This talk describes the importance of blogging and how to get started. This is really targeted to a business blog but can be applied to personal blogs as well.
The CMO Survey - Highlights and Insights Report - Spring 2024
How to Launch a Blog Gangnam Style
1. Director of Marketing, ReachLocal
Chairman, Social Media Club of Dallas
Director of Marketing, ReachLocal
@MikeDMerrill
Chairman, Social Media Club of Dallas
@MikeDMerrill
2. @MikeDMerrill
Today’s Agenda
The Importance of a Blog
How To Establish a Blog
Blogging Best Practices
Increasing Visibility
Q&A and Discussion
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3. @MikeDMerrill
About Me
Companies Experience
Accounting Business Development
Operations Marcom
Management Outside Sales
Product Marketing Social Media
Product Management Content Marketing
Organizations Education
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4.
5. @MikeDMerrill
The Rise of Inbound Marketing
Outbound
Inbound Marketing
Marketing/
/Permission
Interruption
• Telemarketing • SEO / SEM
• Direct mail • Blogging
• Email blasts • Social Media
• Print Ads • RSS
• Radio Ads • Free tools/trials
• Trade shows • PR
From Interruption to Conversation
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6. @MikeDMerrill
Original Content Is Key To Building The Brand
Blog posts can:
Expose you to new
audiences, research,
opportunities
Build awareness for your
organization and cause/work
Help respond to frequently
asked questions or inquiries
Be a cost-effective tool to
mobilize people
Help search engine
optimization to get more
traffic
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7. @MikeDMerrill
Blogging Extends Reach
“Most of my papers, before I blogged and tweeted
them, had one to two downloads, even if they had
been in the repository for months (or years, in some
cases). Upon blogging and tweeting, within 24 hours,
there were, on average, 70 downloads of my papers.”
Writing in the LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog, the Co-Director of University College London Centre for
Digital Humanities writes about blogging on 26 articles that she’d previously published in refereed journals.
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8.
9. @MikeDMerrill
Blog Definitions
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization. Techniques used to
improve search engine rankings
• CMS: short for Content Management System. Software
used to publish and manage websites.
• Index Page: the front page of the blog
• Header: The top part of the blog usually the blog title
• Footer: the bottom part of the blog usually listing navigation
and copyright statements
• Categories: A collection of topic-specific posts
• Tags: an index term assigned to a piece of information
• Post or entry: An entry written and published to a blog
• Blog Template: the blog design
• Permalink: A link to a specific article
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication): Allows readers to easily
subscribe and be notified when a new blog is posted
• Blog Client: software to manage and publish blog. Examples
include Wordpress, Blogger, Posterous, Drupal, Joomla, etc
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Blog Software
Ideally the blog is part of your existing domain
and Content Management System
Types of Software
Posterous and Tumblr
Focus on ease of use and simple features
Wordpress and Blogger
Numerous templates and plug-ins
Can run as a simple to medium complex
website
Most popular
Joomla and Drupal
Full-featured website content management
systems typically requiring programmer Joomla
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Step 1: MatchYour Audience ToYour Goals
Choosing who you write for depends
on having a clear mission for your blog
If the blog is intended to advance multiple
program goals, who does it need to reach?
Is it moms? Policy makers? Practitioners?
Community groups? Researchers? Media?
Parents? Teachers?
Clearly identifying your audience will
help you hone in on the right tone and
the right stories to cover
It will also help you identify who
should blog and what topics each
blogger should address
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13. Step 2: DefineYour Process
1. Define a key set of issues for each blogger
2. Brainstorm 5-6 posts they plan to write (or talk
about in video)
3. Assign an editor to scan news sources, and send
relevant stories to bloggers based on focus areas
4. Blogger should submit post to editor a minimum of
3 days before publication
5. Editor edits, sends to blogger for revision
6. Blogger revises, resubmits post to editor for
approval
7. Editor approves, routes for additional approvals
(ideally the editor should have no more than one
additional point of contact for final blessing)
8. When final approvals received, editor publishes
9. Blogger & editor monitor responses; blogger
responds if needed
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14. @MikeDMerrill
Step 3: Set Ground Rules
Be conversational, but professional
Build conversations, provide avenues for others to comment
Cultivate a personal voice, but use it to express the position
of your organization
Balance passion and precision with facts
Be prepared to answer questions or criticisms in the
responses
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15. @MikeDMerrill
Step 4: Identify Blog Topics
What topics and keywords will attract your
audience?
