Last week I was away in the Highlands of Scotland, relying on a sporadic Internet connection so it was by text that I heard that I’d made it into the finals of the Social Media Awards for this blog. Of course I’m delighted, and I’m even more delighted to be nominated alongside Beatrice Whelan (for the Sage Ireland blog) and Lorna Sixsmith (for Write on Track). As you are probably aware Beatrice, Lorna and myself have been working together on various blogging events over the last two years.
In 2010 Lorna and myself met eight other keen bloggers in the Clanard Court Hotel in Athy and the KLCK (Kildare, Laois, Carlow, Kilkenny) Bloggers network was born. We’ve been meeting every month since and it’s been great to see some fantastic business blogs evolve. Beatrice was one of the bloggers we saw bloom in our first year. She started blogging after attending one of our meetings and made it into the final of the Blog Awards in 2011 for her own tech blog. Lorna also made it into the finals of the Blog Awards with the Garrendenny Lane blog.
In 2011 we ran our first bigger event, Beatrice had at this stage joined the committee of KLCK and together we joined with a social media group in Chipping Norton for ‘Bloggers International‘. We packed out the room we’d hired in Portlaoise, it was great to meet so many bloggers from all over Ireland.
As you may be aware last year Damien Mulley, who was the brains and brawn of the Irish Blog Awards, announced that 2011 was to be the last awards. As a passionate blogger I didn’t want to see an end to what had become an institution. Irish Blogging deserves to be celebrated, it’s a massively efficient business marketing tool and Ireland is full of amazing blogs, I for one wanted to make sure we could continue the tradition and it didn’t take me long to persuade Lorna and Beatrice to join me in my madness. We chatted to Damien and pumped him for advice.. and two months later we’re in the grips of organising what will be our biggest event yet.
One of the disadvantages of taking on the Blog Awards is that I can’t win! In the last year I’ve made massive changes to the blog, I’m constantly working to make it better. The first hint that I was on the right track was when I made it into the finals of Social Media Examiners best Social Media Blogs of 2012, this spurred me on to work even harder and as a result a blog that didn’t make it into the Blog Awards finals at all last year has made it into the one and only blog category in the Social Media Awards. Of course I want to win, the competition is fierce and any one of the other blogs would be a deserving winner but I can’t help but want to have an award for my mantelpiece. I’ll find out next Thursday night, I’ll be Tweeting, follow the hash tag #sockies. But if I don’t win I’d be almost as delighted to see one of my fellow KLCK team take the trophy.
Would you like to sponsor Blog Awards Ireland 2012? We have category sponsorship available so do get in touch sponsor@blogawardsireland.com.
There seemed to be a common theme at the KLCK Bloggers Network on Tuesday night, as we made our introductions many of the members said it was their New Years Resolution to blog more or to start a blog. My own resolutions include blogging more both on my own blog and on Bloggertone. With that on mind I asked Facebook what their resolutions were and yet again blogging scored high.
But how can we ensure that we stick to our resolutions? How can we be sure that at the end of the year we’ll look back on our plans and wonder what happened? Here’s three ways I’m going to keep the momentum going.
Mind Mapping
A mind map is a diagram of tasks and ideas structured around a single word or idea. They are a great way of clearing all the good ideas from your head and putting a visual structure on them. I started mind mapping last year and I’ve found it a great resource, when I’m stuck for a blog idea I can simply open up my mindmap and choose and idea to work on from there.
And for information on getting started with MindMapping I’ve found this article very helpful.
Carry a Notebook
We’ve all been there, we have an excellent idea but we’re so terrified we’ll forget it before we get a chance to write it down that we try and fixate on it, commit it to memory for life pushing everything else out of our mind to hang on to it. I have the best ideas when I’m out cycling, changing my environment and exercising always seems to get my mind working at full capacity and I carry a notebook so that I can write my ideas down leaving room in my head to create more. It can be a bit inconvenient to keep stopping and writing stuff down but I always return with a bundle of ideas. Having a notebook beside your bed can also be a good way to free your mind and allow it to sleep. Instead of churning ideas over in your mind, commit them to paper and you’ll find you sleep much better.
