1. Presented by Karen Porter UM School of Business Administration & ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Content & Blogging 101

2. Online: Content is King Make content REMARKABLE content! Content that adds value for your site visitors Content that warrants links from other sites Content that is worth sharing in social media Content that has variety: articles, videos, photos, podcasts, infographics As a website owner, you are one half marketer and one half publisher Blogging is a great way to add ongoing quality content to site

3. Benefits of Blogging Each post counts as a new Google “page” Can establish you/company as thought leader Google LOVES continually added fresh content More pages means more credibility Gives visitors a way to converse through comments Build trust and rapport with your readers Blogs draw more links from other sites than static pages

4. Do Not Use Free Blogging Platforms Do NOT use a free platform blog with subdomain _______.wordpress.com _______.blogger.com _______.typepad.com You do not have true “ownership” of your blog You build authority for the main domain, not your own blog If you want to move your blog later, can be very difficult to do so

5. Recommended: WordPress.org Gives you TOTAL control over your blog Ideally, incorporate your blog into your website _____.yourdomain.com – or – yourdomain.com/______ Does require self-hosting Your own domain (roughly $8 - $15 per year) Your own hosting (less than $10 per month) WordPress.org very popular (> 25% all new sites) Exceptional flexibility (plugins, widgets, etc.) Content management system is easy for clients Easy to find support

6. Blog Post Best Practices Blogs 250+ words – 300-600 words ideal Select a keyword, write around it, then use SEO Select a great title (and include your keyword) Incorporate other media: photos, videos, audio, etc Stick to your topic Blog at least once per week (more is better) Blog once per day and get twice the results Blog once per month at very least Always be thinking of new topics (keep notes!) Find more in the two assigned extra readings

7. Blogging – Ideas for Content Follow others you respect (blogs, social, etc) Search Google or Bing (“most popular xyz”…..) Tie to current events (what’s trending on Twitter) Use Google alerts Respond to common reader questions Use an idea generator http://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator 101 topic ideas: http://startbloggingonline.com/101-blog-post-ideas-that-make-your-blog-hot/

8. Promoting Your Blog SEO – organic search can bring significant traffic List your blog in the major blog directories Do a Google search to find this list Promote new posts on your social media accounts Link back to the actual blog posted to your site! Use social bookmarking (& get others to do so too) Encourage commenting (and then comment back) More commenting encourages a viral effect Include social buttons on posts to encourage social sharing of your content