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Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog

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Judith Gotwald
Judith Gotwald

Keep the ideas coming by understanding your mission, knowing your audience and knowing your strengths as a content creator and the breadth of content formats.

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Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster A PRESENTATION BY JUDITH GOTWALD
My background. Judith Gotwald • Journalism-University of Pittsburgh • Magazine News Editor • Stringer-Somerset Daily American • Publications Manager-Nonprofit • Self-Employed In Publishing since 1978 • GotwaldCreation • Blog (personal) 2x2virtualchurch.com • Content editor for several companies
What is a blog? A COMBINATION OF THE WORDS “WEB” AND “LOG”
Sharing
Why Individuals Share? • The Joy of Expression • To Find the Like-Minded • To Breathe Life into Ideas • To Spark Change • To Build A Structure for Action • To Make Money
Why Corporations Share? • To Establish Authority • Create Visibility • Extend Reach • To Enlist Support • To Establish Relationships • To Build A Structure for Action • To Make Money • To Save Money
BENEFITS • • • • • • • Inexpensive Control of Message Ownership Power of Serendipity Forces You to Think Forces You to See Big Picture Discipline
BLOGGING STATS
Majority of bloggers are women.
Search Engines find blogs before web sites. 85% of searchers find blogs before websites. They may never know it!
7 million blogs 13 million microblogs Twitter/Facebook
7 million blogs 13 million microblogs Twitter/Facebook SocialMediaToday
SocialMediaToday
ANATOMY OF BLOGGING
Why we run out of ideas? FAILURE to realize that blogs are not about us. They are about how we relate to others. The world is a big place. Focus on it—not yourself.
Why we run out of ideas? FAILURE to understand audience. Your readers are great sources of ideas!
Why we run out of ideas? FAILURE to understand that we are all colleagues. Old thinking has us trained to view the world as competition.
Twitter FB WEB SITE BLOG IS HUB Pinterest SlideShare YouTube
8 TYPES OF CONTENT VISIONARY HOW-TO PERSUASIVE ANALYTICAL COMMENTARY STORIES NEWS REVIEWS CURATED
VISIONARY Are you a dreamer? Write about how you’d like to see the world/your field/your family, etc. BLOG SAMPLES Seth Godin: Krypton Community Colle ge
HOW-TO Are you a teacher? How to articles are among the most popular blogs. They tend to attract traffic. BLOG SAMPLES Seth Godin, Social Media Examiner, Hubspot, 2x2
PERSUASIVE Do you have a cause? Hammer it home. Blogs can be influential in changing the course of history. BLOG SAMPLES Any nonprofit 12 - 12 - 2012
ANALYTICAL Do you like statistics? People turn to the web for up-to-date statitsics. BLOG SAMPLES Kissmetics.com, StatsBlogs.com
COMMENTARY Do you just want to be heard? Blogging is the only social media Platform that you control. Huffington post, indivdual journalists, Leaders in any given field
STORIES/NEWS Are you a story-teller? A blog is a modern campfire. BLOG SAMPLES venturegalleries.com 2x2virtualchurch.com features a story each week
REPORTER Do you like to be first to share ideas/knowledge? Start blogging! Mashable, socialmediaexaminer
CURATED Do you like to collect and juggle all kinds of information? A blog is a modern campfire. BLOG SAMPLES Firepolemarketing, socialmediaexaminer
UNDERSTANDING THE BLOG MONSTER’S DIET
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
• Different formats • Different platforms • Ezines, white papers THINK EVERGREEN PRESENTATION TITLE AND COMPANY 12 - 12 - 2012
INGREDIENTS
STORYTELLING
A good story has the power to move mountains. Know your audience. There may be more than one!
PERSONAS ✴ Choose one to three personas. ✴ Describe them. Give them a name. ✴ Find a photo to represent them. ✴ Names, vital statistics, work, hobbies, friends, dreams. ✴ Why should they read your blog?
HEADLINE ✴ About 80 Characters ✴ Key words ✴ Use Numbers, (9 Ways to Edit Your Blog) ✴ Why or How to
LEAD PARAGRAPH ✴ Who, What, When and Where ✴ Key words (again) ✴ Get to the So What Factor (Why should they keep reading)
IMAGE ✴ Search for an Image or from a free stock service such as photopin.com (include a link), pixabay.com, morguefile.com ✴ Key words (again—this time in the tagging section of the photo) ✴ Edit photos in Photoshop or picmonkey.com
WORD COUNT ✴ OLD ADVICE is 250 to 500 words ✴ CURRENT ADVICE: Google likes longer, meatier posts and rewards good writing. ✴ WRITE to be helpful
BREAKING UP TEXT ✴ Subheads ✴ Bulleted Lists ✴ Quotes ✴ Indents
LINKS ✴ Review for your copy for potential links. ✴ Don’t be afraid to credit other bloggers or websites. ✴ Blogs are fueled by connection.
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
DON’T GET OVERWHELMED
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog
EDITORIAL CALENDAR ✴ Write 50 topic ideas ✴ Decide how to address each of the 50 topic ideas on each platform. (Study the tabloids—they are good at this!) ✴ Start to lay them out on a calendar grid. You may never look at this after the first week, but it will be there when you’re stuck.
HOMEWORK ✴ Write or review your mission. ✴ Develop your personas. You’ll introduce them to us next week. ✴ Write 50 topics ideas or headlines. ✴ Consider your keywords. ✴ Choose your platforms. ✴ Next week: Editorial Calendars
HELPFUL LINKS ✴ socialmediaexaminer.com Great up-to-date articles, community, training ✴ hubspot.com (helpful how-to books), topsy.com (analyzes your field) google key word analytics ✴ James Wedmore for video help Amy Porterfield, Mari Smith for Facebook help Mark Schaefer for Twitter and marketing Seth Godin for marketing and fun thinking Joe Pulizzi for content marketing strategy (and me! Judith Gotwald)
THANK YOU! Hope you enjoyed this presentation. Judy Gotwald creation@dca.net @jigotwald.com Gotwaldcreation.com 2x2virtualchurch.com
PHOTO CREDITS Brainstorm photo credit: neilslorance via Cartoon photopin cc Dear Diary photo credit: incurable_hippie via photopin cc Anatomy (brain cross section) photo credit: Patrick J. Lynch via photopin cc frog photo credit: Jess*Lo via photopin cc

