastimes?

• What are you struggling with?

• What are (have you been) very successful with?

• The TPC model:

• We started our blog as an ongoing narrative about the struggles and successes of three authors trying to start their own independent publishing venture. It’s like a reality show, just in blog format…

BE REMARKABLE (REMEMBER, COMMENTS BOOST BLOG RATINGS)

• Start with a memorable, catchy title i.e. “Top 10 greatest novel villains of all time.”

• Keep it short and sweet: no one wants to read War & Peace on their computer screen.

• Ask your readers for feedback on the subject of the blog

• Comment on others blogs linking back to your own blog on the subject

• If all else fails, look at twitter trending topics and blog on that!

TOP 2010 DIY BLOGGING TOOLS - CRITERIA

Self-hosted vs. Hosted (20 points)

Ease of Start-up (25 points)

Google page-ranking (30 points)

Options (25 points)

• Easy website integration/migration

• Number of templates

• Intuitive Control panel

• Widgets

• Built in Analytics

• Easy Social Media integration

MEET THE CONTESTANTS

• Blogger

• Wordpress

• Typepad

• Moveable Type

• Joomla

• Penzu

BUT FIRST, SOME DEFINITIONS (FROM BASHBOSH.COM)• Self-hosted blog: Type of blogging platform where you download, install and

maintain your whole blog yourself. This is the mostly used blogging platform for “serious” bloggers, because it allows you to easily customize and do practically anything you want.

• Hosted blog: a type of blog that many bloggers start out with, mostly because they can create a blog quickly, easily and can do that completely for free!

• Google page-ranking (from wikipedia): Pages that google believes are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.

• Web Widget (from wikipedia): a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship (e.g. a webpage, blog, or profile on a social media site). Widgets allow users to turn personal content into dynamic web apps that can be shared on websites where the code can be installed.

NUMBER #1: BLOGGER (85 OUT OF 100)

Self-hosted vs. Hosted : Hosted hassle-free service (15 points)

Ease of Start-up: can be blogging within 5 minutes (25 points)

Google page-ranking: 99 out of 100 (30 points)

Options (15 points)




• Widgets



NUMBER #2: WORDPRESS (94 OUT OF 100)Self-hosted vs. Hosted : Either self-hosted or Hosted hassle-

free service (20 points)



Options (20 points)




• Widgets



NUMBER #3: TYPEPAD (65 OUT OF 100)Self-hosted vs. Hosted : Hosted (paid) service (5 points)



Options (20 points)




• Widgets



NUMBER #4: MOVEABLE TYPE (40 OUT OF 100)

Self-hosted vs. Hosted : Self-hosted service (requires download) (10 points)

Ease of Start-up: blogging within 15 minutes (10 points)


Options (10 points)




• Widgets



NUMBER #5: JOOMLA (54 OUT OF 100)Self-hosted vs. Hosted : Self-hosted service (requires

download – 30 day free trial) (5 points)



Options (10 points)




• Widgets



NUMBER #6: PENZU (85 OUT OF 100)

Self-hosted vs. Hosted : Hosted service that puts a premium on privacy (15 points)



Options (20 points)




• Widgets



MEET OUR 2010 WINNER!

Wordpress!

WHY WORDPRESS WINS

• It’s FREE!

• You can create a self-hosted or hosted blog

• Very easy to start-up

• Easy website integration

• Tons of great template options, widgets, and support

• Integrated stats

• Easy social-media integration

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• WordPress get started Guide

• http://learn.wordpress.com/get-started/• 100 WordPress resources

• http://blog.steffanantonas.com/100-killer-wordpress-resources.htm

THE WINNERS

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!

#6

BEST DIY READING COMMUNITIES

tpc books top 10 diy best blogging platforms

Documents

easy website integration migrationnumber

templatesintuitive control panelwidgetsbuilt

omar luqmaan

google page

free service

hosted hassle

blogging platform

hosted service