Creating a Corporate Blog People Want to Read While many of the tips on blog resource sites concentrate on “personal blogging”, many can be transferred to a more business-minded blog. Yet what about corporate blogs, where many of the tips given might not apply, or come up against everyone’s favourite, the Red Tape Roadblock? Can generic tips apply to more organizational blogs? Yes and no – depending on the company in question, and their willingness to experiment. Here are some ideas for those that might be willing to look at how their organization could use a blog. Work Around the Legal Blocks One of the biggest complaints I hear about blogs for organizations and enterprise is that the number of legal hoops they have to go through, just to get a post approved, means it’s not worthwhile to pursue. By the time the approval comes, it’s too late to miss a hot time for a particular story, or opportunity. Organizations don’t always need to write things where legal minefields are visible. Use Video and Education People are visual creatures.
Lazy Blogging with Postalicious | OMNINOGGINOMNINOGGIN You guys have probably noticed [and hopefully found useful] my “Weekend Links” series that I post at the end of every week. In this post, I would like to share my method of doing these posts quickly and efficiently. Problem I want to share my Google Reader shared items on a weekly links posts. Generate these weekly links posts manually takes a lot of time. Postalicious lets you do this all automatically, but the newer version of Postalicious was buggy for me when I tried it (2.5rc4 at the time). Solution I used version 2.0rc6, and got around modifying the core WordPress file by feeding my Google Reader feed through Yahoo! Google Reader Setup Log into your Google Reader account and you should be presented with your overview page.Select the “Shared Items” folder on the left hand side navigation. Remember this Atom Feed URL as you will use it in the next step. Yahoo Pipes Setup Go to my Google Reader to Postalicious 2.0rc6 Yahoo! Remember this RSS URL as you will use it in the next step.
How to Blog Part III: What Should You Blog About? When I teach blogging, the most frequent question I get is “What do I blog about?” (For info on what not to blog about, see Part II of this series: How Not to Blog ) A writer starting a blog right now faces two problems: 1) There are already, like, a trillion writers out there lecturing the blogosphere about how to write vivid characters, prop up saggy middles and avoid adverbs. 2) If you’re a writer with books to sell, you want to reach a general audience, not just other writers selling books. So how can you be different? The most important thing to remember with any kind of blog is you need to offer something. How you approach your new blog is going to depend a whole lot on your stage in the publishing process and your immediate goals. Stage #1: You’re a developing writer. You’re working on your first or second novel, and maybe have a few stories in literary journals or a couple of contest wins. Your goal: LEARNING THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS AND NETWORKING. Your goal: BUILDING PLATFORM
The Ultimate Guide to Guest Blogging Here at Kissmetrics, we’ve discussed how you can build authority in your industry through blogging. If you’re a fan of Social Media Examiner, you might have read about major brands that have benefited from guest blogging. So today, we are going to look at exactly how you can get guest blogging opportunities and make the most out of them. Determine Your Guest Blogging Goals Before we begin, your first task is to decide what your goal for guest blogging is. Positioning yourself as an authority and well-known name in the industry.Getting exposure (traffic) back to your website.Building backlinks to your website. With the right kind of content on the top blogs, you can do all three of these things. How to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities The first thing you will want to do is find guest post opportunities. The content is focused on your niche / industry.The audience of the blog will be interested in your industry. Google Searches Prolific Guest Bloggers Competitor Backlinks Social Searches
Please Don’t Blog Your Book: 4 Reasons Why It’s been a trend ever since I worked full-time as a book acquisitions editor: Blog-to-book deals. I acquired or oversaw the publication of more than a dozen bloggers-turned-book-authors. Sometimes it translated into book sales, sometimes not. Point is: I know that blogs can lead to book deals. However, I want you to think twice before you decide this is your path. Here are 4 reasons why. Blog posts, to live up to their form, should be optimized for online reading. It seems almost silly to have to state it, but blogging (as a form of writing) holds tremendous merit on its own. Never use a blog as a dumping ground for material that’s already been written for the print medium—or for book publication—without any consideration for the art of the blog. If you dump your blog content into a book without any further development or editing, I’m willing to bet it will be a bad book (unless, of course, you wrote the book first and divided it into blog posts!). To give a couple examples:
5 Reasons Your Business Should Be Blogging Does your business blog? Have you been thinking it might be time to consider a blog, but aren’t sure (a) you can pull it off and (b) it will provide value? Keep reading. This article will help you (or someone you know) understand the value of a business blog. Is Google the Only Reason to Blog? I have a question for you, and it’s a serious one: If you never garnered another single visitor to your company blog through search engine optimization (SEO), would you still have one? For many, especially execs who don’t necessarily “get it” when it comes to content marketing, the answer would be, “No way!” But for those persons and companies that have watched the magic of blogging and its effect beyond SEO, the answer would be a resounding, “Of course!” That’s what this article is all about. In fact, here are 5 other powerful reasons why you should be blogging, and I look forward to hearing what you would add in the comments section at the end. #1: The Power of Team Ever heard of HubSpot? Trust = Leads
