Authoring content that’s added to your website’s integrated blog can help further your marketing goals, support your organic search engine optimization results and set your business apart as an expert in your niche.

1. introducing

2. Strategic Blogging for Business
Presented at The South Carolina
Womens’ Business Center

3. Why Blog?
• Develop your firm’s reputation
• Establish your firm’s “difference”
• Enhance your firms’ placement in organic
search engine results pages (SERPS)
• Increase traffic to your website
• Take Away Tip: You are a self‐publisher!

4. Requirements
• Self‐hosted blog on your domain
• Blogging goals
– Reason for blogging
• Drives topics
– Frequency for blogging
• At least once per week
• Blogging Calendar

5. Business Goals Research
Blog Posts

6. What do you write about?
What your
What you
customers
care about
care about
What you blog about

7. Research
• “Act like a customer”
– What results do you gain when you research most
often used phrases?

8. Research
• Competitors
– Keywords
• Google Keyword External Tool
– SEO position
• Alexa
– Analyze for their Point of Difference
• Take Away Tip: Know your competition.

9. To find this, search for “Google Keyword External Tool”

10. Keyword suggestions
Searching for keyword “dessert”.

11. Add Alexa Extension to Toolbar or go to http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo

13. Research
• Consumer Trends
– Search the web for news articles, reports,
analysis, surveys about topics or services your
customer needs
– Note what is important to consumers using your
products and services
• Take Away Tip: It’s all about the customer!

14. Plan Blog Categories
Parent
Desserts Child or
Category
Secondary
Categories
Pies Cakes Ice Cream

15. Plan ‘Tags’‐ Micro Categories
Tags Blueberry
Child
Category
Pies
Apple Custard

16. Editorial Calendar
Topic Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Cakes Pound Chocolate
Layer
Desserts Family Desserts Elegant
Style for Desserts
Desserts Cookouts

17. Blog Post Basics
• 300 words
• Use subheads to lead reader forward
• Use keywords in posts, subheads
• Link keywords to your website’s anchor content
(your primary content on your major topics)
• Illustrate with photos, graphics, or images with
correct alt and title tags
• Use videos if you have them

18. When you get ‘stuck’
• Run dry of ideas?
– Try this list of great ideas for business blogging.
– http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/100‐smb‐
blogging‐ideas.html

19. Publicize Your Posts

20. Questions?

21. Photo Credits
• Flickr Creative Commons User
– Magnified computer screen Clearly Ambiguous
– Questions image UvaFragola
• Brands of the World
– Digg logo
– Twitter logo
• Facebook
– F logo
• Stumble Upon
• Delicious