Review top 50 keywords used to find your
website – Google Analytics
Answer frequently asked questions
React to current events and news
‒ Never break from your key messages/points
‒ Only respond to current news to the extent that it offers a timely
springboard into conversations that you’re already planning to
have
• Brainstorm a list of topics that readers may
want to know about the cause and your
organization
• Define the keywords you want your
blog/website to rank for
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Step 6: Construct Powerful Posts
One topic or idea per
blog post
Write headline first
Always add a photo
Use subheads
Link to existing post or
webpage
Add a call to action or
request for
feedback/comments
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18. How to Construct Powerful Posts
Approach 1: Outline Approach 2: Off the cuff
Explain the issue to a smart
• Make a list with bullet points but non-expert friend or
of what you want to cover. colleague in an email.
Turn these thoughts into short
statements that are as parallel
as possible.
• Organize that list into
headings and subheadings.
• Draft 1-2 sentences explaining
each.
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Blog Post Guidelines
Titles: 60 character max
Keep titles simple, descriptive, use relevant key words
Avoid puns: Think about accessibility – If your title appears on a
search page, will it be easily understood?
Length: 350 – 700 words
Readers typically spend 1 – 2 minutes on a blog
Focus on a single, finite subject
Videos should be less than 180 seconds; audio must be high
quality
Links
Include links to internal pages you want to highlight in addition to
information (white papers, studies, etc) from external websites and
references to other blogs or news articles
Do not link in the first paragraph.
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Mix UpYour Posts
1. Basic, Everyday Posts:
How to posts, lists
Rich in keywords, shorter and length and useful to readers
2. Thought Leader Posts: Pillar Content
Help establish organization as a thought leader
Take more time
Far less frequent
3. Big Blog projects
Lots of links and discussion
Take more work
4. Controversial Posts
Make a bold statement, least frequent
5. Revealing and personality posts
Poke fun at yourself
Share personality of organization
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Keyword Considerations
1. The higher the competiveness the harder it will be to
rank
2. The higher the monthly searches the more likely you will
get traffic
One strategy could be to pick medium competition
keywords with highest traffic.
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Pick The Right Keywords
Google Adwords Keyword Tool – Sorted by Local Monthly Searches
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Write Magnetic Headlines
Scan blog posts from top publications
AdAge Power150 http://adage.com/power150/
Top News Pubs
Leverage Cosmo mag rules or provocative headlines to get
readers to click through from social media or from front page
of blog
Test out controversial headlines
Write headline first and use keywords
Your headline is a promise to the readers. It’s job is to clearly
communicate the benefit you’ll deliver to the reader in exchange for their
valuable time.
Copyblogger, Brian Clark
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Publish Frequently
Fresh content is critical to
generating a loyal audience.
Each blogger should commit
to blogging at a rate that
will ensure you have 1-2 new
pieces of content each
week.
Unless you have a
predictable flow of high
quality content, your blog
will not attain a critical mass
of readers or influence.
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29. @MikeDMerrill
Respond to Comments
Make sure to monitor your blog posts for Resources:
comments • www.Disqus.com
Consider installing a comment • www.LiveFyre.com
management system like Disqus, LiveFyre
• www.Captcha.net
or others that allow readers photos to
appear in the comments
Respond judiciously
Follow their links and follow them on
Twitter
Yes, you will get spam comments. Use of
commenting software helps reduce this.
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30.
31. 10 Tips to Optimize a Blog for Search
1. Define one keyword
2. Ensure keyword is in headline
3. Include keyword 2-3 times first paragraph
4. Include keyword once In each remaining paragraphs
5. Add a hyperlink in every post to existing post
6. Rename image files to keyword
7. Ideally 300+ words per post
8. Use alt-text keywords in every hyperlink
9. Include a minimum of one outbound link with keywords in
alt-text
10. Modify meta title and meta description
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33. @MikeDMerrill
8 Ways to Drive Visibility for a Blog
1. Feature your blog on the front 5. Email blog posts
page of your website – Add feature for people to subscribe
directly to posts
2. Cross post to social media outlets
• Feedburner
Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Linkedin
– Feature blog posts in email
Ask employees to share
newsletters
3. Add social sharing icons to blog
6. Submit to Social Bookmarking
template
Sites: (As time allows)
Wordpress plugins – StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit
4. Submit to Blog Directories – Pinterest if original images included
Technorati.com, alltop.com, or 7. Guest blogging
industry blog directories – Trade blog posts on similar blogs
8. Comment on other blogs
– Follow via Google RSS Reader
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34. Recommended Reading/Resources
Blogging Tips for Beginners
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/b
logging-for-beginners-2/
Writing Magnetic Headlines
http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
How to use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool
http://goo.gl/cG7sB
Understanding Creative Commons
http://goo.gl/Cj0fa
Why Social Bookmarking is Valuable
http://goo.gl/UNmT8
Blog Directories
http://bakn.me/Jy5jv9
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35. Let’s Connect and Follow Each Other
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http://www.mikemerrill.com/linkedin
http://www.mikemerrill.com/twitter
mike@mikemerrill.com
9/20/2012 35
Hinweis der Redaktion
Today we want to emphasize the importance of a blog to ensure everyone understand the value a blog plays in original content development. We will provide a step-by-step guide on how to establish a blogWhat best practices to emulate How to increase visibility for your blog And how to measure the impact of your blog on your organization’s success.