Of course there are alternatives, most phones have voice recording apps now so it’s easy to make a verbal note on the go and as most of us carry our phones with us everywhere you are never without a way to record your thoughts.
Content Calendar
Planning can really help you stick to your goals and by creating a content calendar you will always know what it is you are supposed to be doing and when. There are lots of tools that allow you to create calendars but whether you decide to use Google Calendar, a word doc or even write it down in a diary it’s the process of creating the strategy that is important.
I always start by creating a rough plan for the year, think about any seasonal events that relate to your business, think about themes that might carry through specific months.
Next think about the sort of blog posts you want to write. Some will just be general posts like the one I’m writing now. But what other sort of content could you create? Can you include case studies, book reviews, interviews, videos, weekly or monthly round ups of industry news?
The final step is to slot these ideas into your calendar. I would commit to a maximum three month calendar and review it at the end of each month to discover which posts gain the best readership and traction.
Do you have a secret to keeping motivated with blogging? Share it below and I’ll share them on our Facebook page.
This week’s post is from Lorna Sixsmith of Write On Track. Lorna is an avid blogger who started out blogging for her Interiors and gifts webstore Garrendenny Lane. Write On Track is her latest venture, partnered with Marie Ennis O’Connor she offers blog coaching and ghost writing services. She’s also become quite a sought after speaker on the subject. Lorna also co-founded KLCK Bloggers Network and Bloggers International with myself and Beatrice Whelan.
What is blog coaching?
We all know that blogs are useful for businesses for many reasons – from working as an effective search engine optimisation tool to personalising your brand to engaging with customers. There are so many businesses losing out on traffic to their website and resulting sales because they don’t have a business blog.
B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not. Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report, 2010
69% of B2B marketers are shifting their budgets toward social media. Source: MarketingSherpa, October 2010
41% of B2B companies are acquiring customers through Facebook. Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing Report, 2011
Why don’t some business have a blog? The reasons seem to be a mixture of fear, reluctance, writers block, scepticism, not enough time, worried about their writing style …….
Many people are nervous of writing and that includes business people. It is one thing to write a report where you are following a template but a blog requires more personality, writing that is more fluid and also requires different styles and formats.
Options include outsourcing your blog writing but businesses often prefer to write their own posts, feeling they know their products best and they want to devote the time to do it right but are still nervous to start.
Engaging a blog coach could be the answer. A blog coach will provide the mentoring to give you the reassurance and expertise you need. That’s the real beauty of it – you can utilise the coaching according to your individual needs.
What might blog coaching involve?
Well, blog coaching sessions could include any of the following – depending on your own knowledge and the needs of your own business.
A blog coach can:
Show you examples of good blog posts in your business area
Show you blog post formats that would suit your products or services
Help you come up with topics and how to write good titles
Show you how to incorporate a ‘call to action’ in an appropriate tone
Demonstrate how to include images and links within your blog post
Explain how to use the google keyword research tool to ensure your blog posts are well optimised
Show you how to use the ‘SEO all in one’ plug in and how to utilise other widgets and plug ins .
Explain how to best categorise your blog posts and how to use tags.
Demonstrate how to ‘share’ your blog posts
Show you how to inject some personality into your writing to encourage feedback and engagement from readers.
Show you how to find complementary business blogs, how to comment on those blogs and build a community.
Help you come up with a realistic blogging schedule.
Give you tips for thinking of topics for your business blog.
Measure your success. Your blogging coach can provide you with a blogging strategy with goals to meet. The success of your work can be analysed and measured.
Having a blog will help to position you as an expert in your field in addition to helping many more potential customers find your website. A blog coach can give you the confidence and knowledge you need to make it happen for your business.
This is a belated post for Blog Action Day that fell on a Sunday this year. I’m rarely online on a Sunday and even though I had a nagging feeling that I was missing something I couldn’t pinpoint it until today. So apologies for my tardiness, but this is what I would have said.
