how to blog by geoff livingston at wearemedia

Blogging: The Basics

A Webinar Developed By CRT/tanaka

©2009

Why Blog?

• Thought leadership• Share experiences and

value w/ community• SEO• Provide capture point

for marketing initiatives• Influence the media• Crisis PR• And much, much more

Structuring Your Content

Content: Editorial Mission

• The editorial mission serves as a compass

• Determines topics• Coming up with ideas

can be a brainstorm• How do the topics tie to

your work?• Your stakeholders?• Do you have

commentary to add?

Content: Bringing the Editorial Mission to Life

• Think in brush strokes• Color commentary on

pertinent topics• Posts are often 3-10

paragraphs in length• Fully researched

concepts can be broken into several posts

Content: Tone

• It’s not a formal business document– Personality should be

included– Write it like you were

talking with someone on a Saturday

• Remove unnecessary 1st person (I, me)

• Edit for grammar

Content: Structure• Long diatribes will drive

people away• Ideal paragraph length is 3-

6 lines• Posts greater than 10

paragraphs should be broken into two posts

• Minimum of three links to other blogs per post

• Ideal: Video, audio to supplement

• Must: A picture for each post

Content: Researching Links, Photos• Flickr Creative Commons for

Images: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

• Make sure to provide attribution• Places to research blog posts for

crosslinks:– s.technorati.com– blogsearch.google.com– Icerocket.com

• Use key words and phrases from posts to find links

• Ideal: You or PR firm is using del.icio.us to build reservoir of links, informative posts

Promotion• Socnet Participation• Bookmarking/Sharing• Comment on and link to

other blogs• Blog roll • Register the blog with

Technorati, Google Blogs, and other blog search engines – Tags help!

• Include the blog’s url in your email signature, business card, social network profiles

Frequency & Fodder• The more you post, the better

– 2 – 3 times a week is a good goal– Be consistent

• Need ideas? – Read other blogs on your topic– Stay on top of news related to your

topic– Your offline experiences are valuable

& a great platform for a unique idea or perspective

– Keep an idea log for future posts

Using Windows Live Writer

Formatting Text with Live Writer

• Basic MS Word functionality

• Italics• Bold• Underline• Bullets

Links with Live Writer

• Adding Hyperlinks• Highlight text• Copy URL• Use link button (see

screen shot on left)• Insert link• Also, can hyperlink

audio/podcast downloads with URL

Images with Live Writer• Save photo to computer• Insert image in the post

using image button• Flush left or right• Build border around

image• Use advanced features to

size appropriately (500 for full size, 240 for half screen)

• Add text and link for attribution

Categories & Publish with Live Writer

• Lower left corner allows you to tag photo with the correct category

• You can also set posting time– Pre-posting allows for

blogging ahead of set day– Simply push to post,

LiveWriter opens window

Using WordPress

Editing Live Posts

Editing Live Posts: Part II

Editing Live Posts Part III

Code Tricks• Adding video text: Insert

script from You Tube, Blip.tv, etc. where you want it placed

• Make sure there is ample space between paragraphs and code<br> <p>

• Be Careful: WP often alters video script if it is edited after publishing… Make it the last thing

Moderating Comments

• Go to comments tab• Go to moderation sub-

tab• Edit, delete or approve

Comments

• Always good to engage commenters, but you don’t have to answer every one.

• Thank yous works• Negative comments are good!• Not all negative comments warrant a return,

especially repeats • Don’t feed the trolls

Images Used• Neutron star 2004 by NASA http://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/291708133/• Tree of Life, by quema http://www.flickr.com/photos/quemas/1394199592/• Michelle, by digiart2001 http://www.flickr.com/photos/digiart2001/2143155562/• Black glass by exothermic http://www.flickr.com/photos/exothermic/2277966148/• New York Public Library by grahamwell

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grahamwell/199603745/• Megaphone Man by Aazonearth http://flickr.com/photos/aazis/393250260/ • 19th February 2005 by http://flickr.com/photos/paulwatson/5070829/