More Related Content

Feeding the Blog Monster: How to Keep the Content Flowing on Your Blog

  • 2. Feeding the Blog Monster A PRESENTATION BY JUDITH GOTWALD
  • 3. My background. Judith Gotwald • Journalism-University of Pittsburgh • Magazine News Editor • Stringer-Somerset Daily American • Publications Manager-Nonprofit • Self-Employed In Publishing since 1978 • GotwaldCreation • Blog (personal) 2x2virtualchurch.com • Content editor for several companies
  • 4. What is a blog? A COMBINATION OF THE WORDS “WEB” AND “LOG”
  • 6. Why Individuals Share? • The Joy of Expression • To Find the Like-Minded • To Breathe Life into Ideas • To Spark Change • To Build A Structure for Action • To Make Money
  • 7. Why Corporations Share? • To Establish Authority • Create Visibility • Extend Reach • To Enlist Support • To Establish Relationships • To Build A Structure for Action • To Make Money • To Save Money
  • 8. BENEFITS • • • • • • • Inexpensive Control of Message Ownership Power of Serendipity Forces You to Think Forces You to See Big Picture Discipline
  • 10. Majority of bloggers are women.
  • 11. Search Engines find blogs before web sites. 85% of searchers find blogs before websites. They may never know it!
  • 12. 7 million blogs 13 million microblogs Twitter/Facebook
  • 13. 7 million blogs 13 million microblogs Twitter/Facebook SocialMediaToday
  • 16. Why we run out of ideas? FAILURE to realize that blogs are not about us. They are about how we relate to others. The world is a big place. Focus on it—not yourself.
  • 17. Why we run out of ideas? FAILURE to understand audience. Your readers are great sources of ideas!
  • 18. Why we run out of ideas? FAILURE to understand that we are all colleagues. Old thinking has us trained to view the world as competition.
  • 20. 8 TYPES OF CONTENT VISIONARY HOW-TO PERSUASIVE ANALYTICAL COMMENTARY STORIES NEWS REVIEWS CURATED
  • 21. VISIONARY Are you a dreamer? Write about how you’d like to see the world/your field/your family, etc. BLOG SAMPLES Seth Godin: Krypton Community Colle ge
  • 22. HOW-TO Are you a teacher? How to articles are among the most popular blogs. They tend to attract traffic. BLOG SAMPLES Seth Godin, Social Media Examiner, Hubspot, 2x2
  • 23. PERSUASIVE Do you have a cause? Hammer it home. Blogs can be influential in changing the course of history. BLOG SAMPLES Any nonprofit 12 - 12 - 2012
  • 24. ANALYTICAL Do you like statistics? People turn to the web for up-to-date statitsics. BLOG SAMPLES Kissmetics.com, StatsBlogs.com
  • 25. COMMENTARY Do you just want to be heard? Blogging is the only social media Platform that you control. Huffington post, indivdual journalists, Leaders in any given field
  • 26. STORIES/NEWS Are you a story-teller? A blog is a modern campfire. BLOG SAMPLES venturegalleries.com 2x2virtualchurch.com features a story each week
  • 27. REPORTER Do you like to be first to share ideas/knowledge? Start blogging! Mashable, socialmediaexaminer
