Complete guide to creating a tumblr
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Complete Guide to Creating a
Bloghi!hi!hi!hi!hi!hi!hi!
S N A P S H O TThinkWorks
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What is Tumblr? 3The Benefits 4How to Create a Tumblr 6 Step1:Createyouraccount 6 Step2:AddinganewposttoyourTumblrblog7 Step3:YourTheme 8Content 10 Photographs/Pictures/Illustrations 10 Quotes 11 JoininonTumblr-specifictrends,events
andmemes 12 GetmorefollowerswithTumblrSearch 13When to Post on Tumblr 17SEO Best Practices 18Technical SEO Recommendations 21Analytics 25Connect Your Google Analytics Account 27Other Considerations 28 URLandcustomdomainname 28 MakeyourTumblrmoreaccessibleto
non-Tumblrusers 29Summary 32
Contents
Rodica Maria LazarContentMarketingExecutive
Latitude Digital Marketing
Author
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What is Tumblr?Tumblr isamicrobloggingandsocialnetworkingplatformthatallowsuserstopostsmallsnippetsofcontentquicklyandefficiently.Tumblristhehomeofshort,‘digestible’content.
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Thekey benefitofhavingaTumblraccountforyourbrandisthatitcanimprove your search ranking.Ithasahighauthoritywithinsearchengines,easilymakingpostsmorevisibleonceoptimisedfortherightkeywords.Tumblrisalsoapowerfulwayofbuilding linkstoprominentindustryleaders.WhenyoulinktoacontactthroughTumblrandfollowthem,you’reverylikelytobefollowedback,againbeneficialtoacquiringprominence in search engines.
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This guide provide you with:
1. Astepbystepprocessonhowto setupaTumblrblogfromscratch
2. Recommendationsforthe type of content suitablefor theTumblrblog
3. SearchEngineOptimisation(SEO) bestpractices
4. Otherconsiderations
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Benefits
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The key benefit of having a Tumblr account for your brand is that it
can improve your search ranking
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How to Create a Tumblr Step 1: Create your accountCreatingaTumblraccounttakesno morethan30seconds.Allyouneed istoadd:
1.Youremailsaddress
2.Apassword
3.Yourusername
Oncethat’sdone,you’llbeaskedtofollowthreeblogs.Youcansearchforindustryrelevantblogsbyhashtagornameinthesearchbar.
NowyoucancustomiseyourblogbychoosingaBackgroundImage,ProfileImage,TitleandDescription.Click‘Make it’tocontinue.MakesureyourTumblrblogisalignedwiththethemeandstyleofyourwebsitetohaveconsistencyacrossallonlinechannels.
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How to Create a Tumblr Step 2: Adding a new post to your Tumblr blogYoucanchoosebetweenready-madetemplatesfortext,photos,videos,audio,quotes,linksandchattranscripts.Mostthemestakeadvantageofthedifferencesbetweentheseposttypesandimplementspecialformattingforeachone.
1. Clickontheiconlabelled‘text’ontheupperlefthandsideofyour blogdashboard.
2. Add a titletoyourpostinthesectionlabelled‘title’atthetopofthepage.
3. Begintypingthetextforyourpostinthesectionlabelled‘post’.
4.Addcustom URLbypressingthesettingsbuttonontheupperrightcorner.
5.Addtherelevant tagsforthepost.
6. Saveyourpostasa‘draft’ormakeit‘private’(insteadofpublishing);chooseoneoftheseoptionsfromthedropdownmenuontheupperrighthandsideofthepagelabelled‘publish now’forfurthereditingorscheduling.
7.Click‘Post’atthebottomofthebox.
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How to Create a Tumblr Step 3: Your themeWithTumblr’sthemelibraryincreasingdailyandthemesseparatedbymorethan15categoriesencompassinghundredsofthemes,youneedtoconsidernotonlystylebutalsofunctionality.
Eventhoughthereareaconsiderableamountoffreethemesavailable,thepaidonestendtohavemorefeatureswithpricingaround£30–£60.
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Things to keep in mind:
1.Themajorityofthethemeshaveaverynarrowcontentarea ofaround800pixels.
2.ThemesarecustomizablethroughCSSandHTML.Clickonthe‘Customize’linkfromyourdashboardandthenclickon‘Theme’and‘Custom HTML.’Thisisalsohowyoucancreateathemefromscratch.Youcanlinktoanexternalstylesheettoo(Tumblrhasastaticfileuploaderforuploadingthemeassets–whichcouldbeusefulifdecidingtoadaptyourTumblrblogtoyourwebsitetheme).
