Social Networking – why and some simple first steps.
2: Blogging
These notes are from a joint presentation on Social Networking by Jon Baker (venture-Now.com) and Paul Hayward (In Your Dreams), that was made at The business breakfast club in Chicksands on 10/6/09 (for more details of these clubs, please click here).
We welcome your joining into the conversation and adding to it by using the comments boxes at the end of blog.
Why do it?
In your traditional marketing (whether face to face marketing or “marketing”) have you ever given out free tips to people, or published information knowing that it would get people to think well of you, raise your profile and allow you to keep in conversation with them?
Blogging is just the same, PLUS it helps get search engine to drive more traffic at your website (more people walking past your shop window is a good thing, what you then do with them is your choice!).
What is it?
Publishing material on the web, in such as way as it’s readily seen by prospects, customers and search engines.
What should I publish?
Material that potential customers would find interesting and useful, not blatant advertising! Material that shows your views on the issues in your industry, as you’re then likely to find like minded prospects viewing you more favourably)
A starting point could be looking at the most common three or four tips you offer customers – each of these, expanded into 300-500 words would make an ideal blog. If you initially aim to publish a blog every fortnight you can write your first 6 weeks of articles easily.
What things are you often asked by customers, what hot topics are there in your industry? What other tips could you offer? People love to be given something useful for free!
Write these articles as short, easily readable articles with 300-500 words in each, including “google keywords” (if you can), including links to other blogs and your website (if you can / if it’s relevant). You may even already have some articles like this published – use them, then you don’t even have to write any material!
Where do I start?
If you are going to do this it’s important to keep it up, know why you’re doing it and then keep doing it. So make yourself a promise – I’ll blog every week / fortnight / month and stick to it (you could write lots of articles in one go and just publish them over the next few weeks).
Until you’re convinced of the value of this AND know you can provide material to keep it going, don’t spend lots of money on it.
You can get a free blogsite from somewhere like (www.wordpress.com) or (www.blogger.com) and you can choose your blogsite name (www.myjogblog.wordpress.com). Now get writing.
You can now get your other social networking activities to know about your blogs, and shout about them for you (add blogpad to your LinkedIn profile, Twitterfeed will do it for Twitter, Social RSS will do it for Facebook – and there are loads more).
Where next?
~ Put aside some time each week (and spend NO more than this on it), to read relevant other peoples blogs and comment on them (it gets your name about more, and people will comment on yours in return).
~ Test and measure, test and measure. How may people are visiting your blog, how many are going from your blog through your links to your website? What subjects are getting the most attention?
~ Get better at writing them, put more interesting titles and first couple of lines.
~ Put more links to other sites, and more relevant keywords in
~ When you know that you can keep it up, and see value – consider getting your blog on your website, looking like your website. You may need to pay an expert to help with this. You don’t even need to lose all the work you’ve done up to that time, you can transfer it into your new look blog.
~ When you’re really sure of the value, you could get the articles ghost written for you by a good copywriter.
1: Overview to social networking (click here)
2: Get onto LinkedIn (a link to some thoughts on this will follow shortly)
3: Perhaps get a Twitter account (a link to some thoughts on this will follow shortly)
4 Consider a Facebook account (a link to some thoughts on this will follow shortly)
Feel free to add comments, especially if you enjoyed this mornings networking.
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