Sean Work Everything You Need To Know About B2B Blogging in Just 45 Minutes 1 Before You Ever Press “Publish”. 2 Ramping Up Readership. 3 Maintaining and Scaling. What’s Going To Be Covered Before You Ever Press “Publish” 1 • Blogging takes time. It takes time to see results, but it might be one of your best channels… Get Buy-In from Your Organization • Give yourself 6 months and then show all the traffic that arrived from blogging. • Only have ONE call to action on your blog • Keep track of social mentions. How To Sell It Sometimes there are really good reasons not to have it on the same domain as your main site: 1. Security. 2. Maintenance. 3. Redundancy. Get a professional or in-house SEO to: 1. Block or make sure duplicate content issues don’t exist. 2. That there is only one H1 heading per page. 3. Come up with good category names. Responsive design means: The site/blog layout changes depending on what device it’s being viewed on (e.g. phone, tablet or desktop computer). Make Sure Your Blog Uses A Responsive Design! Part of the trust you build with your audience comes from the blog design. • Does it look professional and clean? • Is it designed to read well? Ramping Up Readership 2 People who actually care about what you have to say are far more important than millions of hyperactive eyeballs. Notice I didn’t say ramping up traffic… • Look at customer support questions. • What problems can you solve for your prospects in the form of a post? • Run a survey. Ask your followers what they want to read. • Try to nail down 20 initial headlines to seed your first blog posts. Brainstorm & Come Up With A List Of Headlines • Is your content detailed? • Can adding visuals help communicate? • Are you really creating value? Or are you simply glossing over a topic? • Have 1,000 articles already been written on the topic? And are you saying something new? Make Sure Your Content Doesn’t Suck • Writing is time consuming, you’ll burn out. • Consider hiring contract writers. • Allow for guest contributors who are experts. One Person Can’t Write All The Content Building trust, credibility and authority in the topics you discuss move your blog from being a blog to a publication. This also makes your brand more trustworthy to do business with. Trust, Authority, Credibility = Win! 1. Create an internal list of people at your company. 2. Opt-them into your internal post notification list. 3. Have them share your content on LinkedIn, Twi er, Google Plus and Facebook. A Li le Distribution Hack Leads vs. Subscriber? Both? What’s Your Blog’s Main CTA Going To Be? Maintaining and Scaling 3 The number one issue you have worry about is hurting your quality. Everyone wants “more, more MORE!” - but at what cost? Be Careful About Being Too Quick To Scale You can get a cached copy of all your content from Google (for a limited time). Use the “Way Back Machine” - http://archive.org/we

1. Sean Work
Everything You Need To Know
About B2B Blogging in Just 45
Minutes

2. @thuelmadsen #KISSwebinar
Join the conversation on Twi er

3. @seanvwork #KISSwebinar
Join the conversation on Twi er

4. Sean Work - KISSmetrics - @seanvwork
Sean Work runs the blog at KISSmetrics.com. He’s been with
the team since 2010. He loves working from Southern
California, where he can surf, snowboard and camp under
bright stars with no blankies.

5. 1 Before You Ever Press “Publish”.
2 Ramping Up Readership.
3 Maintaining and Scaling.
What’s Going To Be Covered…

6. WATCH WEBINAR RECORDING NOW

7. 1. The beginning of this webinar starts from day
zero. I want to help those who are starting a
business blog as well as those who are already
years in.
2. Like all our webinars, our presentations are
geared for SaaS, eCommerce and mobile
businesses. However, if you’re in a different
business, you’ll probably still get value from this
webinar.
Before We Begin…

8. Before You Ever Press “Publish”
1

9. • Making the case: It’s a marketing
channel you have total control
of.
• Budget expectations: at first it
can be “free” but a er a while
expect $5k/mo.
• The real trick might be ge ing
buy-in from your organization.
“Let’s start a blog!”

10. Blogging takes time. It takes time to see results, but it
might be one of your best channels…
Get Buy-In from Your Organization

11. • Give yourself 6 months and then show
all the traffic that arrived from
blogging.
• Only have ONE call to action on your
blog. Don’t clu er!
• Keep track of social mentions.
How To Sell It

12. The Ideal Scenario = h p://example.com/blog/
Where Should Your Blog Be Located?

13. However it’s not the end of the world if you can’t
put your blog on example.com/blog/.
Where Should Your Blog Be Located?

14. Sometimes there are really good reasons not to
have it on the same domain as your main site:
1. Security.
2. Maintenance.
3. Redundancy.
Where Should Your Blog Be Located?

15. Get a professional or in-house SEO to:
1. Block or make sure duplicate content issues
don’t exist.
2. That there is only one H1 heading per page.
3. Come up with good category names.
Se ing Up Your Blog For Max SEO Efficiency

16. Responsive design means: The site/blog layout
changes depending on what device it’s being
viewed on (e.g. phone, tablet or desktop computer).
Make Sure Your Blog Uses A Responsive Design!