State of the Blogosphere 2011: Introduction and Methodology Welcome to Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2011 report. Since 2004, our annual study has followed growth and trends in the blogosphere. This year's topics include: blogging and social media, bloggers and traditional media, traffic and analysis, brands and marketing in the blogosphere, bloggers' motivations and consequences, monetization, and changes within the blogosphere over 2011. The Blogosphere is constantly changing and evolving. In 2011 we are seeing bloggers updating their blogs more frequently and spending more time blogging. This year we have chosen to display our results according to five different types of bloggers: 1) Hobbyist: The backbone of the blogosphere, and representing 60% of the respondents to this survey, Hobbyists say that they “blog for fun” and do not report any income. 2-3) Professional Part- and Full-Timers: These bloggers represent 18% of our total group. 4) Corporate: Corporate bloggers make up 8% of the blogosphere. Continued on the next page
7 Reasons to Rethink Your Blogging Strategy: New Research Is your business working with bloggers? Do you blog? This article examines new research that shows blogging is here to stay. Like many social media tools, blogs have seen a steady increase in numbers and influence over the last several years. Note the growth charted by Invesp. Number of Blogs Grows 14 million blogs were added since July 2011 (as of 12/2/2011). If people are adding nearly 3 million blogs per month, surely this is a tool worth understanding and maximizing. In this report, bloggers fall into one of five categories: ***Please note that Technorati’s data is heavily skewed by the presence of 60% hobbyist bloggers—people who blog as a way to express themselves or influence their community, but don’t seek to make money. #1: Bloggers are young, educated and experienced Bloggers come from all over the world and span the age range. Nearly 60% of bloggers are between the ages of 25 and 44. Most business bloggers are ages 25-44, but nearly 50% of entrepreneurs are over 45. Key Takeaways:
Where to Blog - The Advantages and Disadvantages of Major Blogging Platforms Where to blog? As I mentioned in one of my posts last year on how to make money blogging, blogs are the oldest and perhaps the most mature form of social media. Blogs have been around since ages, well before any of the modern social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and newer players such as Google+ were born. So, which blogging platform do you choose? In this post, I compare some of the most popular blogging platforms to help my readers take a well-educated decision on which blogging platform to choose. WordPress What Facebook is to social media, WordPress is to the world of blogging. Advantages Choice of self-hosting & easy to customizeEasy to install and a thriving developer and support communityTons of custom themes to choose fromRobust Anti-spam capabilities Disadvantages Irritating advertisements (free version)Plugins can be a tricky businessRequires technical know-how (self-hosted version) Blogger Fits well in Google EcosystemFree as in beerGood support for customization Tumblr Typepad
Best Wordpress Plugins for Your Business BlogSmedio When it comes to choosing a content management system (CMS), the small business and Internet marketing crowd has stampeded to WordPress.org. That’s due to the universe of (mostly) free WordPress plugins offered around the Web, allowing you to customize your site with bells and whistles unlike any other CMS makes possible. But if running a WordPress site for business, you need useful plugins that not only sharpen your site’s image, they should do some heavy lifting to actually enhance relationships and increase sales. WP e-Commerce Plugin Need a shopping cart on your site? EasyPayPal EasyPayPal is a plugin that allows you to monetize on your WordPress site by collecting subscription payments. Business Directory Here’s an easy way to offer marketing support to those who support you. Subscribe-Remind More than any other measure of blog success, the number of subscribers you have is an important metric. Douglas Idugboe Douglas Idugboe, Digital and New Media Marketing Strategist.
Publicity for Your Blogs from Old Media A blog needs to be promoted like a product. While blogging itself represents one of the most popular forms of new media, old media techniques play a key role in publicizing blogs. While it’s true that media industry has been completely transformed in the last decade, there’s no denial that print, TV and radio are evergreen publicity channels. Concept The underlying concept of your blog is extremely important. Pitch Pitching a blog to print and TV journalists is harder than it sounds. Local While a blog virtually resides on the Internet, it’s always good to establish a local community of readers and followers. Newsletters and Press Releases A number of blogs became successful by launching complimentary print magazines. So, how do these old media means bring publicity to your blog? Credibility and Visibility If your blog features in a popular print newspaper or magazine, it gets unmatched in credibility. Reputation Old media can help build a positive reputation for your blog. Douglas Idugboe