2. Why Your Organization
Should Blog
• Why Blogging is Important
• The Rules Will Continue to Change
• How Often Should You Blog?
• What Should You Write About?
Keep in mind, social media — which includes
blogging — is attraction not promotion; prospects
have to want to go to your site. This can be
accomplished by offering valuable information,
solving problems, and not overselling.
4. What Can You Blog About
We have products and services that every type of business or
organization will eventually need.
By offering interesting or valuable information, we connect with
businesses, which may not be immediately searching for our product.
This gives us the opportunity to make them aware of our services.
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Our blogging and social media philosophy is based on two ideas:
ACTION Identify 3 or 4 blogging topic categories for your blog
5. Use an Editorial Calendar
Track Blog Progress
In our editorial calendar we track five levels of progress, topic category,
idea, in edit, WordPress, and published. Once we’ve listed the topics the
next step is to add an idea.
• Ideas
• Write the post
• Edit
• Post to a blogging site. We use WordPress
• Publish
Plan and schedule when you will publish individual posts.
6. Use a Systematic Approach
The key to staying ahead of your blog is having a system, using it, and not
letting it get away. The first time the calendar isn’t followed and a new post
isn’t published as scheduled is the beginning of the end. The exception
becomes the rule.
ACTION List your next four topic categories
7. How to Never
Run Out of
Blog Ideas
• Create a Blog Idea Log
• Keep Your Comments
• Understand Your Creative Cycles
• Stay Ahead of the Game
• Everything You Write Could Be a Blog Post
8. More Strategies to Stay Ahead
• Guest posts
• Soliticit other in-house writers
• Add Easy Blog Subject Categories, For Example:
Meet the Team • FAQ • Photo Blog • Featured Customer • Case Studies
Tech Talk • Quiz • Top Ten Lists • How To • How Much • How It Works
ACTION Create four blog post ideas
10. A 24-Hour Blog Improvement Plan
Turn off spell check — Hemingway said, “Write drunk; Edit sober”
Writing and editing use different parts of the brain. Turn spell check off as
you write, and let the creativity flow. Turn it ON to edit.
Read it out loud — Let it roll off your tongue — see how it feels and
sounds. You’ll find revisions, which will improve the readability.
Think small — Given a choice, choose the simplest words – the meaning
is almost always clearer. Usually, people quickly scan posts, and long words
break up the flow.
11. A 24-Hour Blog Improvement Plan
Review it backwards — Begin at the end and review each sentence as a
stand-alone structure.
Wait 24 hours — Let it sit. Set the post aside, and forget about it. You’ll
come back with a new perspective.
Use an editor — It doesn’t have to be a professional paid editor
(although if it’s in the budget, go for it). Find someone who complements
your weaknesses to be your editor(s). At one time we used a three-person
process, another time a two, and use editing software.
ACTION Outline an editing plan
12. You’ve been working on your website for three months. You hired a top notch web design team, and
they delivered. You love your new site. It’s simple, elegant, and effective. From the typography to the
copy—it works. It’s easy to navigate and has concrete calls to action. It’s a great site, and you’re glad
your work is done…But, it’s not Done
How to Feed your Website the Content it Craves
13. Publishing new web content isn’t limited to a blog. To begin with, you can
post on more than one blog. We have three separate blogs for our three
divisions. Here are some other content publishing formats.
eBooks – An eBook can be an expanded version of a “how it works” blog
post. It can be a tutorial or a guide.
Case studies – Sharing problems your customers have faced, your
solution, and the outcome is one of the best ways to connect with new
prospects.
Checklists – Problem-solving checklists that organize activities and
information are valuable tools for most consumers and any business.
Beyond the Blog
14. Video – Can be used for customer testimonials, product tutorials, and
more. This simple video has more than 20,000 views.
Images – Not only should images be part of every blog post, but they
should stand on their own with portfolios, featured customers, and new
work.
So, What’s for Dinner?
Beyond the Blog
ACTION Choose one content format to implement
