My Target Magazine webinar presentation about getting started in (or getting better at) blogging. Includes an updated version of my Blog DNA framework.

1. getting started with corporate blogging
11.19.09 | February 4th, 2009 | http://www.crayonville.com
gregverdino.com @gregverdino | www.crayonville.com

2. Chief Strategy Officer @ crayon
www.crayonville.com
www.gregverdino.com
www.verdinobytes.com
www.gregverdino.net
microMARKETING (2010)

3. defining your blog dna

4. the 7 strands of blog dna
Voice
Visibility Texture
Accessibility Immediacy
Connectivity Conversation
http://bit.ly/blogdna

5. voice
It’s what you say and how you say it -- a unique, distinctive
narrative style that readers will identify with and return for.
• Determine who (writes what…)
• Corporate voice vs blog voice?
Consistent but not the same?
More personal? More
contemporary? More tech savvy?
More human?
• Allow unique authors to have
distinctive identities, rather than
just promote a “brand voice.”
• Blog about topics of interest to
your consumer, not just topics of
interest to you.
• Tell the truth…

7. texture
Texture
Make full use of the palette from which you can paint.
Using just written text will cause fatigue.
• Accompany post with visuals to
break up the text, draw the eye,
illustrate the story.
• Make full use of embeddable
media to illustrate stories
wherever possible - YouTube
clips, audio files, flash objects.
• Consider occasional stories in
multimedia formats - a video
diary, a podcast, a story in
illustrated or cartoon format.

9. immediacy
Fresh and frequent (but not too frequent), an urgent
‘need to read’ and a contemporary tone.
• Make sure you post frequently,
and try to post before
“morning coffee.”
• Reference current events and
the weather/season/things that
are happening around you.
Make sure your posts feel
immediate and contemporary.
• Get your writers into the habit
of hitting post as soon as they
have finished writing, this will
help preserve the “fresh, daily”
feel of their writing. Ensure
quick editorial turnaround.

10. conversation
Conversation
Open a dialog with your readers, and provide the
means for them to join the conversation.
• Create posts that open up a
debate, invite commentary or
provoke participation.
• Enable comments, and if
moderated, ensure you approve
within 24 hours.
• Continue the dialog with your
readers by answering their
comments with comments of
your own.

11. connectivity
Conversation
Make other bloggers a key target for readership, and
empower them to cross promote.
• “Share This” and Tweetmeme are
your connectivity baseline.
• Don‟t assume “If I write, they will
come” - get in the habit of pitching
stories to relevant bloggers for
them to feature.
• Create a blogroll on your site that
links to your own favorite blogs, in
the hope that they will
reciprocate.

12. connectivity goes beyond your blog
• A blog isn’t a soapbox, it’s a conversation – and a widely
distributed conversation at that…
• Monitor other blogs, comment
when you have value to add.
• Thank bloggers that reference
your content.
• Give “link love” to other
bloggers, point to related
materials and give credit where
credit is due.
• Notify known „friendlies‟ when
you publish content that may be
of interest to them.

13. accessibility
Conversation
Allow your readers to access your content when, where
and how they want it - make IT fit into THEIR lives
• Allow readers to subscribe to
specific categories,topics and
authors in addition to the complete
feed - via RSS, email, bloglines.
• Enable full RSS feeds - don‟t MAKE
readers comes to your site if they
don‟t want to.
• Device neutrality is becoming key:
iPhone, Kindle, etc.
• Create widgets and modules that
allow readers to embed your
content on their blogs and social
media profiles.
• Consider syndication to industry-
specific content aggregators.

14. visibility
Conversation
Ensuring the blog can easily be found no matter
where people are looking
• Make sure the blog is
optimized for search engines
by creating relevant, keyword-
friendly post titles.
• Adding “tags” to every post
will allow multiple blog search
engines to more easily
categorize your posts.
• Set the system to “ping” all
major search engines every
time a post is published.

16. measuring success

17. Key Success Metrics
Participation (outside in) + Conversation (inside out)
Traffic Press
Time Spent Social Media
Comments
Comments
Participation Conversation
Subscriptions Search
Optimization
Tags &
Distribution
Bookmarks
http://bit.ly/blogframe

18. the one year rule

19. Let’s Continue This Conversation
greg verdino 631.747.1451
chief strategy officer greg@crayonville.com
11.19.09 | February 4th, 2009 | http://www.crayonville.com
gregverdino.com @gregverdino | www.crayonville.com