blogging for business

Slides: SlideShare.net/HubSpot

Twitter: @rickburnes

How to Blog for Business

Rick Burnes

HubSpot Inbound

Marketing Manager

Agenda

I. Five Keys to a Successful Blog

1. Pick Your Target Keywords

2. Create a Mix of Posts

3. Write Great Posts3. Write Great Posts

4. Sustain It

5. Spread It

II. How to measure your blog

Key #1: Identify Target Personas

Kadient photo by: David Meerman Scott

Your Content Pulls in Your Personas

“Create the kind of online content that your buyers naturally gravitate to.” to.”

- David Meerman Scott

Author of The New Rules of

Marketing & PRwww.webinknow.com

What Keywords Will Attract Your Personas?

• Fill posts with them

• Build an archive of content full of them

How We Pick Keywords: Keyword Grader

A Word of Caution

• Writing for your personas DOES NOT mean writing about the products and services you sell them

• Write about the things they • Write about the things they want to learn about

Key #2 Create a Mix of Posts

Flickr Photo: jek-a-go-go

Step 2: Plan a Mix of Posts

NewsOpinion

Feature

Video

Photos

Many Types of Posts Get Traffic

PostPage Views

Did You Graduate From Link Building High School Yet11,270

State of the Twittersphere - Q4 2008 Report 8,768

You Oughta Know Inbound Marketing 7,498

6 Tips for Making a Business Marketing Video 4,211

Twitter in Real Life: The Follow Back [cartoon] 4,137

Raisin Bran – Basic, Everyday Posts

• How to posts

• Rich in keywords

• Get good at whipping them whipping them out

• Make sure they’re useful

Flickr Photo: greeneyesmilw

Spinach – Healthy, Thoughtful Posts

• Should establish your site a thought leader in the industry

• Put time into • Put time into them

• Don’t do too many

Flickr Photo: ulteriorepicture

Roasts – Big Blog Projects

• Lots of work

• Lots of links, discussion and attention

• Pick them well

Chocolate Cake – The Sweet Stuff

• These posts make your blog fun

• A chance to poke fun at yourself

• Lots of traffic/links • Lots of traffic/links

• Often video, images

Flickr Photo: scubadive67

Tabasco – Posts That Start Fires

• Make a bold statement

• Be prepared to defend yourself

• Lots of comments • Lots of comments and links

• Too many of these post could lose trust

Flickr Photo: ANOXLOU

Key #3 Write Great Posts

Flickr Photo: Olivander

No Need to Be Hemingway

Just follow a few simple rules.

Photo: Wikipedia

Tips for Post Structure

• Use Headings

• 500-800 words (or shorter!)

• Lists are OK (just not too many)not too many)

• 1 idea per post

Always Add a Photo

• Flickr

• iStockphoto

• Shoot your own

How to Search for a Flickr Photo

Go to Advanced Search

Then search for CC licensed photos

Where Do You Get Ideas?

• Everywhere

• Keep a list

• When you learn something, flesh it out

• Check your email outbox!

• Ask your readers

Write Great Headlines

How to Write Great Headlines

• Write the headline before the article

• Imagine the reader won’t see the article

• Surprise people

• No spelling errors!

• Use your keywords

Key #4: Sustain It

Flickr Photo: michalo

Pick a Publishing Schedule

• Once a week? Every Monday and Wednesday?

• Stick to it

• The goal is to build up a body of keyword-rich content of keyword-rich content (create an asset)

Different Ways of Doing Posts

• Email interviews

• Video interviews (conferences, office visitors, clients)

• Guest posts from people with similar blogs

• “Best of” lists

• “How we do it” posts

Should I Hire People?

It depends.

Pros:

• You don’t have to do the work

• You hire a “professional writer”

Cons:Cons:

• Nobody knows your business like you do

• You don’t build your personal reputation

• You don’t participate in the conversation

Key #5: Spread It

Flickr Photo: felipearte

Think of Blogging Like a Job Search

Would you sit at home and wait for a call?

Take Comments Seriously

• Make sure you comment back

• Find out who the people are• Follow their links

• Subscribe to their blog, follow them on Twitter

Use these links

Publish on Social Media

• Post directly

• Post via twitterfeed.com automatically

• Post to your status

• Post automatically via a feed to your fan or profile page

Also consider LinkedIn, other sites.

Where Do You Link to Your Blog?

• Your homepage

• Press releases

• Business cards

• Email signatures

Engage People; Stay on Their Radar

• Write posts that link to or follow up on bigger bloggers’ radar screens

• Most people do Google or Technorati searches for Technorati searches for their name, so they’ll see your post

Agenda

I. Five Keys to a Successful Blog

1. Pick Your Target Keywords

2. Create a Mix of Posts2. Create a Mix of Posts

3. Write Great Posts

4. Sustain It

5. Spread It

II. How to measure your blog

Metric #1: Subscriptions

• A measure of you blog’s total reach

• A “sticky” number

Metric #2: Pageviews

• Great for media sites selling display advertising

• Potential problems for your business:

• Doesn’t measure RSS

• Weak measure of engagement

• What’s the business value of a “view”?

Metric #3: Comments

• Quantitatively, a good indicator of engagement

• Qualitatively, a great way to listen to market

Metric #4: Inbound Links

• Measure the SEO impact of your blog

• An indicator of your blog’s role in outside conversations

Metric #5: Conversions

What Does HubSpot Do?

It’s a software system that helps you get found

Search Marketing Tools

Blogging & CMS Tools

Social Media Tools

Thank You!

Free Tools:

http://Website.Grader.com

http://PressRelease.Grader.com

http://Twitter.Grader.com

Rick Burnes

Inbound Marketing Manger

HubSpot

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickburnes

Twitter: http://twitter.com/rickburnes