benefits of blogging (onsharp digital marketing coaching class)
TRANSCRIPT
BLOGGING BEST PRACTICES BY
Benefits of Blogging
Components of a Powerful Blog
How to Optimize Your Blog
SESSION AGENDA
Blogging Best Practices
BENEFITS OF
BLOGGING
Companies who blog receive
97% more links to their
website.
Customers have rated blogs the
5TH
most trusted source for accurate info
Pages of companies who blog are indexed
443% more often than those
who don’t
WHY BLOG?
-Awareness Inc. -Technorati -Business 2 Community
MORE REASONS TO BLOG
FRESH CONTENT ADDITIONAL CONTENT TARGET KEYWORDS
CREATE RESOURCES DISPLAY EXPERTISECREATE SHAREABLE
CONTENT
FRESH CONTENT
Lady Project Blog uses their blog to share advice and showcase local women to create
and build their community
ADDITIONAL CONTENT
Lissadee Photography uses a blog to feature additional resources, inspiration and other
types of valuable content for current and
prospective clients
TARGET KEYWORDS
College Nannies and Tutors Stone Oak
integrates keywords into their blogs which helps
people find them through search engines
CREATE RESOURCES
Baby List uses their blog to answer their
customer’s frequently asked questions
CREATE RESOURCES
Anytime Fitness creates resources like
video workouts and how-to guides to build their reputation as an expert
source
DISPLAY EXPERTISE
Kennelly O’Keeffe displays expertise by
relating their blog topics around areas of law they
work with
CREATE SHARABLE CONTENT
Unglued creates content that can easily be translated to sharable social media
posts
ACTIVITY 1
What Should You Blog About?
COMPONENTS OF A
POWERFULBLOG
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
+ Be brief and concise
+ Be descriptive, clear, and to-the point
+ Create a sense of urgency or importance
+ Use numbers
+ Be controversial (if you want discussion)
KEYWORD AT BEGINNING OF TITLE
DESCRIPTIVE AND TO-THE-POINT
CREATIVE BLOG TITLES
Use listsBlank Forest Zoo
Ask a question Kennedy Chiropractors
CREATIVE BLOG TITLES
Give a sneak peak Mint Finance App
Teach them something new ZipTopia (ZipCar) blog about smart City Life
COSCHEDULE.COM/HEADLINE-ANALYZER
ACTIVITY 2
Title Writing Challenge
HOW CAN I GET REACH MORE PEOPLE ON TWITTER?
SOCIAL EMPLOYEES HASHTAG STRATEGY
WHAT ARE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS/TOPIC AREAS YOU COULD ANSWER THROUGH BLOGGING?
WHAT KEYWORDS DO YOU WANT TO BE FOUND FOR IN SEARCH ENGINES?
1
2
WRITE POTENTIAL BLOG TOPICS USING THOSE KEYWORDS3
HOW TO SELECT SOCIAL EMPLOYEES
THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF SOCIAL EMPLOYEES ON YOUR BUSINESS
5 THINGS TO SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN BUILDING A SOCIAL
EMPLOYEES PROGRAM
THE SECRET TO EXTENDING YOUR REACH- SOCIAL EMPLOYEES
4 IDEAS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR HASHTAG STRATEGY
HOW TO ADD #TBT INTO YOUR HASHTAG STRATEGY
HIGH FIVE FRIDAY: @CAREERFM’S HASHTAG STRATEGY
BUILD A HASHTAG STRATEGY IN 6 SIMPLE STEPS
QUICK TIP
CONDUCT A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR THE KEYWORD YOU WANT TO BE FOUND FOR TO SEE WHAT BLOGS PEOPLE ARE CURRENTLY WRITING
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
+ Ideal length is between 600-1,500 words
+ Can be longer or shorter depending on topic
+ Make it scannable
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
+ Use headings
+ Use number or bullets
+ Break up text with images, text call-outs, or tweets
+ Consider using a feature image
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES WHICH DO YOU WANT TO READ?
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
+ Use image or infographic to highlight or summarize
key points
+ Make it shareable (Pinterest button)
+ Utilize a gallery
+ Use alt text to describe images
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Add your logo or website in images
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Use consistent feature images
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Visually show what you’re sharing in your blog in the form of a recap graphic
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Visually show what you’re sharing in your blog in the form of a recap graphic
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Visually show what you’re sharing in your blog in the form of a recap graphic
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Using images can help your blog get pinned on Pinterest
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
+ Link to external sites that you reference to either give credit or provide additional context
+ Link to different places in your website to give reader more information
+ Feature other blogs they may be interested in reading
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
+ Each blog should include a call-to-action such as:
+ Contact us for more information+ Link to contact us page or email address
+ Read a related blog+ Link to blog
+ Share your feedback+ Social share
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Promote a product/service
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Encourage them to continue reading another one of your related blogs
TITLES
LENGTH
FORMATTING
IMAGES
LINKING
CALLS TO ACTION
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Encourage social sharing or commenting
BLOG TITLES KEYWORDS META DESCRIPTION
ALT TEXT LINKS
HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR BLOG
For best optimization, keep your page titles between 50 – 70 characters long
QUICK TIPLength of titles
BLOG TITLES
BLOG TITLE
It’s important to include the primary
subject and keyword for that page at the
beginning of the title.
KEYWORDS
very broad and have very high search volumes
LONG-TAIL SHORT-TAIL
more specific and give you better
results because they hone in on a user’s
specific interest
Example:Example:
+ 155 characters or fewer
+ Should be unique to each page
+ Should incorporate primary keywords
+ Should be easy-to-read and provide a
compelling description
QUICK TIPSMeta Description Best Practices
META DESCRIPTION
META DESCRIPTION
Meta descriptions are a website page’s
opportunity to entice a user to click-through.
They tell users what they can expect to see
on your site before clicking into it.
ALT TEXT
Alt text makes your website’s images SEO friendly.
The text description you provide for an image helps
give search engines an idea of what the image
represents and what the context is.
ACTIVITY 3
Optimize the back end of your blog
POST-CLASS TO DO