Blog - QT Web Designs

Why You’re Here
• Intro to blogging
1. What is a blog?
2. Why blog?
3. Who blogs?
4. Creating Content
5. Getting found (SEO)
6. Blog Automation (RSS)
7. Social Media Strategy
A Little Bit About Me
•
•
•
•
First job was a youth pastor
First blog 2005
Founded QT Web Designs in 2007
Since then I’ve helped over 150 businesses
and organizations create websites, brand
identities and blogs that:
a.
b.
c.
Market their company or organizations
Brand themselves as an expert in their field
Inform, inspire and develop a captive audience
Less About Me, More About My Clients
• Through hard work and a well crafted
bloging system, many of my client’s have:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Increased sales/donations
Achieved more search engine traffic
Published books
Gained more followers, leads, clients
Attracted media attention
Less About Me, More About My Clients
Some clients from the Mennonite Diaspora include:
• Mennonite Church USA
• Silver Lake Mennonite Camp
• Several local churches
• Menno Singers
Let’s start at the very beginning
What Is A Blog?
/blôg/ (noun)
• a combination of the words “Web Log”
• A personal journal published online consisting of
multiple entries ("posts") typically displayed in
reverse chronological order so the most recent
post appears first. Blogs are usually the work of
a single individual, or a collaboration
occasionally of a small group, and often are
themed on a single subject.
/blôg/ (noun)
• Many blogs:
a. Provide commentary on a particular subject;
b. Others function as more personal online diaries;
c. Yet still others function more as online brand
advertising of a particular individual or
company.
/blôg/ (verb)
• The term Blog can also be used as a verb,
meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Origins of Blogging
• Early blogs began as manually updated components
of websites.
• Early blogging platforms (Open Diary, Live Journal,
blogger.com) launched in 1999.
• By 2004 blogs became increasingly mainstream as
news services and politicians began using them as
outreach tools.
• Modern day platforms such as wordpress, typepad
and blogger allow anyone to have a blog for free.
Why Blog?
Understanding The Big Why?
• Understanding WHY you need to be blogging is
the most important question you can ask
yourself.
• If you’re currently blogging and you haven’t
asked yourself that question, now’s the time as
well.
• “Everybody’s doing it” is taken...
Blogs – the ultimate soap box!
Why You Should Blog
• Educate & Inform: Brand yourself as an expert. Start
developing a following of people who like what you have
to say.
• Build awareness: Tell people about important things
going on in your organization, or in your industry.
• Gather feedback: Visitors to your blog can share their
thoughts and opinions by using the comment forms at
the bottom of each post.
• Collect material: Use your blog to begin writing a book
or e-book. Gain feedback and categorize content.
Why You Should Blog
• A Landing Page: A blog is a great place for people from
social media sites to read more than just 140 words. Using
automatic programs to update your news feeds makes it
effortless.
• Make money: There are hundreds of ways to start monetizing
your blog. Whether it’s selling ad space, directing people to
affiliates or adding a shopping cart – your blog is ready to
start making money for you.
• A Fantastic Tool for Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Search engines love to index current content and blogs do far
better than most websites when it comes to rankings. Blogs
are full of keywords and are always up to date (if you stick
with a blogging schedule).
Folks who blog
Who Blogs?
• In 2005 70 million weblogs existed online
• In 2011 that figure had climbed to 150 million
Folks Who Blog
Blogging examples
Seth Godin
• Daily thoughts from the
marketing world
• Currently #6 in google when
searching “Blog”
• Takes collections of posts and
combines them into books,
ebooks, audiobooks etc...
Folks Who Blog
Blogging examples
Chris Coyer – CSS Tricks
• Online community of web
developers
• Uses the blog to feature other
developers and has huge
discussion boards.
• One of the top bloggers in the
world of CSS/web design.
Folks Who Blog
Blogging examples
WP Candy
• A huge online community of
wordpress developers.
Folks Who Blog
Blogging examples
1,000 Awesome Things
• Spawned the book(s) of
Awesome.
• Concluded on April 19th 2012.
• Began as a project to cope with
a difficult breakup.
Folks Who Blog
Blogging examples
Branding 10,000 Lakes
• Began last year as a design
project by Nicole Meyer
• Great way to showcase work
and always have a theme.
• Should be complete in 27
years.
• UPDATE: Lasted 366 days 
Cooking with Sin
• Began as a blog in 2010
• Turned favourite posts
and stories into a book
• Over 2,000 copies in
print.
