These are blogging tips for a workshop for Everyday Health.

1. Becoming a
better blogger
Steve Buttry
Everyday Health
June 8, 2012

2. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

3. Plan for the day
Morning:
•Blogging
•Reporting with social media
Afternoon:
•Digital storytelling
•Work w/ the tools (bring a story idea or
two)

4. Introductions
What’s your blog about? (6 words or so)
Who’s your community? (6 words or so)

5. Factors in blogging success
• Idea • Voice
• Format • Authority
• Headline/SEO • Conversation
• Writing • Frequency
• Links • Trust
• Visuals

6. Where do you get ideas?

7. Possible formats
• Brief • Chart/graph/map
• Video (w/ intro) • Q&A
• Photo gallery • Narrative
• List • Poll
• News story • Curation
• Data viz • Quiz

8. Relevance rules
Keep SEO in mind as you write, but …
•Relevance matters; popular but irrelevant
keywords can hurt you
•Quality matters
•Social matters, too, and people share
good reads
•Relevance matters in links

9. Keywords in headline
• What words would you use to search for
this post?
• Use those words in headline
• If possible, start headline w/ key phrase
• Check Google trends
• Use full names
• (VIDEO) in headline

10. Keywords in lead
• Most important: good lead
• Sharing drives traffic, too, so don’t write
for search engine
• Edit for search engine; would search
terms help or hurt original lead?
• If keywords don’t work in lead, be sure
head is strong & use them high

11. Writing for a blog
• Writing must be clear, engaging
• Take responsibility for the quality of your
work
• Read your work aloud
• Take a polishing read through before
publishing (or right after)
• Short is OK, but so is long

12. Links help people find you
• Relevant outbound links boost
Googlejuice
• Pingbacks bring you inbound links &
boost Googlejuice
• Add links as you do research
• Consider expanded links
Consider whether context implies
endorsement of linked views/content

13. Links help users & you
• Links provide context (& don’t provide
unnecessary background)
• Links boost authority, credibility
• Sending users away works for Google; it
will work for you, too.

14. Think beyond writing
• Videos • Audio
• Photos • Tweets
• Slides • Source documents
• Graphics • Maps
• Curation

15. Blogger’s voice
• Discuss w/ editor whether any type of
opinion is appropriate (advocacy,
commentary, analysis)
• Personality engages audience, w/ or w/o
opinion (humor, perspective)
• 1st-person & 2nd-person are engaging
• Be genuine

16. Blog with authority
• Authority is rooted in accuracy
• Transparency builds authority
• Attribution & link appropriately, for
credit but not for cover
• Say what you don’t know

17. The blogging conversation
• Crowdsource (specific questions: “Do
you know anyone who …?” “Did you see
…?” “Has this ever happened to you?”)
• Consider ending post w/ question
• Stimulate/continue conversation in social
media
• Engage with comments

18. Extend the conversation
• Effective use of social media (Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, Pinterest,
etc.)
• Relevant comments (w/ links) on related
blogs (no spamming!)
• Emails/tweets/#hashtags call to
attention of influencers

19. When should you blog?
• When you have something to say
• Frequent, regular posts build loyalty
• Weak posts hurt credibility
• Frequent updates on unfolding stories
keep people coming back
• Short posts are good

20. Standards
• Verify information
• Completeness & fairness come over time
• Say what you don’t know
• Attribute & link
• Acknowledge changes & updates
• Correct quickly & transparently
• Trust builds slowly, vanishes quickly

21. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• https://www.newsu.org/introduction-to-
reporting
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com