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Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Date post: 14-Jun-2015
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Part of a webinar I presented on behalf of Signalhq for the Women's Business Development Center.
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Driving traffic to your business with blogging How creating and maintaining a blog can help you get new customers and keep the ones you have Katherine Raz Community Manager, Signalhq.com @katherine_raz
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Page 1: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Driving traffic to your business with blogging

How creating and maintaining a blog can help you get new customers and keep the ones you have

Katherine RazCommunity Manager, Signalhq.com @katherine_raz

Page 2: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

So, why blog?

Page 3: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

The benefits of blogging for business

● Improves your business' organic search results and generates traffic to your website

● Creates opportunity for inbound links which increase search rankings

● Creates content that can be distributed via social channels, broadening your business' reach online

● Establishes your business expertise and credibility ● Helps with PR efforts as your business has more visibility● Creates community, giving customers a reason to engage with

you online (and helps your mom keep up with your doings!)

Page 4: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Strategic blogging drives traffic to your site

● Determine keywords which bring traffic to your website● Create a content calendar with post titles that contain those

keywords● Publish regularly and share your blog posts across social

channels (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google+)● Share your blog posts in your email newsletter● Add share tools to your blog so your blog readers can easily

share posts across their networks● Make sure your blog links back -- in several places! -- to your

main business website or otherwise "captures" traffic

Page 5: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Keywords for content

Page 6: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Using analytics to determine blog content

● Search traffic is the most powerful tool you have in determining blog content

● What keywords are people searching for that drive relevant traffic to your business?

● Create blog post titles that mimic search terms you're winning on and those you'd like to start gaining traffic on

Page 7: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Blog post titles that go for maximum SEO

● Find out what your current search terms are

● Identify valuable keywords using Google Keywords Tool

● Think like a customer: what search terms are they using to find my business or be informed

● Don't get creative with post titles: keyword it out!

Page 8: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Bad blog post titles

Clear Mistakes: Storm Installation Gone Wrong!

No-wheat Treats You Can Make

Love the Ombre Look? So do these celebs!

How to title your blog posts for maximum SEO

Good blog post titles vs.

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Installing or Replacing Your Storm Windows

Gluten-free Dog Treat Biscuit Recipes You Can Bake at Home

Celebrity Ombre Hairstyles You Should Copy This Fall

with keywords highlighted

Page 9: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

What do you write about?

Page 10: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

What goes on the blog?● Even "boring" or extremely

technical businesses can create interesting blog content by looking at their business from the outside in

● Combine content informed by relevant keyword searches with content that's useful to your customers -- what answers their questions?

● What everyday occurrence at your business has viral potential?

Page 11: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Giving away the secrets● Successful blogging means

sometimes sharing proprietary content

● Ideally, you're giving customers enough information so they determine they'd rather have you do it for them

● Think like a magician: show people how to do a few simple card tricks that aren't actually included in your show

Page 12: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Staying organized with a content calendar

● Determine key dates and events ● Write 80% of your blog content with keyword searches in mind● Think like a magazine: establish sections and themes for easy

reading: customer profiles, how to, etc.● Use a spreadsheet to organize information week by week● Determine blog authors and make sure they are responsible for

content● Work in advance to ensure you can get all needed content

together in time to publish

Page 13: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Self promotion ratio

● Your blog isn't a press release feed

● Create content that engages your audience. What's in it for them?

● Stick to the 80/20 rule of self promotion: 80% user-friendly content, 20% promotion of business services, products and events

● Good content can be promo in disguise

Page 14: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

B2B versus B2C content

Page 15: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

B2B blog content

● B2B blogs may have a smaller audience, but the overall goal is the same: win on search traffic and establish yourself as an expert

● Create content that helps your B2B customers do better business (save money, generate leads, etc.)

● Proprietary data, studies, and information can be a golden opportunity for content

Page 16: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

B2C blog content

● Make your posts shareable, both technically and content-wise

● Tell the story of your business, customers and suppliers

● How can your blog engage the superfan and provide them with more content?

● What back stories add value to your product?

Page 17: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Getting maximum impact

Page 18: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Get more mileage with social sharing and RSS

● Make it easy for people to share your posts to social channels by installing a social sharing widget

● Promote your RSS feed so it's easy for readers to subscribe in a feed reader or via email

● Share your own posts across social channels, like Pinterest, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Twitter

● You can share the same post multiple times● Recycle old blog content in "best of" posts and in email

newsletters

Page 19: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Convert readers into paying customers

● Make your page "sticky" with clear explanations of your business and plenty of places to click for more information

● Ask them to subscribe to the blog or an email newsletter -- and give them a reason to do so

● Get them into the funnel!

Page 20: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Choosing a blogging platform

● Familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of each platform (for instance, you can't comment on Tumblr posts, but they're highly visual and easily shareable)

● Find a platform that's easy for you to use● Adding a blog to your existing website is as easy as YourSite.

com/Blog or blog.yoursite.com● No matter what, you'll want to make sure:

○ You can monitor analytics and traffic to your blog○ You can manage the flow of traffic from your blog to your

site○ You can easily link to and share posts across social channels

Page 21: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Which platform should you use?

a few suggestions :

WordpressBloggerTypepadSquarespaceMovable TypeTumblr

It all seems so technical.

How do you set it up?Find a blogging platform that hosts your content, then point your blog page to your hosted content.

OR :Use a flexible blogging platform to host your entire website. (Your blog doesn't have to be your front page.)

Page 22: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

A few blogging tools that'll make your life easier

Resources

Page 23: Drive traffic to your business with blogging

Thanks.

Questions? Feedback?Want to share your own blogging stories?

Contact me anytime.

Katherine [email protected] @katherine_raz


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