  • 28. CURATED Do you like to collect and juggle all kinds of information? A blog is a modern campfire. BLOG SAMPLES Firepolemarketing, socialmediaexaminer
  • 32. • Different formats • Different platforms • Ezines, white papers THINK EVERGREEN PRESENTATION TITLE AND COMPANY 12 - 12 - 2012
  • 35. A good story has the power to move mountains. Know your audience. There may be more than one!
  • 36. PERSONAS ✴ Choose one to three personas. ✴ Describe them. Give them a name. ✴ Find a photo to represent them. ✴ Names, vital statistics, work, hobbies, friends, dreams. ✴ Why should they read your blog?
  • 37. HEADLINE ✴ About 80 Characters ✴ Key words ✴ Use Numbers, (9 Ways to Edit Your Blog) ✴ Why or How to
  • 38. LEAD PARAGRAPH ✴ Who, What, When and Where ✴ Key words (again) ✴ Get to the So What Factor (Why should they keep reading)
  • 39. IMAGE ✴ Search for an Image or from a free stock service such as photopin.com (include a link), pixabay.com, morguefile.com ✴ Key words (again—this time in the tagging section of the photo) ✴ Edit photos in Photoshop or picmonkey.com
  • 40. WORD COUNT ✴ OLD ADVICE is 250 to 500 words ✴ CURRENT ADVICE: Google likes longer, meatier posts and rewards good writing. ✴ WRITE to be helpful
  • 41. BREAKING UP TEXT ✴ Subheads ✴ Bulleted Lists ✴ Quotes ✴ Indents
  • 42. LINKS ✴ Review for your copy for potential links. ✴ Don’t be afraid to credit other bloggers or websites. ✴ Blogs are fueled by connection.
  • 51. EDITORIAL CALENDAR ✴ Write 50 topic ideas ✴ Decide how to address each of the 50 topic ideas on each platform. (Study the tabloids—they are good at this!) ✴ Start to lay them out on a calendar grid. You may never look at this after the first week, but it will be there when you’re stuck.
  • 52. HOMEWORK ✴ Write or review your mission. ✴ Develop your personas. You’ll introduce them to us next week. ✴ Write 50 topics ideas or headlines. ✴ Consider your keywords. ✴ Choose your platforms. ✴ Next week: Editorial Calendars
  • 53. HELPFUL LINKS ✴ socialmediaexaminer.com Great up-to-date articles, community, training ✴ hubspot.com (helpful how-to books), topsy.com (analyzes your field) google key word analytics ✴ James Wedmore for video help Amy Porterfield, Mari Smith for Facebook help Mark Schaefer for Twitter and marketing Seth Godin for marketing and fun thinking Joe Pulizzi for content marketing strategy (and me! Judith Gotwald)
  • 54. THANK YOU! Hope you enjoyed this presentation. Judy Gotwald creation@dca.net @jigotwald.com Gotwaldcreation.com 2x2virtualchurch.com
  • 55. PHOTO CREDITS Brainstorm photo credit: neilslorance via Cartoon photopin cc Dear Diary photo credit: incurable_hippie via photopin cc Anatomy (brain cross section) photo credit: Patrick J. Lynch via photopin cc frog photo credit: Jess*Lo via photopin cc

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