The economic slow down in Ireland has affected the food industry here in many ways. We’ve seen restaurants close down, a resurgence of nostalgia foods – most recently old-fashioned sweets – and a whole host of new artisan producers rise. Cooking has become a massive pass time. People may not be eating out as much but there is more cooking going on in the home. I’m not sure we can blame all of this on the re**ssion but maybe there are positives we can take away from it.
Social media and blogging have become a great cost effective way for food producers, venues and enthusiasts to communicate with their customers. Sites like Any Given Food and the Irish Food Bloggers Association have sprung up and events like Savour Kilkenny have become massive social media events as well as physical events.
So how can food businesses leverage social media?
Venues
Restaurants and cafes have the opportunity to engage customers on premises. Mobile applications like Foursquare and Foodspotting may not have a huge reach in Ireland, but the users they do have are pretty passionate about utilising them. Both of these applications can be linked to Twitter and Facebook so users have the opportunity of spreading the love beyond their fellow food geeks and into the Twittosphere. By offering deals for checking in or becoming a mayor of the venue you are encouraging more visits and more shares from these hardcore users.
Incentivise your customer to stay in touch. Have you dropped your business card into the bowl in Wagamama? I know I have and I’m always delighted to get the deals that arrive in my inbox because of it. But can you be more creative? I love this example from Jay Baur’s Convince And Convert blog of a sandwich bar that uses QR codes to get you signed up to Facebook whilst waiting in the queue.
Food producers
Recipes are hugely popular online. And what better way to promote your product than sharing recipes that require its use. Text recipes are great but putting a face on the brand by making a video could be even better. As often as possible include a photograph as this will get your followers tastebuds working.
Incentivise customers to Like your Facebook page by offering exclusive taster packs in a competition. Take a look at Keith Bohanna’s Irish Artisan Food Producers Facebook page for a collection of really good giveaways. (If a little out of date).
Feature the suppliers of your product and link to their Facebook pages, twitter accounts or blogs.
Tell the story of your product, what inspired you to create it, people love to hear stories and will feel more connected with you and your brand if you share.
Ask your fans to review the product – have a competition for the best review or recipe including it. Again this gives your potential customers some ownership of what you do and they will be delighted to see their recipes featured on your Facebook page or blog.
Food writers
Recipes again! give a way a little bit of what you have to offer. Blogging and sharing recipes from other social media users is a great way to connect with people and give a taste of what you do. I’ve always loved Kieran Murphy’s Ice cream Ireland blog. The recipes are mouth watering and when I saw Murphy’s Ice Cream shops start to appear in Dublin I was straight in to try some of the flavours he’d been talking about. Two food writers Mona Wise from Wise Words and Marian Hearne from Dairy Free & Spelt Living are launching cook books and their Facebook pages and blogs are great advertisements for what will be inside.
My Top tips
Connect with as many other Irish food businesses as you can; through Twitter, through Facebook business pages, through blog comments and anywhere else you find them online.
Tweet during as many food events and TV shows as possible. #rtemc (RTE Masterchef) for example was a great way to connect with other passionate foodies.
Share – don’t just post about yourself, share the love, link to other foodie Facebook pages, share their recipes and their blog posts. Interact and converse to become part of the community.
Recipes, recipes, recipes! People love recipes so whether they are your own or someone else’s you are sharing, make sure people know that your page or blog is the place to come for the best recipes within your category.
Do you have any tips to add? I know that I must have missed some. I’d love to hear what has worked or not worked for you.
Yesterday was the first Wednesday for a long time that I’ve failed to blog. It’s been coming for a while, the posts seem to take longer and longer and there is something… stopping me from getting it done quickly. I’m suffering from that phenomenon known as Bloggers block.
So what is the problem? Why has my usually tight blog schedule taken a dip? Maybe if I can discover why I can also discover a cure. So here’s my thoughts.