Mennonite Girls Can Cook
Silver Lake Mennonite Camp
• Dining Hall fire in spring
2011
• Used blog to get word
out
• A great way to
reconnect with past
campers/staff/volunteers
• Continue to post regular
updates
Mennonite Church USA
mennoniteusa.org
• Website revamp Feb 1
2012
• Averaging 14,891
visits/month
• Heavily integrated blog
with over 475 posts
and 212 pages.
5 Reasons Why People Don’t Blog
• Too hard
• No time
• Not enough knowledge
• Afraid of failure
• Nobody will follow me
Which Will Describe You?
95% of blogs fail
5% of blogs flourish
Do you have what it takes to join the 5%?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html
Creating your blog like launching a satellite
Tools for keeping your blog in orbit
Develop a system
• Setting up a schedule is key.
• Daily, weekly, monthly, on demand.
• Figure out a schedule and try to stick to it.
• Blog in advance – schedule your posts.
Populating Your Blog
• Content is the most important component of your
blog:
a.
b.
The only thing of substance for your readers.
Allows search engines to find you.
• So where do you find content if you don’t want to
write everything from scratch?
Repurpose and Collaborate
Repurposing Content
Work Once, reap the rewards!
• Repurposing content saves you time and keeps
your message consistent.
• Work once!
• Newsletters (split up into different posts)
• Old articles you’ve written (split up...)
• Emails – answers to clients questions (good SEO)
Collaboration – automatic content
• Don’t want to write content on your own?
• Consider inviting associates, partners,
competitors to write a post for your blog.
• Suggest a content swap.
• Create a platform to feature multiple blog
authors.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of
creating content for your site that will place your
site higher than other sites in search engines.
SEO For Your Blog
Content is King!
• Put yourself in the place of people searching for
you.
• Identify 5-10 terms that you would like to write
about.
• Be realistic about the results sample size.
• Incorporate those terms/words into your blog’s
content whenever possible and appropriate.
Case Study
Zip EcoRide
• New electric scooter
company, started
January 2012.
• By May 2012 already
ranked in the first
page for many
targeted searches.
Case Study
Zip EcoRide
• Targeted words/terms
results: 22 posts, 42
pages
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
eScooters Ontario #5
electric scooters
kitchener/waterloo #3, #5
Zip EcoRide #1
Eco Ride #4
Electric scooter rules Ontario
#15
Calculate your commute #3
Alternative to the high cost of
fuel #2
Analytics – Understanding Your Blog Stats
• Tracking traffic into your
blog is important.
• Good stats allow you to
determine popular pages,
keywords, exit links.
• Understand which pages
are not attracting attention.
Statcounter.com
google.com/analytics >>
Followers – we always need listeners
The Power of Feeds
• RSS (really simple syndication) allows for your
blog posts to easily spread to other locations.
• RSS Feeds are a great way to push and pull
content.
How to incorporate RSS
• Offer a link to your rss feed.
• Sign up with feedburner to track your followers
• Use subscribe2 plugin to allow readers to sign
up for your feed and get email updates.
• Use a program like hootsuite
*Sign up for a service like google reader to follow
other feeds
7 ideas for getting followers
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Invite real life and online friends
Comment on other blogs relevant to your blog
Offer to write guest posts on other blogs
Reply to comments on your blog
Add links to your sidebar to RSS feeds
Offer a prize for new followers
Provide good content!
Developing your Social Media Strategy
• Work once by integrating your
blog with social media to
increase traffic
• Maintain a consistent online
presence everywhere
• Less is more, only engage in
realms where you have time/a
plan
• Stick to a schedule
• Play by the rules
• Use Hootsuite.com it works
20 Tips For a Successful Blog
1. Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
2. Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
3. Be timeless… write posts that will be readable in a
year.
4. Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then
encourage others to blog on the same topic.
5. Share your expertise generously so people recognize it
and depend on you.
6. Write short, pithy posts.
7. Don’t write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
20 Tips For a Successful Blog
8. Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers,
daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
9. Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always
have new readers.
10. Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog
readers–like gadgets and web 2.0.
11. Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
12. Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
13. Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you
don’t bore your readers.
14. Don’t interrupt your writing with a lot of links.
20 Tips For a Successful Blog
15. Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you
would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.
16. Don’t promote yourself and your business or your
books or your projects at the expense of the
reader’s attention.
17. Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your
writing more useful.
18. Publish posts on different days
19. Back date posts when you are beginning your blog
to show that you have a history.
20. Write stuff that people want to read and share.
Which Will Define You?
95%
5%
That all folks!
Thanks for coming out.
Download the workshop slides on my website:
qtweb.ca/anabaptist