Sherif Morgan, Connexins Web Development, on how to blog effectively so that your blog gets noticed.

1. Ways to Make Your Blog Shine
Sherif S. Morgan
Friday, September 14, 2012

4. Why Blog?
• Builds Traffic
– search engine traffic
– social media traffic
– email marketing
• Increases credibility
– pre-sell
– establishes you as an expert
– Voice and Authority

5. The two famous questions…
For each blog post, ask these 2
questions:
Who?
Why?

6. Who is
THE WHO

7. Who is the WHO
Identify niches (needs) within your market
What are their...
interests?
goals?
problems?
pain points?
hot buttons?

8. Drilling Down
• Who (age, location, gender, education, job title)
• Environment (when and where are they using your site?
What device are they using?)
• Tasks (what are they trying to complete/learn)
• Motivation (what is their broader desired outcome?)
– Goals, Problems, Pain Points?
• Name or nickname & Representative photo
Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/user-personas-for-seo/

9. The two famous questions…
For each blog post, ask these 2
questions:
Who?
Why?

10. What are some of the WHYS
what would you like to accomplish [short term]
You?

11. What are some of the WHYS
what would you like to accomplish [long term]
– Establish credibility or thought leadership
– Increase traffic to your business website
– Humanize your company
– Generate Leads or Pre-Sell Prospects
– Brand Building/Awareness

12. The Topics

13. Before you pick a topic…
Listen!
Social Media
Clients’ FAQs
Conversations
Clients’ Emails
Surveys
Common Problems
Questions

15. Problem?
KEYWORD OR in social media
eye-catching title/headline

16. Why is a headline
important?
Perfect
“The anatomy of Timeless post”
Shareable
• People judge a [post] by it’s [headline]
• Catchy… [ if not, they may not click! ]
• High SEO value
– Include your keyword

17. 3 Must-Have Guides to
Write Amazing Headlines
Write Headlines that SHINE
Specificity / Helpfulness / Immediacy / Newsworthiness / Entertainment Value
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-to-write-headlines
A Scientific Approach to Writing Page
Titlehttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/03/06/a-
scientific-approach-to-writing-page-titles
52 Headline Hacks!
http://headlinehacks.com (by Jon Morrow)

18. The Content
design

19. Designing Your Content
• Start with an engaging story?
• Scannable Text
– Short Paragraphs
– Headlines
– Sub-Headlines
– Bullet Points
• Use Photos

21. Where to get the photos?

24. http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/

25. Quality of Picture Matters
• Unique
• Engage people more
• Increases perceived value
• Shareabiliy?

26. The Content
the content itself

27. How to sound authoritative?
• Authoritative Headlines
– The content must deliver
• Knowledge + Personal Experience (the story)
• Concise!
– Simple yet profound (e.g. Seth Godin’s blog)
• Comprehensive
– Dig Deep. Use details and examples
– Go Wide. info can be applicable/universal
• Relevance: solve problems & ease pain points
• Present original research?

28. Create
Shareable Content
• Create authoritative content
• Publish original research, info, graphs
• Compile resources & links on a subject
• Solve a problem
• Make a list
• Paint a picture
• Great referencehttp://www.chrisbrogan.com/23-essential-elements-of-sharable-
blog-posts/

29. The Call-to-Action

30. How to Achieve the WHY?
• Conclude with a call to action:
– ask an engaging question
– ask them to comment, share, connect
• Include email subscription box after the post
• Make it easy for them to participate

33. make it easy to share

34. make it easy to subscribe

35. The SEO

36. What to do with a “keyword”
Insert in the Title (Headlines)
- 60 characters
Insert in the meta Description
- 160 characters.
- appeal to both people and search engines
- make it emotional / intriguing (for people not SE)
- Tip: “the cliff hanger”…
Use in the content naturally
- don’t over-use.
- use related words

39. The Perfectly Optimized Page
(SEO)
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-
keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization
too many rules / always changing / etc.

40. The No BS Guide to SEO
SEO techniques are important, but…
write for people not for search engines
 write great post titles (include your keyword)
 provide quality content with related keywords
 include relevant and helpful links
when you do that… people will link
back, share on social media, etc.

41. http://socialtriggers.com/perfect-blog-post/

42. “Click to Tweet”
<a href=“http://twitter.com/home/?status=Did you
go to OnlineBizSMARTS Group today. Awesome
Presentation by Sherif via @MsDaleDillon”>Tweet
this!</a>

44. Recap
• Intro
– why blog & questions you must ask before you post
• How to attract and bring people in
– via keyword research
– the headline
• How to keep people there
– engage with story, photo, easy-to-read content
• Deliver!
– authoritative / shareable content
• Call to Action

45. Dale Dillon and Michael Gray
SMART Team Master Mind Members
Sherif Morgan Deborah Munoz-Chacon
Aaron Eden Chris Hazen Molina
Steve Frantzis
Staff Pam Furlong
Danielle Lips
www.OnlineBizSMARTs.com