1. I’ve changed my blogging style – long time readers of my blog will remember that it used to be full of tutorials. Whilst tutorials are good, and I still do the odd one I don’t want that to be all my blog offers. I’ve found that most tutorials are better demonstrated with video. That’s not to say I’ve abandoned them completely but I love the opportunity that writing gives me to look into social media in a more in-depth way. Why is this a problem? Because I’m writing more opinion now I want to make sure I’ve researched properly and this takes time. I may have already read the articles on the issue but rifling through them for the stats or case studies I need to prove my case proves time consuming… and this brings me on to my second issue.
2. The Wall – because it’s taking me longer to write my blog posts these days I tend to put them off. To me blogging looks like a big wall that is going to be hard to climb. So I do the little things, the small jobs or the bigger jobs that are easier to achieve first. This has resulted in me blogging late in the evening or even putting it off to the next day (as today). The strange thing is I know the cure for this one, I practice it all the time with other tasks and recommend it to clients. Break the job up into sections so it is easier to digest. So I should break down my blog perhaps into ‘research’ ‘outline structure’ ‘composition’.
3. Not knowing if I’m making sense. This is a big one for me. I often read my blog back and am completely unable to know if it makes sense. I sometimes ask friends to have a look at it for me but it’s unfair to expect them to read a post every week. I don’t’ really know the solution for this one, hire a proof reader? Find a circle of friends that will help me out so I’m only asking them once a month or every two months rather than every week?
4. Topics, in fairness there is more than enough happening in social media that I shouldn’t be short of topics to cover but somehow I still seem to be staring at a blank page every week. I’ve tried lists of topics and even mind-mapping but I don’t seem to be able to keep this up for longer than a few weeks.
So what is this post about? It’s slightly self indulgent, as someone who encourages others to blog I want you to know that sometimes I find it hard too. I’d love solutions, how do you combat bloggers block? What is stopping you blog, even writing these down has helped me move on.
All suggestions will be more than gratefully received and in the spirit of curing me I’m going to do a follow up post full of your best tips.
There seems to be a lot of talk about crowdsourcing at the moment. It can be a great way to get input into your business, brand or product. This week I’ve been having a closer look at what crowd-sourcing is and how it can be applied to small business.
What is crowdsourcing?
Crowdsourcing is the outsourcing of a task to a wider community – in our case a social media community. This allows you to utilise the knowledge of a large group of people and apply it a specific problem, product or design.
Still confused? I found this great video from What Is Crowd Sourcing that explains it all in very simple terms:
What are the benefits of crowdsourcing
1. Getting your customer invested in your idea. By allowing your community to contribute to a product, design or even name you are giving them a sense of ownership of it, this will encourage them to share and actively promote what you are doing, they are also more likely to become a customer.
2. Talent. Crowdsourcing allows you to gain expertise from people you wouldn’t normally have access to. Other designers or expert opinion can help turn a good product, service or blog post into a great one.
3. Knowing your customer. When we are creating something whether it is a product, a new service or even a blog post it can be hard to know exactly what the customer wants. Crowdsourcing helps you understand your customer fully.
Examples of Crowdsourcing
The BBC and 3G coverage
It was this story about the BBC crowdsourcing UK 3G coverage that inspired this blog post. In this case the data is collected electronically via an Android phone app and is being promoted via the BBC. It will rely on a huge number of users installing and running the application and only an organisation with the reach of the BBC could provide this volume of people. The result will be a map of the UK with 3G coverage highlighted. This will be a fantastic resource as I have found the mobile carriers maps hard to navigate in the past.
Quirky and the Ice Scraper
It was a harsh winter everywhere last year. Social Product Development Company Quirky crowdsourced an impressive Ice Scraper for cars. The Quirky site is designed specifically to crowdsource products, users submit ideas and the community works on them. Users place orders up front and if enough people order it goes into production. So far the ice scraper has received 928 of the 1,200 sales it requires to be manufactured. There are a number of innovative crowdsourced products available on the Quirky website
Dell and Idea Storm
Idea Storm is a Dell customer driven website. It encourages users to submit ideas for products. This enables Dell to engage with their customers, get feedback and innovate new products or services based on customer ideas. Users are able to vote on ideas the most popular are implemented. According to the website out of the 10,000 ideas submitted they have already implemented 400.