17. If you can swing it, put your blog on h ps.
Get Secure!

18. Part of the trust you build with your audience comes
from the blog design.
• Does it look professional and clean?
• Is it designed to read well?
Check this blog post: h ps://blog.kissmetrics.com/7-deadly-web-design-sins/ by Joseph Putnam.
Don’t Forget Design!

19. LOG IN WITH GOOGLE
Start Your Free KISSmetrics Trial

20. Ramping Up Readership
2

21. People who actually care about what you have to say are far
more important than millions of hyperactive eyeballs.
Notice I didn’t say ramping up traffic…

22. 1. Who are you writing for?
2. What’s your company’s area of expertise?
3. What can you write about to solve your
prospects’ problems?
4. What’s important to your prospects and
readers?
5. What’s your tone and brand voice going to be
like?
6. How will it tie into your overall brand
experience?
Take A Step Back & Ask These Questions:

23. • Look at customer support questions.
• What problems can you solve for your prospects in the
form of a post?
• Run a survey. Ask your followers what they want to read.
• Try to nail down 20 initial headlines to seed your first
blog posts.
Brainstorm & Come Up With A List Of Headlines

24. • A Google Doc spreadsheet works really well. All
you really need to keep track of is: Headline,
Dra Date, Publishing Date, and Author.
• When you tell someone you’re pu ing their post
in the “Editorial Calendar”, there’s no backing
out :)
• It just keeps you on track and organized.
Start An Editorial Calendar

25. • Is your content detailed?
• Can adding visuals help
communicate be er?
• Are you really creating value? Or
are you simply glossing over a
topic?
• Have 1,000 articles already been
wri en on the topic? And are
you saying something new?
Make Sure Your Content Doesn’t Suck

26. Let’s say you run an image optimization site like Tiny
PNG and you want to write an article called:
“When To Use The Right Image File Formats For Blog
Posts”
Let’s Run Through An Example

27. • Writing is time consuming, you’ll burn out.
• Consider hiring contract writers.
• Allow for guest contributors who are experts.
One Person Can’t Write All The Content

28. Looking at your analytics and expecting massive
traffic the day you publish can be disheartening.
That’s why you need to understand the long tail.
A Word About Long Tail SEO Traffic

29. Building trust, credibility and authority in the topics
you discuss move your blog from being a blog to a
publication. This also makes your brand more
trustworthy to do business with.
Trust, Authority, Credibility = Win!

30. 1. Create an internal list of people at your company.
2. Opt-them into your internal post notification list.
3. Have them share your content on LinkedIn,
Twi er, Google Plus and Facebook.
A Li le Distribution Hack

31. h ps://blog.kissmetrics.com/science-of-social-timing-3/
The Science Of Blog Timing

32. Leads vs. Subscriber? Both?
What’s Your Blog’s Main CTA Going To Be?

33. • All your images should use ALT tags
• Use natural language to describe your ALT tags
• Questions make great title tags ;)
• Try not to “over-SEO” your blog content by
worrying about keywords and trying to cram in
things you think will help. Write a normal
sounding article.
A Few SEO Tips As You Create Content

34. • With B2B Blogging, you’re
probably going to need to do a
few screenshots from time to
time.
• On PC Alt + Print Screen
• On Mac Command + Shi + 4
And Finally A Word About Screenshots..

35. You can see here that I move the right part of the image
inwards to make the width smaller - and I didn’t have to scale.
A Li le Screenshot Trick…
Before:
A er:

36. Maintaining and Scaling
3

37. The number one issue you have worry about is
hurting your quality. Everyone wants “more, more
MORE!” - but at what cost?
Be Careful About Being Too Quick To Scale

38. There’s nothing worse than losing all your content.
Be sure to backup your database and images.
Keep Your Blog Updated!

39. You can get a cached copy of all your content from
Google (for a limited time).
Use the “Way Back Machine” - h ps://archive.org/web/
MySQL or Database Export
What Do You Do If Your Content Get’s Destroyed?

40. Do you branch out and do:
More Blog Content?
Linkedin, Quora, Medium, Slideshare?
Videos, Podcasts?
Webinars, Infographics, Guides?
Scaling Decisions

41. YouTube vs. Self-Hosted?
• Youtube is another search engine.
• Self-hosted means videos stay on your property.
• You could just upload previews to Youtube and
have people come to your blog for the full length
video.
Video Blogging

42. “Hey readers! What do you want more of?”
Survey Your Readers

43. KISSmetrics allows you to see what marketing
campaigns and channels are providing the best ROI.
Like Blogging!
How Does KISSmetrics Help With Blogging?

44. How Does KISSmetrics Help With Blogging?

45. grow.kissmetrics.com/optimization-demo
Would you like a demo of KISSmetrics?

46. blog.kissmetrics.com/webinars
For more webinars see this page:

47. THANK YOU
Sean Work
@seanvwork