Blogging Dos and Don'ts

J452 | Fall 2015

Transcript

1. T I P S F O R A S U C C E S S F U L B L O G J 4 5 2 | FA L L 2 0 1 5
2. B L O G G I N G : D O
3. H AV E A P L A N • Goals • Audience • Focus/Topic • Look & Feel • Content Type • Frequency • Promotion • Structure • Measurement
4. P L A N N I N G : Q U E S T I O N S T O A S K • What might be standing in the way of success? • When are you going to blog?
5. E M B R A C E VA R I E T Y • Be creative • Track what works
6. B E C O N S I S T E N T A L S O B E R E A L I S T I C
7. T E L L S T O R I E S
8. W O R K T H E P L A N S P O N TA N E I T Y I S N O T U S U A L LY A G O O D I D E A
9. B E T I M E LY W R I T E A B O U T R E L E VA N T T R E N D S A N D I S S U E S
10. B E G E N E R O U S L I N K T O Y O U R S O U R C E S . C R E D I T I D E A S .
11. B E C O N V E R S AT I O N A L W R I T E I N A C O N V E R S A T I O N A L T O N E .
12. W R I T E G R E AT H E A D L I N E S I N C L U D E A V E R B U S E K E Y W O R D S B E P R O V O C A T I V E
13. T H E S C I E N C E O F G R E AT H E A D L I N E S • Action verbs! • Use keywords (for SEO) • Lists: Using numbers helps posts get shared more
 Ex: “8 reasons to…” or “How to X in 4 days…” • How-to and DIY: We like to learn stuff, but only if it’s easy. Ex: “The beginner’s guide to XYZ…” • General words that tend to work well: Smart, surprising, science, history, huge/big, critica
14. PAY AT T E N T I O N T O G R A M M A R & S T R U C T U R E • It matters! • Conversational is not the same as sloppy.
15. S T R U C T U R E • Craft a great headline • Write a compelling lede • Start with bullet points • Develop sub-headlines • Fill in the detail • Find a great image • Double check your headline • Edit, proof, correct, polish and revise http://www.prosintraining.com/2009/04/beautiful-blog-posts-have-great-bone.html
16. T H I N K V I S U A L LY I N C L U D E I N T E R E S T I N G P H O T O S - Y O U R O W N W H E N Y O U C A N .
17. P R O V I D E VA L U E T RY T O “ B R O A D C A S T ” A N D P E O P L E W I L L O P T- O U T.
18. B L O G G I N G : D O N ’ T
19. ( D O N ’ T ) B L A H , B L A H , B L A H • Focus • 350 - 750 words is a good rule of thumb • More to say? Create two posts
20. ( D O N ’ T ) B E “ N O I S Y ” • Keep your blog design clean.
21. N E V E R U S E I M A G E S F R O M A G O O G L E I M A G E S E A R C H . N E V E R . N E V E R . N E V E R . N E V E R .
22. ( D O N ’ T ) F O R G E T T O E D I T I T ’ S I M P O R TA N T !
23. ( D O N ’ T ) M I S S A S T E P • Have a good headline? • Good structure and useful info? • Invite feedback or ideas? • Include an image? • Assign a category? • Include tags or keywords?
24. B L O G G I N G : A B S O L U T E M U S T
25. H AV E F U N