How can a small business crowdsource?
Blog research
I use crowdsourcing a lot for my blog posts. This helps me develop ideas that may be based on my own experience I am always interested in how other people have found a service or what tips and tricks they have used. It can be hard to understand how others uses social media, I am so immersed in it every day I often have a very different view to consumers or clients. For that reason I often go to my Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin communities to get input. It can be a real eye-opener to get other opinions and views.
Naming products
When I sold hampers I used to get major writers block when it came to naming them. To help me I asked my Facebook fans to come up with some names and I picked the best of the bunch for new products. It saved me time and got my customers involved in the brand.
Discover what to sell
If you are a retailer deciding what and how much stock to buy can be a major challenge, asking your community what they want can help make sure that you have the right stuff and the right amount of it. It’s also a great way of finding out if there is a popular product you had overlooked.
Designs
If you’re designing a product or having your website revamped putting a number of solutions to your social media communities and asking them which they prefer can help make difficult decisions. Asking them what features they would like to see before you even start creating is even better at making sure you are creating a customer friendly design.
The Downside
1. You need a large community In order to get the full benefit from crowdsourcing. Getting input from one or two people is great but knowing which ideas are really valuable requires a mass of responses. This way you can filter the best ideas and ask your community to vote on the best ones. You will need to spend time building and engaging with your community before you can get results from crowdsourcing.
2. Too many chefs spoil the broth. It may be a cliche but cliches often come from experience. By crowdsourcing you could get lots of ideas and lots of differing ideas, implementing every idea that is given to you could result in a hotchpotch of conflicting ideas. You need to make sure everything you implement is consistant and works well together. Filtering ideas and implementing the most popular and the best should help avoid this.
Have you tried crowdsourcing for your small business? Have you any tips I’ve missed or want to share? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
Many people may not think of Blogging as Social Media but I am a big believer that not only is it social it’s also the most important social media. It can become the hub of your social media campaign, feeding into your other social networks, I often tell people that if they do nothing else they must blog!
Whether your blog is part of your website, independent of your website or even if you just blog using Facebook notes blogging can have a massive impact on your entire Internet marketing.
What is a Blog?
A blog can be a website or a segment of a website that is updated by the owner on a regular basis. People who visit the website are able to comment on blog posts, making it interactive.
There are different kinds of blogs; personal blogs that can extend from an online diary to a blog written around a specific topic. Some famous personal blogs have even been turned into films, for example Julie and Julia. I also love 101 W**kers (excuse the language but that’s what it’s called) the blogger behind it has now branched out and is contributing to the Guradian bike blog. There are also political blogs, photo blogs, video blogs and of course business blogs.
Why Should A Business Blog?
Blogging has many benefits for businesses.
1. If it is part of your website it will work well for SEO (search engine optimisation). Using keywords that you want your website to be found for in your headlines and the body of your blog will push your website up the Google rankings bringing more traffic to your blog and website.
Feeding your blog to your other social networks and encouraging others to share your posts will increase the inbound links coming into your website – also good for SEO.
2. It establishes you as an expert – Blogging gives you the opportunity to showcase your passion and expertise about a topic. You can become the ‘go to’ person about your industry.
3. A resource for customers – If your customers commonly ask specific questions blogging gives you the opportunity to address them on mass. If they are asking those questions online and find the answers from you they are more likely to buy from you.
4. Spreads your message further - If you are a local business looking to expand, blogging and social media gives you the opportunity to reach beyond the local market. You can target markets further afield within Ireland or even international customers.
5. Attract press attention – more and more journalists and researchers are turning to the web to research their stories. Having an active blog about your topic of interest can mean getting more press attention and being asked to comment on specific stories within your field of expertise.
What Should You Blog About?
There are a number of topics you can blog about
1. Your business. It may seem obvious but you need to blog on topics related to your business and industry. A political blog may bring lots of traffic to your website but not the right traffic. Make posts relevant to your offering. Absolute Dental handle this really well showcasing their services with out the hard sell.
2. Your own expertise. What information do you have that you can share? – What information do you give to customers on a regular basis? Turning these into tips and hints will make great blog content.
