Building  Your  Blog  Brianna  Smith  

Digital  Marketing  Strategist  

Overview  

Ê  Components  of  a  blog  post  

Ê  Tips  for  finding  topics  

Ê  Post  frequency  

Ê  Driving  traffic  

Components  of  a  Blog  

Components  of  a  Blog  Post  

Ê  Title    Ê  It  will  be  the  reason  people  read  you  blog  post,  it  should  be  

attention  grabbing  and  represent  the  content  of  the  post  

Ê  Lists,  guides,  reviews,  and  how-­‐to’s    are  popular  

Ê  Try  to  incorporate  keywords  into  the  title  

Ê  Format  Ê  Keep  paragraphs  short,  3-­‐5  sentences  Ê  Use  headings  whenever  possible  to  break  up  text  

Ê  headings  should  clearly  describe  what  the  next  section  of  content  is  about  and  incorporate  keywords  

Ê  Use  bulleted  or  numbered  lists  often  

Components  of  a  Blog  Post  

Ê  Post  Length  Ê  There  is  no  single  formula  for  how  long  a  post  should  be  

Ê  Goal:  400-­‐600  words  

Ê  Focus  on  providing  value  to  your  readers  Ê  Put  most  intriguing  information  first  to  captivate  the  readers  

attention  

Ê  Links  Ê  Whenever  possible,  try  to  link  to  other  relevant  posts  on  your  

site  that  may  provide  additional  value  to  the  readers  

Ê  Goal:  no  more  than  1  link  per  100  words  

Ê  Always  credit  sources  with  a  link  back  to  their  site  

Components  of  a  Blog  Post  

Ê  Images  Ê  Use  at  least  ONE  image  per  post  

Ê  Image  should  compliment  the  title  and/or  make  sense  to  the  text  around  it  

Ê  Always  customize  the  image  alt  text  so  search  engines  can  understand  the  context  of  the  image  

Ê  Use  images  to  draw  the  reader’s  attention  further  down  the  post  

Ê  Try  incorporating  funny  images  (evokes  emotion  for  the  reader!)  

Finding  Topics  

How  to  Find  Topics  for  Your  Posts  

Ê  Social  Media  Ê  Check  out  what  hashtags  are  trending  on  Twitter  

Ê  Using  your  blog  categories  as  a  starting  point  search:  Ê  Quora  

Ê  Digg  

Ê  Reddit  

Ê  StumbleUpon  

Ê  Inbound.org  

Ê  Look  at  comments  and  articles  frequently  shared  in  LinkedIn  Groups  you  are  a  member  of  

How  to  Find  Topics  for  Your  Posts  

Ê  Checkout  popular  blogs  in  your  industry  Ê  Expand  on  an  article  Ê  Argue  against  the  author’s  opinion  

Ê  Google  Trends  Ê  (Google.com/trends)  

Ê  What  do  you  have  a  question  about?  Ê  Research  the  answer  and  write  about  it!  

Post  Frequency  

How  Often  Should  You  Publish?  

Ê  At  least  once  a  week  Ê  Goal:  2-­‐3  times  a  week  

Ê  Consistency:  post  on  the  same  day  and  time  of  the  week  

Ê  Publish  in  the  morning  or  early  afternoon  

Ê  Using  an  editorial  calendar  will  make  publishing  consistently  easier  

Driving  Traffic  

Amplifying  Your  Blog  Posts  

Ê  Share  on  Social  Media    Ê  Twitter    

Ê  Facebook  Ê  LinkedIn  Ê  Pinterest  Ê  Google+  

Ê  Share  immediately  after  publishing    Ê  WordPress  will  automatically  post  to  Twitter,  Facebook,  and  

LinkedIn  if  you  have  linked  your  profiles  

Ê  Share  again  later  in  the  day  and  several  times  during  the  week  following  publication  

Amplifying  Your  Blog  Posts  

Ê  Email  Notifications  Ê  WordPress  will  automatically  email  all  your  blog  followers/

subscribers  when  you  publish  a  new  post  

Ê  Content  Curator  Sites  Ê  StumbleUpon  Ê  Digg  Ê  Scoop.It  Ê  Delicious  Ê  Reddit  

Ê  Make  sure  that  you  have  social  sharing  buttons  on  all  your  blog  posts  to  entice  readers  to  share  your  content