Tips on how to blog effectively for your business. Blog more effectively for your business by following these tips.

1. Blogging Effectively For Your
Business
Lorna Sixsmith
Write On Track
Write On Track

2. What is a Blog?
• A blog is a page on your
website
• Similar to diary entries as
they permit frequent
updates.
• Blogs can be standalone
websites
• Blogs can be used to tell
your customers what your
product/service can do for
them
Write On Track

3. Why Blog?
Benefits of Blogging
• To improve SEO
• To drive more traffic to your
website & increase sales
• Communicate with customers
• To increase brand awareness
• More PR and media attention
• Credibility
• Trustworthiness
• Core of online presence
Write On Track

4. More Reasons To Blog
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more
leads each month
• B2C companies that blog generate 88% more
leads per month
• Companies that blog have 55% more visitors
• Source Hubspot
Write On Track

5. How to Blog Effectively
• Writing good titles
• Effective opening paragraphs
• Adding Images to posts
• How to hyperlink
• Increasing backlinks
• Using the Keyword Tool
• Using the All in One SEO plug
in
• Effective Calls to Action
Write On Track

6. A.I.D.A
• Attract attention with a great title
• Interest them in your topic
• Desire – arouse desire for your product or
service but don’t give away all the informtion
• Action – always end with a call to action
Write On Track

7. Hook Readers with a Great Title
• List Titles – 10 Ways to ......, 9 Secrets of ....
• Keyword comes first in a statement – Wallpaper
Wednesday: 3 Nautical Wallpapers
• ‘How to’ – How to write a blog post a day
• Promises – e.g. The Best Way To ..., The Ultimate Guide
to ....
• Rhetorical Questions with personal pronouns – e.g. Do
you know how to upholster a chair?
• Benefits – e.g. Free, Create ... in minutes,
• Part of a club – e.g. What Everybody Knows ...’, Join Us
For....’,
Write On Track

8. Opening Lines for your Blog Post
• Start with a question that either makes them answer
‘yes’ and read on or will make them want to find out
the answer.
• Start with a statistic
• Start with a reader’s question
• Begin with a quotation
• Tell the readers what benefits they will achieve by
reading the post
• State a common problem
• Make a controversial statement
• Begin a story
Write On Track

9. Google Keyword Research Tool
• Free
• Need a gmail email account
• Type in your word/phrase
• Select country/language
• Aim for low competition
and high search results
• Look at the suggestions too
• Use 3 or 4 keywords per
post
Write On Track

10. How to get good traffic to your blog
• Highly searched keywords into blog post
• Use keyword analysis tool
• Comment on other blogs – community
• Tweet links to your blog posts
• Use Stumbleupon or similar
• Offer sneak peeks, giveaways, contests,
• Be original, topical or slightly controversial
Write On Track

11. Calls to Action
• Always ask your readers to do something
• Like your facebook page / follow you on twitter
• Ask them to share the post with their friends if
they enjoyed it
• Ask them to sign up for your newsletter
• Ask a question and ask them to let you know
their opinion in the comment box
• Ask them to check out the product you were
writing about
Write On Track

12. Tags for Your Blog
• Tags will be picked up by Wordpress / Searchers
• Tags are keywords that people may search for
• Ensure the tags are used in the body of the post
too
• Max of 8 tags
• You might have 20 categories but thousands of
tags for your blog
• Tag Cloud
Write On Track

13. Blog Categories
• Good for Navigation
• Readers can tell at a glance
what your blog is about
• Good for SEO
• Choose a Max of 5 categories
• Ensure they are relevant
Write On Track

14. Inbound Links
• Inbound links – links from other websites/blogs
• Calibre of link depends on where it comes from
• Commenting on other blogs = ‘no follow’ now
• Guest post on other blogs or directories
• Exchange links with complimentary businesses
e.g florist/wedding cars
• Ask suppliers/customers/networks to list you on
their website
• Write great content – others will link to your post
Write On Track

15. Cross Links
• Cross links are links within your own website
and blog (or websites owned by you)
• Linking to other blog posts on related content
• Include highly searched keywords within the
hyperlink
• Don’t use ‘click here’ for the link, web users
now understand they need to click when they
see the highlighted text.
Write On Track

16. Why Add Images to Blog Posts?
• Images break up the text
• Add visual interest
• Draw the reader’s eye
• Make it look more appealing
• Make your posts more memorable
• Loading Time – reduce pixels of photos
• Credit images
Write On Track

17. Adding Images to Posts
• Place cursor where you
want image to go
• Click icon and browser
upload
• Upload photo
• Insert Title, description etc
• Choose size and position for
the image
• Click insert into post
Write On Track

18. Creating Hyperlinks
• Highlight the link (use
descriptive language rather
than ‘click here’)
• Click the link icon
• Paste in the link address
• Click for ‘open in new
window’
• All these instructions can be
found on the Write on Track
blog in ‘For Beginners’
Write On Track

19. All in One SEO PlugIn
• Free with wordpress.org
• Has to be a self hosted blog
• On the ‘new post’ page at
the bottom
• This will show up on the
search page
• Include keywords
• Call to action in the opening
160 characters
Write On Track

20. Preventing Bloggers Block
• Be consistent
• Schedule posts
• Keep a list and note any ideas as they
strike
• Have a regular focus once or twice a week
e.g. Wallpaper Wednesday
• Do something different if there is a busy
time e.g. A-Z
• Guest posts / interviews
• Brainstorm with colleagues
• Refer to another blog post and add your
own spin on it.
Write On Track

21. KLCK Bloggers Network
• Join the KLCK Bloggers Network
• www.facebook.com/klckbloggersnetwork
• Monthly meetings – free
• Kildare, Laois, Carlow and Kilkenny
• Next Meetings – Mon 12th March in
Bennettsbridge, Mon 16th April in Silken
Thomas in Kildare, Mon 14th May in Carlow
Write On Track

22. Find Lorna At:
• www.facebook.com/writeontrackresults
• http://write-on-track.com
• http://ie.linkedin.com/in/lornasixsmith
Write On Track