…so let’s get started with the importance of a blog
There are numerous reasons why social media and inbound marketing took off but one reason was the decline of the economy which placed traditional outbound marketing out of budget for most struggling organizations. Then came along the rise of the concept of inbound marketing coined by Hubspot who made it a household name in the marketing industry.Inbound Marketing demonstrated you could leverage content to attract people to your organization and drive brand awarenessBlogging is one of the most effective ways to build inbound traffic
The reason why blogging is such an effective tool for driving traffic and ultimately awareness for an organization is because it is original content. inbound marketing has become far more powerful and effective than outbound marketing: We’ve increasingly seen that people are more likely to share actions or educational pieces over social media than they are to forward an email. Blogging provides you a platform to expose your organization to new audiences, research, opportunities …. It builds awareness for your organization, your cause and your work…. It helps respond to frequently asked questions or inquiries.And very importantly, it is a cost-effective tool to mobilize people.
This quote is by a researcher who decided to do a mini study on the impact Social Media had on getting her work into the public eye. She saw rates go from one or two downloads over months or even years to an average of 70 within 24 hours of blogging and tweeting.I love the quote because it demonstrates how powerful a tool blogging can be for an organization and for individuals. It expands the reach of any initiative whether that it is publishing an article or hosting an event.
Formany, blogging is a daunting task, but this next section will help guide you through a process to minimize the confusion and to increase your understanding about blogging.
It might be helpful to provide a few definitions and terms traditionally associated with blogging. Plus, it will impress your webmaster when you use the right lingo. (Review slide)
(Review slide)One thing to consider is ensuring your blog is mobile friendly as many users.Most of these platforms here have free plugins that offer mobile capability or are mobile by default.
You should have a clear goal for what you want to accomplish with your blog. That will determine who your audience is. For instance, if your blog is intended to advance multiple program goals it may need to reach multiple audiences. You need to define who those are.Is it moms? Policy makers? Practitioners? Community groups? Researchers? Media? Parents? Teachers? Clearly identifying your audience will help you hone in on the right tone and the right stories to coverIt will also help you identify who should blog and what topics each blogger should address
The Edelman Trust survey is an annual survey put out by a well-known PR agency. I thought I’d share this to make the point that readers want to hear from certain bloggers more than others. Here you can see that they really want to hear from experts – academicians, technical experts, even CEOs. They don’t typically want to hear from anonymous communications staff or interns.That said there a few tricks to getting bylines from those busy, high-profile people:You can get agreement from high profile folks on topics to cover, then draft a ghost blog or blogs on their behalf and get approval and edits from them before publication.You can use social networking tools like twitter to build relationships with potential guest bloggers.You can also make the effort to build more junior staff into trusted voices in the blogosphere. Doing so requires planning and repeated posts but is very possible.
At the foundation, we’ve developed a nine-step process that may be a useful model for your organization. It starts with a combination of preplanned topics and opportunistic scanning of current news as a jumping off point for drafting blogs.It includes at least one revision cycle, and accommodates multiple approvals. Our process, for instance, includes a legal review.After publications, it also includes a monitoring process for any response that may need to be addressed
I think it is useful to understand what the ground rules are for blogging and to share those with the individuals in your organization. Again, this is a model you can follow or tweak to further define the style and expectations for your organization.
Brainstorm an initial list of blog topics. As you read the news, some of these topics may suddenly come alive for you. Using an item in the news to frame your post/video will give it the timeliness that attracts readers.React to current events. When some event in your area of focus sparks you… makes you angry, strikes you as untrue, makes you think, ‘yeah, but there’s a lot more to say about that’… write down your thoughts as soon as you can so you can begin shaping into a post or video script.While we recommend leveraging current events, you need to balance responding to news with your key areas of focus. Here are a few suggestions that may be helpfulNever break from your key messages/points.Only respond to current news to the extent that it offers a timely springboard into conversations that you’re already planning to have.
Not only does this give you the opportunity to think about tying in annual events and seasonal cyclicality but also gives you visibility to how you are planning across the various channels. An editorial calendar should include dates, owners, topic and resources.At ReachLocal we shared this on Google Docs and edit in real time at a weekly editorial meeting.
Onceyou have your list of topics and have plotted them into an editorial calendar, it’s time to start writing. The basic guidelines for ensuring a blog post is as compelling as possible are pretty straightforward.One topic or idea per blog postWrite headline firstUse headingsAlways add a photoLink to existing post or webpageAdd a call to action or request for feedback/commentsAs you can see, these are short. Once you share these with others in the organization, the idea of blogging is a lot less intimidating. (Review slide)
Of course the real trick is putting words on paper. The question I most often get is “how do I get started.” I often use one of these two approaches to develop a post and I’ve trained our bloggers at the foundation to use this methodology. (explain the 2 processes)(could also mention the leave-behind if we decide to work the slides in the back into a document.”