3. Topical issues about your industry. What’s happening in the news related to your industry? Add your comment or take on relevant stories.
Always providing up to date information on financial issues Red Oak Tax Refunds blog handles this well.
4. Who are your target market and what are they interested in? When I used to sell organic food I targeted people with an interest in the environment so blogged about a range of green issues, not just organic food but local food, cycling, organic gardening etc. This was information that would draw my target market into my site.
Greenside Up Veg include both recipes and gardening tips in their blog. They offer training on growing your own veg and if you’re growing it you are probably wanting to eat it too so this works perfectly.
5. Case studies and testimonials. Do you have happy customers? If so ask them to write a short piece on their experience with you and include it as part of or as a blog post. Use case studies of work you have done or customers you have helped.
This is done really well by Buyers Brokers, the photo and language of the testimonials leaves you in no doubt that they are genuine.
6. Guest bloggers. Once your blog is established find other bloggers that might have something to share with your target market. If you sell Wedding Dresses for example is there a Wedding Car company or a venue that would like to contribute a blog post.
Garrendenny Lane have a weekly guest blogging slot, all adding value to their blog and business.
More Blogging Tips
To find out more about blogging, and blogs both business and personal join us at Bloggers International, an International panel of experts will be sharing their knowledge of Blogging both technical and creative. We can help you get started or help boost your current blogging. Sponsored by Blacknight the event takes place on 29th June 2011 at 7.30pm in The Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise, Laois, Ireland and The Chequers Inn, Chipping Norton, England. We’re also streaming online live… details to follow on the Bloggers International website.
If you’re interested in coming to this free event RSVP on Facebook, Linkedin, Via The Website (on the right hand side toolbar), leave a comment below or email wave@spiderworking.com.
If you’d like to book a place on the two way video conference for the night you can book your spot for free by clicking here.
KLCK Bloggers Network was set up by Spiderworking.com and Garrnedenny Lane in 2010 to bring together Irish bloggers to share knowledge. It’s been more successful than either myself or Lorna could have anticipated in the beginning and we’re almost a year old now.
The first meeting, linking live with the UK over an internet live stream features a panel of blogging and social media experts on both sides of the water ready to answer all your Blogging and Social Media queries. The diverse panel can answer anything from technical WordPress questions to finding inspiration, increasing readership and marketing through Social Media.
The Panel
The Irish panel features Niall Devitt, co founder of Bloggertone and advisor to Social Media Today, Amanda Webb (me!) Social Media consultant and co-founder of KLCK and Bloggers International, Beatrice Whelan from Website Extrodinaire, website developer and WordPress and SEO expert.
The British panel includes Social Media Expert Shaun Fagan from Black Dog New Media and to answer your techie questions Chris Hogan amongst others.
Ask The Panel
If you’d like to put a question to the panel you can submit them in advance by completing your details below or you can tweet them at @bloggersint2011 using the tag #BI11. Follow #BI11 on the night or join our Facebook Page for details on how to join the live stream.
The Time and Place
And of course you can attend an event in person. In the UK, Chipping Norton Social Media Club will be meeting in the Chequers Pub. In Ireland KLCK Bloggers network will meet somewhere in Laois (venue tbc).
So if you are a blogger, a wanna be blogger or are just interested in networking with other businesses around the world join in on Wednesday 29th of June at 7.30pm (BST), and give us your questions!
If you get bloggers block Social Media can help. This week in part three of our series on Social Media and blogging we look at how it can help you find inspiration for blogging.
Be inspired by others – Blog Directories
I find I am inspired by other bloggers, some that work in social media and others that just produce well written interesting content. But how do you find blogs to inspire you?
There are a number of popular blog directories. Technorati, AllTop, BlogCatalog are some of the most well known. If you’re in Ireland or have an Irish interest Irish Blogs is fantastic. A quick internet search will also provide you with topic or industry specific blog directories.
Search these for blogs of interest and be inspired!
