Why Should I Go To The Trouble Of Having A Blog

The Need For A Corporate Blog

Of all the various social media platforms there is no doubt that Blogs have a unique and vitally important role for all digital media marketers to include a s part of a blended and proactively designed social media structure where every cog supports and synergies with the others.  Specifically blogging is the number one source of information for many markets and for women in particular is often the unquestioned number one source of  gaining information about required areas of need.

The Key Options

Naturally for such a popular and universally used social media option, there are many available options for bloggers to use. At the top of the list are Google's Blogger and Word Press. Now there are pros and cons for both but essentially you can boil it down to this.Word Press have a slightly more functional platform while Blogger is a Google product. In the end they are both great options and together make up probably around three quarters of the worlds blogs.

Feebly, Ghost, Tumblr and Live Journal are other excellent options that provide some other tactical variations that again should be explored and considered in making a decision on what the best option for you may be.

What Makes A Good Blog Post

There are some key aspects required to make your blog a great read that people will embrace and support over time.  Amongst the key aspects are:

• Regularity:  Readers expect your blog to be delivered on a regular basis e.g. weekly
• Consistency: If you blog around 500 to 700 words each post don't throw in 200 word posts
• Informative: Provide relevant information that gives readers additional knowledge and insight
• Relevance:  Regardless of what your topic is provide content that directly feeds into that
  

 Strategically Different and Aligned

Each of the different platforms each perform an important task and the role of blogs is to inform. Blogs are by and large not necessarily visual or are they generally set up as a discussion forum. Their main function is as a provider of new, important and sought after information. As such blogging is a vital link in virtually all social media networks and needs to be planned, resourced and prioritised as highly or more highly than any other element of the social media mix.

Digital Enterprise Program

To learn more about blogs, the different types and all aspects of content creation please fell free to join us at any of the Digital Enterprise Program (DEP) workshops and gain access to a free four hour coaching session for your business.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,
Daniele.

Blogging And Why It Should Be A Key Component Of Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Overview

In our last podcast we looked at a dozen of the most popular and sought after content types on the internet and described each in some detail.

Following on from that discussion we will today as promised give special attention to the uniquely powerful area of blogging.

Blogging of course has been around for over twenty years and is essentially an electronic journal that we write (post) to on a periodic basis about what ever topic we are interested in.

Advantages to blogging

1. For a start there are an estimated two billion blogs on the net on every conceivable topic. this means that they are incredibly popular and sought after by all different target markets globally.

2. Importantly people see blogging strategically as their number one source of information and not Facebook or other individual sites, which are more widely seen as discussion forums where people then go to share what they know and discuss with others within their networks.

3. Blogs are easy to set up and essentially free to run.  Widely used platforms such as Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr are just three examples of the excellent brands available to anyone that is looking to add blogging to their digital repertoire.

4. Most times you will only need to post your blogs weekly, where the average blog post is somewhere around five to seven hundred words long making it a relatively easy matter to put together on a consistent basis.

5. With the advent of user friendly scheduling tools such as Hootsuite have made it simple to plan, produce and schedule future blog posts today providing total control of what gets published and when.

Some general guidelines to live by for all bloggers

The same tenants of sound SEO can be equally applied to drive organic ranking for blogs as for conventional websites and include:

1. Effective use of Key words

2. Introduction of inbound links

3. Mechanisms for reader engagement

4. Quality content

Ten Great ideas for posting blogs

There are literally hundreds of viable ideas from which you are able to generate great blog content but ten tried and tested ideas include:

1. Write about an upcoming event for your business:  A new store opening, a new manufacturing plant, a new consulting suite, etc.

2. Write about a standout employee of the business: someone with a special talent, winner of an award or skill.

3. Write about a new product launch: Something that is new, innovative and different.

4. Write about a meaningful anniversary that you are celebrating. Ten years in business, etc.

5. Write about a new upcoming book, CD or DVD series you are about to launch.  Dan and Matt Marketing series will be on sale from: July 2015 at DanandMatt.com

6. Write about a new social media platform your business is now using for the first time such as You Tube, Yammer, Twitter or LinkedIn.

7. Write about a well-known client (with their approval of course) and what you were able to do and how this helped them.

8. Write about the latest trends, market changes and legislative changes that are most directly effecting your market and the customers within it.  E.g. Changes to Family Law Act.

9. Write about reader feedback and great questions that come up each week through the blog.  Comment on the comments.

10. Write about your business and products and why the target market should take note of them.  This is OK given that it happens occasionally say once every five or six weeks.

At the end of the day you can literally write about anything as long as it has some value to the audience you are trying to attract, interest and ultimately engage.

So get to it. Set up your own blog and starting putting out quality posts that will position you as a thought leader in your market place.

And for the entire Dan and Matt marketing package just go now to:

https://www.danandmatt.com/product/the-package

to order online for a free 30 day unconditional trial period.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,

Daniele.

The Question Is No Longer To Blog Or Not To Blog. But Rather How Often.

Over the last couple of years as the importance of blogging has been so beautifully highlighted by virtually all of the leading, social media marketers, I have made a concerted effort to encourage (and in some cases even cajole) my clients into starting and being committed to a business blog.

In my recent times it seems I'm repeating the same answer in the same discussion undertaken again and again, about how often should a blog be updated each month.

To answer this question there is some exciting new data by leading Social Media firm Hotspot. In a recent survey with over 4000 businesses, several key strategic insights were clearly revealed and providing a tremendous lead that we should all follow.

Amongst the most revealing data captured is the fact that Business-to-Business (B2B) businesses who blogged just 16 to 20 times per month received 3 times more leads than those who didn’t blog at all. Whilst Business - to - Consumer (B2C) businesses that blogged just 16 to 20 times per month got over 4 times more leads than those who didn’t blog.

So clearly its a case of blog, blog often and commit to producing quality content that helps position you and your business or brand as a thought leader or industry leading product amongst your preferred target audience.

To build up a good following takes time not a few weeks but rather one to two years but once it's done you will have a powerful resource at your disposal that you can leverage to great success. But more on that another time. For now the take out is simple. Your firm needs to blog regularly and engage the community of customers and prospects alike.

What about you. How often do you post to your blog and what are the key barriers that you think hold you back from posting more frequently. Please share your comments below.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.