There are also a few technical tips – about title length and directness, about blog length and about linking strategies – that I keep in mind as an editor and ask my bloggers to bear in mind as well.The takeaway here is that you always need to be thinking about brevity and clarity when you craft a post. Online readers and viewers will typically give you 1-3 minutes at best. You need to make sure if you’re writing that you give readers a good sense of what you’re writing about at a single glance.If you’re positing videos, make sure they’re short and, above all, make sure the audio is decent. (review slide)
Now that we’ve covered the key elements in establishing a blog, let’s discuss best practices that ensure your blog is “sticky” to your followers.
Just like a news site, you should think of your content as mix of news, how to’s, and features and opinionsEach of these pieces of content is written differently with potentially different intent: Inform, education, take action
(Review the slide)
So the best way to pick keywords once we’ve identified relative topics is to see how much search volume and competition there is. Using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool we can enter a target keyword and get an assessment for the attractiveness of the keyword.Two ways to look at thisThe higher the competiveness the harder it will be to rankThe higher the traffic the more likely you will get trafficOne strategy could be to pick medium competition keywords with highest traffic.Caution is to not spend more than 15 minutes on this. Once you pick a keyword phrase move forward.
Review Slide
Animated SlideSo let’s look at this another way. Our goal is to pick keywords with quite a bit of local trafficIn this image I’ve resorted the previous screen by local monthly searches to find other keyword matchesAs we look down the left we see the top ranking phrases and you see you could even combine a few into one phraseHow To Volunteer in Austin or How to Volunteer at Safeplace in Austin
We have emphasized the importance of headlines during the media relations and social media webinars, but it is worth repeating that this is the one element that decides whether or not a reader keeps reading or moves on. It’s job is to clearly communicate the benefit you’ll deliver to the reader in exchange for their valuable time.
There are many ways to source photos but you want to make sure you remember copyright lawsFlickr offers a way to pull what is called Creative Commons photos where often times you can use an image as long as you give attribution to the ownerYour own photos are always the bestiStock and 123RF are paid photo services. 123RF is a lot cheaper than iStock but is a European-based company so the images are a bit more international looking.
touched on calendaring on mixing content up. Another related thing to bear in mind is frequency – it’s critically important to gaining loyalty and repeat traffic among your audience and ensuring your message resonates.According to Edelman’s trust survey, an individual must see a statement 3-5 times before they believe it is true. You’ve probably seen this in practice when you say the same thing 20-30 times, then one day a colleague walks into a meeting and says, “I had this great idea…!” Then you hear your words coming out of their mouths.That means you need posters to post on a repeated basis. It also means you need different posters to hone in on the same key messages. Finally it means you need to have 1-2 new posts a week.Of course, we recognize that posting 1-2 per week may seem like a lot. Just remember that it can be a mix of original content, responding to current events or addressing questions that your community asks about your organization.
To build a community make sure you have someone responsible for monitoring and responding to commentsDepending on the content management system you use, you may be able to install a comment management system such ad Disqus or LiveFyre that allow commenters to easily login their identity via Twitter or Facebook, including their Avatar in the comment. These commenting systems also have spam management capabilities as well(review slide)
If you have followed the suggestions in the front sections, you have invested time and energy to getting the right content for the right audience and in the right format. But that doesn’t mean you will get the following that you seek. This next section provides a few suggestions to help you expand your reach and visibility for your blog to ensure greater ROI for your efforts.
If you don’t have a blog, we highly recommend it because it is what feeds all your platforms. When blogging it’s important to consider the power of search engines in driving awareness and engagement. Regardless of the fact that you are creating a blog or a profile for one of your platforms, here are 10 tips to help maximize your visibility.Define 1 Target KeywordEnsure Target Keyword is In Headline – Earlier the betterInclude Keyword 2-3 Times in 1st ParagraphInclude Keyword Once In Each Remaining Paragraphs Add a Hyperlink in Every Post to Existing Post Rename Image Files to Target Keyword Ideally 300+ Words per Post Use Alt-Text Keywords in Every HyperlinkInclude a Minimum of 1 Outbound Link With Keywords in Alt-Text Modify Meta Title and Meta Description
Rememberthat your Meta Title and Description are very helpful in driving SEOYour on page Title may be catchy to get folks to read while your SEO Meta Title is keyword optimized: Meta Title: Max length here for Google 60 charactersMeta Description: Max length 160 characters. This is what is shown in description of post on GoogleKeywords: Be consistent on keyword usage
There are many ways to drive visibility of your blog. (review slide)Blog Directories allow you to submit your website which serve as an inbound link