Generating Blog Content

1. Generating Blog Content Erin Blaskie - www.erinblaskie.com @ErinBlaskie (Twitter) Hash Tag - #cg4bevent

2. What We’ll Cover Learn why the one-to-many approach in blogging is one of the best ways to generate content. Discuss some of the tools that you can use to help auto-post relevant content to your blog. Look at where you can draw inspiration, get new ideas and figure out what will appeal most to your audience.

3. A Few Blogging Myths That blog posts must be long like articles. That blog posts must be text. That you must blog the same number of times per week and at the same time per day. That your content must be super keyword rich. That if no one is commenting, no one is reading.

4. The Reality… Blog posts can be short or long - the content length is only defined by the topic. Shorter is better and long blog posts can be broken up. Blog posts can be videos, photos, audio or text or a combination of all of the above. You should blog consistently but make sure it’s quality and on-topic material. Blog platforms have areas to add keywords, tags, categories, etc. which help keyword light blog posts. People are reading. Give them a reason to converse.

5. The One-to-Many Approach When you get a question via e-mail, how do you respond? When you receive a question on a teleseminar, what do you do with it? Look for ways to share a response with the masses as opposed to just with one person.

6. One-to-Many: E-mail Questions Questions that come by e-mail that could be turned into a blog post should. Once you create the response in a blog post (be it text, video, etc.) e-mail the question asker a direct link. You’ll have a higher chance of creating conversation and comments. You’ll help more than just one person. You’ll create a content database for you to use when the same question comes up again.

7. Sample One-to-Many Questions How does hiring an “x” work? (Where “x” is graphic designer, virtual assistant, etc.) What are your thoughts on “x” service? (Where “x” is Threadsy.com, Network Hippo, etc.) How should I go about setting up my next teleseminar? Why should someone setup an email list?

8. Don’t Wait for the Questions… If you are not receiving questions via e-mail, make them up based on typical questions you would have for your industry. Survey your e-mail marketing list about their biggest frustrations and trouble spots. Search Twitter for your keywords and “how to” and answer those in blog posts. Check LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo! Answers for questions in a relevant category.

9. Tools for Adding Content Easily Posterous.com - allows you to share content from the web to your blog and then out to a number of services. Blip.tv - If you do a lot of video work, you can upload your videos to Blip and have them auto-post to your blog and to other services.

10. Finding Inspiration & Ideas Google Analytics Setup Google Analytics on your blog and allow it to track stats for 7-14 days Check the keywords used to get to your blog to find out what people are searching for and hitting often Create more content on those subjects to draw in a larger, stronger following

11. Finding Inspiration & Ideas RSS Feed Readers Download or use a feed reader (Google Reader, etc.) and subscribe to blogs that are focused on your industry / speciality. Piggyback off of other stories so you can add your own spin and link back to other blogs. Watch trends in conversation so you can remain current and edgy.

12. Finding Inspiration & Ideas Technorati Shows you the most popular content on the blogging sphere. Draw inspiration from topics in specific categories. Find relevant stories to quote and share link love with.

13. Finding Inspiration & Ideas Create Lists Lists work great because they highlight or showcase people, services, ideas or things. Create a list for your target market and link out to relevant websites. Example: 10 Best Female Coaches to Follow, 10 Best Coaching Programs, 5 Best Project Management Services

14. Finding Inspiration & Ideas Create a Series People love, love, love series - especially if it is unique to your website. Create a helpful series on how-to’s, compare two similar things or showcase clients. Series have a sticky factor and will keep people on your blog for a long time.

15. Finding Inspiration & Ideas Showcase Your Work We have an entire blog devoted to showcasing our work at www.bsetcblog.com. It introduces to people what you can do. Sells your products / services naturally. Provides link love to your clients.

16. Finding Inspiration & Ideas Do Interviews Create a template in a text editor of 5-10 questions and invite relevant people to participate. Ask commenters on who they would like to see interviewed. Video / audio interview companions are even better but not required.

17. Recycle Your Own Content Articles you’ve written can be broken out into a blog series. YouTube videos you’ve shot should be turned into longer text-based blog posts. E-Books can be chunked down into blog posts that upsell the e-book at the end of it. Audio Podcasts can be transcribed and posted on your blog as a blog post.

18. Use Pre-Created / Outside Content When you are really stuck for blog content, use EzineArticles.com or another article site to post relevant material. Post YouTube videos that are on topic. Link to major news stories by putting a blurb on your blog and then a link to the main story. Bring on guest bloggers.

19. You Don’t Have to Do It Alone! If you don’t have the time to generate blog content, outsource it! A virtual assistance company could play the role as Blog Community Manager, ghostwriter or do blog maintenance. Contact us at www.bsetc.com if you are interested in finding out more about outsourcing this type of work!

20. Questions & Connections Questions? Ask live or e-mail erin@erinblaskie.com Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ErinBlaskie Check out my blog: www.erinblaskie.com