How to Create Powerful Blogs and Integrate them into your Social Media Strategy

1. How to Create Powerful Blogs and Integrate
them into your Social Media Strategy
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2. What is a blog?
• Online diary
• Conversational
• News based
• Communication channel
• Closed or open to comments
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3. Types of Blogs
• Pseudo journalistic blogs
• Educational/informative
• Hobby/special interest blogs
• Commercial blogs
• Review blogs
• Spammy blogs
• Rant blogs
• Political blogs
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4. Benefits of blogging
• Adds a human face to your organisation and your website.
• Blogging can present you as an authority and an expert.
• Blogs can attract new followers to convert into customers.
• Blogs can open up new channels of communication.
• Blogs can be used to support and lead social media.
• SEO benefits for search engine marketing.
• Your blog identity can open new doors .
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5. How to run your blog?
• WORDPRESS (recommended)
• Blogger
• Internal or External
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6. Internal or External blogs?
A blog hosted in your website:
• Domainname.com/blog helps with SEO.
• Simpler for admin.
• Gives your online presence more depth.
• Can be used to freshen up your content
A blog hosted outside your website:
• May be seen as more independent and authoritative.
• Links from a separate domain can have SEO value.
• More freedom to speak outside brand constraints.
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7. Developing and sustaining a content plan
• Set your aims
• Research target audience
• Identify key seasonal topics
• Fill gaps with floating content
• Leave gaps for topical content
• Blogging frequency
• Blogging style
• Blogging access
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8. Sample Annual Content Strategy
Time Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Period:
Main Seasonal Seasonal Floating Seasonal Seasonal Floating Seasonal Seasonal Seasonal Seasonal Floating Floating
Focus: topic topic topic topic topic topic topic topic topic topic topic topic
Sub Topics: Floating Floating Topical Floating Floating Floating Floating Topical Topical Floating Floating Floating
(for use in topic topic content topic topic topic topic content content topic topic topic
email, blog
posts, PR,
tweets and Topical Topical Topical Topical Floating Topical Topical Topical Topical Floating Topical Floating
facebook) content content content content topic content content content content topic content topic

9. Sources of information and inspiration
• Podcasts
• Google Alerts
• Industry websites
• Twitter monitoring
• Press releases
• Email newsletters
• Youtube
• Conversations
• Events
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10. Example blog posts
• Video blogs
• News
• Comment
• Review
• Analysis
• Interview
• Industry trends
• Case studies
• Phrase specific (SEO)
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11. What makes good blog content?
• Not all about you or your business
• Share things of interest and say why
• Comment on issues and trends
• Add value
• Talk about third parties
• Show what you do
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12. Guidelines for blog writing
• 150-350 words per post.
• No more than one internal link
per post to your website content.
• Ideally one outbound link to a
relevant site per post.
• Tag and categorise.
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13. Outsourcing blogging
• Like PR, needs good lines of communication.
• PR agencies (not all agencies up to speed on
blogging and social media).
• Freelance writers/copywriters.
• Online marketing agencies like Webscape.
• Students.
• Internal staff – may need training.
• Also overlaps with social media management.
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14. Social media channels
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google +
• Youtube
• Linkedin
• Social Bookmarking
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15. Integrating blogs with social media
blog
business /
organisation
website social media
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16. Promoting your blog
• Manually share each blog post on social.
• Share more than once.
• Syndicate your blog content using RSS.
• Promote blog in social auto follow messages.
• Follow and comment on key influencers blogs as your
blog.
• Add to your email signatures.
• Submit to blog directories.
• Target key influencers with vanity social marketing.
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17. Blogging for SEO
• Keyword research to identify long tail search terms.
• Write blogs to target search terms in heading and
content.
• Place posts in tags and categories to match target search
terms.
• Add 1 x internal link to a commercial page with search
term in anchor text
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18. Revenue opportunities from blogging
• Become an industry expert.
• Build a vanity following.
• Invite product reviews
• Sponsored blog posts.
• Sponsored links in blog posts.
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19. Summary
• Explored benefits of blogging
• Identified ways to blog
• Developed a content strategy
• Integrated blogging with social media
• Explored wider uses of blogging
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20. Next Steps
For further advice or assistance please contact:
Josh Whiten
Webscape Marketing
http://www.webscapeseo.com
josh@webscapeseo.com
07850 093471
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