The Blog Factor: Why Starting A Blog Now Is More Important Than Ever

The Blog Factor: Why Starting A Blog Now Is More Important Than Ever.

August 2008

Chris BonneySpeaker/Writer/Trainer

VP of client services at Vanguard Technologychris@chrisbonney.com

7 Key Takeaways

www.chrisbonney.comchris@chrisbonney.com

What Is A Blog?

www.chrisbonney.com chris@chrisbonney.com

Blogging is a conversation

Why Blog? • Create more leads• Increase your

margins• Close more deals• Expand your online

visibility• Be viewed as an

expert

• Starting a conversation

• Creating value• Being transparent• Becoming Google-

friendly• Being knowledgeable,

relevant, passionate

Is It Right For You?

1. You have something to say – and a unique way to say it.

2. You have something to say – and a unique way to say it and you’re passionate about it.

3. You have something to say – and a unique way to say it and you’re passionate about it and it’s relevant to your audience.

4. You have something to say – and a unique way to say it and you’re passionate about it and it’s relevant to your audience and it provides value.

5. You have something to say – and a unique way to say it and you’re passionate about it and it’s relevant to your audience and it provides value and you can sustain it.

Before You Blog

• Read other blogs

• Subscribe to other blogs

• Comment on other blogs

• Track your company

Mini Business Plan

• What type of blog will you write?

• Who will your audience be?

• What subject(s) will you write about?

• Are you passionate about your topic and the idea of blogging in general?

• Can you sustain the effort?

Blogging is like

rowing upstream

What Types Of Blogs Are There?

• Thought leader/expert

• Practical advice

• Advocacy

• Corporate

• Journalistic

The Biggest

BlogsIn

The LandJuly

2008According to technorati.com, June 25, 2008.

Who’s Your Audience?

• Your customers

• Your prospects

• Your employees

• The press

• Your investors

• Your vendors

• Industry influencerswww.chrisbonney.com

chris@chrisbonney.com

What Should You Blog About?

• Determine audience

• What isn’t being talked about?

• What you know

• What you can sustain

• Your passion

Are you passionate about your topic and the idea of

blogging in general?

Well, are you?

Your Blog Plan

• Blog: Wedding catering

• Audience: Brides-to-be

• Subjects: The basics with humorous stories

• Schedule: 2x week: 1x tip and 1x story

• Goal: 100 posts

How Do You Actually Blog?

• Blog vs. website

• TypePad, WordPress, Blogger

• Preview, post, save, or schedule

• Category, tagging

• Trackbacks

Structure Of Posts

• Title

• Picture

• Intro hook

• Body

• Sub-headers

• Closing question

• Photo creditwww.chrisbonney.com

What’s A Better Title?

“Cooking Under Pressure”

“7 Insider Secrets For Cooking A World-class Dish When The Heat Is On”

Brain Starters

• Who Else Wants…

• The Secret Of…

• Here Is A Method That Is Helping (blank) to (blank)

• Little Known Ways To…

• What Everybody Ought To Know About…

Excerpted from CopyBlogger.com: http://www.copyblogger.com/10-sure-fire-headline-formulas-that-work/

It’s Just This Easy!• 7 Things Every Bride Should Know Before Hiring A Caterer• Why Italian Food Is Always Your Best Choice• The Secret Of Success For Any Corporate Event• Why Event Planners Make The Best Therapists• The One Immutable Law Of Event Planning• Why The Best Weddings Are In The Winter• How To Handle A Food Scare• Why Color On The Plate Creates Happy Customers• How To Make Any Event A Little More Green• The Renegade’s Guide To Marketing Your Catering Business• The Fool’s Guide To Family Reunions • What I Learned From Planning The Super Bowl Half-time Show• How To Sell Anything To Any Food Service Business• The Dollars And Sense Of Catering Cash Flow

Sticky Elements Of Posts

• Lists

• Numbers

• Anticipation

• Contrarian viewpoint

• Irreverence

• Call to action

Your Side Bar

• RSS

• Email

• About

• Blog roll

• Best posts

• Archive of previous posts

• Your Picturewww.chrisbonney.com

How Often Should You Post?

• Consider audience

• Consider your schedule

• Consider the topic

• Consider the long haul

1x week minimum

2x day maximumwww.chrisbonney.com

How Do You Market Your Blog?

Remarkable Content

Brings Traffic

Social Networking

• Digg• StumbleUpon• Facebook• MySpace• LinkedIn• Del.icio.us• FriendFeed• SlideShare

What Else?

• Write in other places like Squidoo, HubPages, Helium, EzineArticles

• Comment on other blogs

• Blog rolls

• Guest bloggers

• Write great content

How do you measure success?

Is There An ROI?

• (Comments + trackbacks) ∕ posts = ≥2

• Result in loyal clients?

• Result in revenues and/or profits?

• Result in leads and referrals?

• Result in getting us noticed?

Places To Measure Your Success

• MyBlogLog• Google Blogs• Technorati• Google Analytics• Feedburner• Trackbacks• Comments• Diggs• Stumbles• Other blog mentions• Google alerts

Mybloglog;

What Will Make Your Blog Great?

So will you start today?

When would now be a good time

To start your blog?

Contact• Materials: www.chrisbonney.com/nace

• Email: chris@chrisbonney.com

• Web: www.chrisbonney.com

• Blog: http://chrisbonney.typepad.com

• Book: www.blackberrybook.com

• Twitter: @chrisbonney

• YouTube: www.youtube.com/cbbonney

Books And BlogsBOOKS

• Naked Conversations – Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

• The News of PR and Marketing – David Meerman Scott

• Here Comes Everybody – Clay Shirky

• www.problogger.com

• www.copyblogger.com

• sethgodin.typepad.com

• www.chrisbrogan.com

• www.thefoodwhore.com

• http://kitchenpantry.blogspot.com/

• http://aidanbrooks.blogspot.com/

Photo Credits• Rowing - Peter - http://www.flickr.com/people/psmithy/• What is a blog – Brian Solis - http://www.flickr.com/people/briansolis/• Conversation – Gideon - http://www.flickr.com/people/malias/• Clock – Roberto41144 - http://www.flickr.com/people/9385421@N08/• Secret – MMGoode - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmgoode/• Trump tower – chascarper - http://www.flickr.com/people/chascarper/• Syrup – i_yudai - http://www.flickr.com/people/y_i/• Seth Godin – www.sethgodin.com• Cat – Katherine - http://www.flickr.com/people/aka_kath/• Audience – James Emery - http://www.flickr.com/people/emeryjl/• Stadium – Ian Ransley - http://www.flickr.com/people/design-dog/• Elephants – Tai Stietman - http://www.flickr.com/people/21949386@N07/• Tape measure – Shereen M - http://www.flickr.com/people/shereen84/• Starting line – elisasizzle - http://www.flickr.com/people/crayoncauldron/

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