Social Bookmarking Sites
StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious and Digg are full of great links and information that can both help you guage what is trending in your industry and inspire you. Search for topics that interest you and they will throw up lots of interesting stuff you might not find elsewhere.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is not only a fantastic research tool but it can also give you a snapshot of what people are talking about relating to a specific interest. Once you have discovered the current trends write a blog post with your particular insight into the topic.
Linkedin Groups
What are people talking about or looking for information on in your Linkedin groups? If specific questions are coming up write a blog post addressing these questions or topics. Ask your own questions on Linkedin Groups or within Linkedin Answers to discover what others think, aggregate the answers in a blog post or answer the question from the feedback you have received from others.
Last week in part one of this series we looked at how social media can help you research your blog posts. This week we look at how you can find new readers using social media. The key to getting more readers is relationship building, build a valuable community and you will see the return in traffic.
Twitter Search
Twitter can be a great source of traffic for your blog, finding the right people to follow, communicate with and share content with will encourage others to share your posts.
But how do you find these people? The built in Twitter search is great for quick searches, specifically the ’People’ tab in search results enables you to search profiles as well as Tweets making it easy to discover users that are interested in you, your services and industry.
Don’t forget sharing is caring, share and be generous to other people and their content and you will attract them towards what you do.
Advanced Twitter search gives you more options, including geo location and multiple key words. Even better results come with an RSS feed so it’s easy to keep tabs of what is being said. To find out how to use these RSS feeds keep an eye on our Podcast series on how to use them in conjunction with Google Reader.
Even better if you are using Hootsuite you can set up a search column to monitor mentions. This makes it easy to respond to posts in real time.
Twitter Lists
Keeping in mind my mantra ‘Sharing is Caring’ set up some Twitter lists of your favorite Tweeps, those who produce content you are most likely to share. This makes it easy to stay on top of those really important tweets in the river of your timeline.
Commenting
Commenting on other blogs relevant to your industry is a way of raising your profile. Make sure the comments are insightful, a simple ‘great post’ won’t buy you as much karma as a well thought out response. When relevant, and only when relevant it is appropriate to link to a blog post of your own on the same topic. You have to be very careful that this is part of a detailed response as it can look like spam to some bloggers.
Some commenting systems like Disqus above allow users to post their comments to Facebook and Twitter showing that you actively sharing and caring.
Linkedin Answers
We looked at Linkedin Answers last week as a tool for research. It can also be used the same way blog commenting is. Answering a question in full and linking to a relevant blog post within that detailed answer is acceptable. However apply the same rules you would to commenting on blogs, be sure that your answer won’t be interpreted as spam or pure link building.
Linkedin Groups
Posting blog posts to relevant Linkedin discussion groups and asking for feedback, provoking discussion is a fantastic way to gather new readers. Do keep your posts relevant to these groups however as spammy posts can do more damage than good and are often removed by group administrators.
Faceboook
Sharing content from others on Facebook either on your personal profile or business page is a great way to build your community.
Facebook pages now allow you to comment as a business on other business pages, this gives you the opportunity to comment on posts the same way you might comment on a blog. Remember the more insightful your comment is the more likely a user is to click through to your profile and as with all commenting only include a link if it’s relevant to your comment.
Facebook tagging gives you the opportunity to let others know when you are sharing their content and is another important way to build your community. Tagging is a compliment and has the potential to bring traffic into a Facebook page. However only tag when it is relevant. If you are sharing something from their page or their blog it’s great however randomly tagging pages could be interpreted as spam.
Make it easy to share
Adding share buttons such as the Facebook and Twitter to your blog makes it easy for others to quickly share your content on their social media channels. Think about where you want to be shared most and make sure that you include a share button for those networks on your blog. (See ours at the bottom of this post)
Do you have any other tips that bring traffic to your blog? Do you agree that relevancy and sharing and caring are key? I’d love to know your thoughts so leave a comment below.
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What is Blogging & Why Should You Blog?
Many people may not think of Blogging as Social Media but I am a big believer that not only is it social it’s also the most important social media. It can become the hub of your social media campaign, feeding into your other social networks, I often tell people that if they do nothing else they must blog!
