The document discusses strategies for improving a company blog. It suggests providing thorough, value-added content to demonstrate expertise. Specifically, it recommends sharing unique, cutting-edge content like tutorials and reviews. It also advises being authentic and personable in posts, as well as spreading the word about posts on social media and submitting them to other sites to increase traffic. Fostering discussion in comments is also presented as an important strategy.

3. Awesome Beard
"Weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December,
1997. He used the term to describe the process of
"logging the web".

4. Technorati says:
133 million blogs
Approx. 900,000 blog posts every 24 hours
Meaning:
It’s all been said. We have to say it BETTER.

5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarredderraj/

7. Exhibit A

8. Exhibit B

9. Exhibit C

10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/

11. Why so popular?
How-we-did-it posts
Found & shared new/cool stuff
Balanced humor with usefulness
Became part of the community (comments,
links, etc.)
Admitted we weren’t experts. Asked opinions.

13. Sales - it helps show our knowledge and expertise
Recruiting - ditto, plus it helps prospective hires get to know
who they'd be working with
Speaking Engagements - as we build up a reputation for our
knowledge, opportunities will come up -- and they'll check our
blog to see if we know what we're talking about
Community Connections - sort of related to both sales &
marketing (in a long-term sense), we need to better engage the
web community overall -- our peers.
Give Back - it sounds hokey, but we benefit from the
collective knowledge of the community, and we should share
back

14. ENTICING
READERS

19. TRUST
RESPECT
RELEVANCE

20. What we get right:
Awesome designs (clap for Doug)
Unique, high-quality posts
Tutorials, tips, tricks, processes, reviews
No “100 Stunning Must-See...” crap
Targeted & Tailored

21. What we could improve:
Have confidence
Provide more useful stuff
Be authentic & personable
Spread the word
Foster conversation

24. You work at Viget.
Therefore, you are awesome.
Stop questioning it.

25. 99%* of all
blog posts
suck.
* Made up, but true.

26. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonelyradio/

28. “
To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid
quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest
”
your time in thorough, value-added content
that attracts paying customers.
Jakob Nielsen, useit.com

34. http://konigi.com/tools/omnigraffle-wireframe-stencils
http:/brandonwalking.com/bwtoolkit

35. Provide value by sharing:
New or super cool “cutting edge” stuff
Tutorials, techniques and tricks
Reviews / Recommedations
Opinions. (Especially if yours differs from the
norm.)
Little extras - templates, downloads, etc.

40. Be yourself, only smoother
Not too formal - write as if you’re chatting with
friends
If you can anchor the post with a personal story,
do it
Humor adds interest to boring topics
Personality differentiates you from the masses
Keep a running list of ideas - whatever strikes you

42. http://www.flickr.com/photos/75511860@N00/

45. Publicize it more
Tweet the link
Share a link to it on your LinkedIn profile (blog
modules) and personal website
Suggest it in the comments of related articles
elsewhere
Submit it to promo sites (Smashing Mag etc.)
Do the same for other Viget team members!

46. Re-blog it?
Something to think about... should we recycle our
ideas as guest posts on other high-traffic blogs?
Paul Boag - lots of recycling
Gets your name out, Viget’s name out
But does it lower the value of our blog content?

49. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bessicajach

50. Whoah.

51. Get (and keep) them talking
End the post with a question or invitation to add
to the conversation.
Make sure you monitor and respond to
comments.
Be opinionated when it makes sense. Controversy
fuels discussion/sharing.

52. Questions?