Whether your blog is part of your website, independent of your website or even if you just blog using Facebook notes blogging can have a massive impact on your entire Internet marketing.
What is a Blog?
A blog can be a website or a segment of a website that is updated by the owner on a regular basis. People who visit the website are able to comment on blog posts, making it interactive.
There are different kinds of blogs; personal blogs that can extend from an online diary to a blog written around a specific topic. Some famous personal blogs have even been turned into films, for example Julie and Julia. I also love 101 W**kers (excuse the language but that’s what it’s called) the blogger behind it has now branched out and is contributing to the Guradian bike blog. There are also political blogs, photo blogs, video blogs and of course business blogs.
Why Should A Business Blog?
Blogging has many benefits for businesses.
1. If it is part of your website it will work well for SEO (search engine optimisation). Using keywords that you want your website to be found for in your headlines and the body of your blog will push your website up the Google rankings bringing more traffic to your blog and website.
Feeding your blog to your other social networks and encouraging others to share your posts will increase the inbound links coming into your website – also good for SEO.
2. It establishes you as an expert – Blogging gives you the opportunity to showcase your passion and expertise about a topic. You can become the ‘go to’ person about your industry.
3. A resource for customers – If your customers commonly ask specific questions blogging gives you the opportunity to address them on mass. If they are asking those questions online and find the answers from you they are more likely to buy from you.
4. Spreads your message further - If you are a local business looking to expand, blogging and social media gives you the opportunity to reach beyond the local market. You can target markets further afield within Ireland or even international customers.
5. Attract press attention – more and more journalists and researchers are turning to the web to research their stories. Having an active blog about your topic of interest can mean getting more press attention and being asked to comment on specific stories within your field of expertise.
What Should You Blog About?
There are a number of topics you can blog about
1. Your business. It may seem obvious but you need to blog on topics related to your business and industry. A political blog may bring lots of traffic to your website but not the right traffic. Make posts relevant to your offering. Absolute Dental handle this really well showcasing their services with out the hard sell.
2. Your own expertise. What information do you have that you can share? – What information do you give to customers on a regular basis? Turning these into tips and hints will make great blog content.
Teamwoodcraft’s relatively new blog does this excellently.
3. Topical issues about your industry. What’s happening in the news related to your industry? Add your comment or take on relevant stories.
Always providing up to date information on financial issues Red Oak Tax Refunds blog handles this well.
4. Who are your target market and what are they interested in? When I used to sell organic food I targeted people with an interest in the environment so blogged about a range of green issues, not just organic food but local food, cycling, organic gardening etc. This was information that would draw my target market into my site.
Greenside Up Veg include both recipes and gardening tips in their blog. They offer training on growing your own veg and if you’re growing it you are probably wanting to eat it too so this works perfectly.
5. Case studies and testimonials. Do you have happy customers? If so ask them to write a short piece on their experience with you and include it as part of or as a blog post. Use case studies of work you have done or customers you have helped.
This is done really well by Buyers Brokers, the photo and language of the testimonials leaves you in no doubt that they are genuine.
6. Guest bloggers. Once your blog is established find other bloggers that might have something to share with your target market. If you sell Wedding Dresses for example is there a Wedding Car company or a venue that would like to contribute a blog post.
Garrendenny Lane have a weekly guest blogging slot, all adding value to their blog and business.
More Blogging Tips
To find out more about blogging, and blogs both business and personal join us at Bloggers International, an International panel of experts will be sharing their knowledge of Blogging both technical and creative. We can help you get started or help boost your current blogging. Sponsored by Blacknight the event takes place on 29th June 2011 at 7.30pm in The Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise, Laois, Ireland and The Chequers Inn, Chipping Norton, England. We’re also streaming online live… details to follow on the Bloggers International website.
If you’re interested in coming to this free event RSVP on Facebook, Linkedin, Via The Website (on the right hand side toolbar), leave a comment below or email wave@spiderworking.com.
If you’d like to book a place on the two way video conference for the night you can book your spot for free by clicking here.