If you’re getting overwhelmed with the choice of themes, have a look at these recommendations:
www.tripwiremagazine.com/2013/01/best-tumblr-themes.html
www.mashable.com/2011/07/03/best-tumblr-themes/
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Content Photographs/ Pictures/ IllustrationsWhatworkswellonTumblris creative pictures.Somemightrequiregraphicdesignskills,soifyouhavetheresourcein-house,makeuseofit.Also,ifyouaregoodwithDSLRs,getsnapping!HavealookatCoca-Cola’s pagebelowforasimple,creativeandwellexecutedblog.
Itdoesn’tmatterifyouuseaNikoncamera,Photoshop,orMicrosoftPaintforyourimagery,butyoudohavetobegood,orhiresomeonewhois!
Brandedandstyledwithcompanycolours
Goodvarietyofbrandedimageryandcontent
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Content QuotesIt’samazinghowyoucantakeoneline,andinstantlyboostitsperceivedvalueby‘packaging’itnicelyandsharingit.Asistrueformostsocialnetworks,peoplelikeprettyimages.
ImagebyLuke Choice
ImagebyWells Collins
ImagebyJosé Bernabé
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Content Join in on Tumblr-specific trends, events and memesExamplesoftheseincludeTumblr Tuesdaysandrecommendedblogs.TumblrTuesdayisthedaytorecommendyourfavouriteblogs,similartoTwitter’s#FollowFridayhashtag.
Tumblrhasabuilt-inrecommendationenginethatfeedsthedirectorylistingsofblogsthatarerecommendedtoeachuseraswellastherecommendedtumblelogsthatshowupinyourdashboard’ssidebar.
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#TumblrTuesdays
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Content Get more followers with Tumblr SearchTumblrSearchisagreatwaytofindgreatcontentandincreaseyourfollowernumbersaswell.SearchingisactuallyprettyeasytodoonTumblrsinceitonlyrequirestwosteps:Postingattherighttimeandusingtherighttags.
Let’s see how search works on Tumblr:
Search Tumblr
UnlikeGooglesearch,Tumblr search relies on tagsandnotyourtypicalsearchengineoptimisationtrickslikekeywords.
Whatthismeansisyouneedtofigureouthowtousetagscorrectlyifyouwanttobetheonewhoshowsupinthosesearches.
## tag
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Tumblr Search is a great way to
find great content and increase your follower numbers
as well.
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How to use Tumblr tagging
Tagsareusedtoexplainandcategoriseyourcontent,givingtheusertheabilitytocategorisebasedonsemantics.Tagsareeasytoimplementinyourposts.Justcreatesometagsintheboxthatsitsbelowthetext/imageofyourpost.
Alwayschoosetagsthatarerelevanttothecontentofyourpost.Tumblr,likeallsocialnetworks,willviewexcessiveuseoftagsasspamandcanbanyourblog.
Theoptimumamountoftagsissomewherebetween7and12, thiswillensureyoudrawanetwideenoughtocatchalotofsearches,withoutlookinglikeyouarespamming.
It’salsoimportanttorealisethatthismeansyoushouldprobablybepostingalotofcontent.
Themorecontentyoupostandthemorerelevantthetags,themoreyouwillappearinsearches!#apple#fruit#healthy#Green
#MyBreakfast
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The optimum amount of tags is somewhere
between 7 and 12, this will ensure you
draw a net wide enough to catch a lot of searches, without looking like you are
spamming.
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When to Post on TumblrAstheTumblrcrowdtendstobeyounger,typicallyunder30yearsold, itmeansthebesttimetopostisnotgoingtobethesameasonTwitter, forexample.
Tumblrpostsgetthemosttractionwhentheyarepostedonaschedulethatmatchestheschedulesofhighschoolorcollegestudents,whichmeanspostinganywherebetweenlateeveningtoearlymorning(8PMto2AM).
There are three other times that are optimal:
BeforeSchool(7pm) AtLunchTime RightBeforeDinner
Youwillhavetotestthisoutforyourownbrandandfindouttheoptimaltimetopostaccordingtoyourfollowers,marketandtimezone.
SearchingonTumblrwillshowresultsforthemostrecentcontent-notthemostoptimised.IfyoupostcontentwhenpeopleareonTumblrandactuallysearching,youwillincreaseyouroddsofshowingupinthetopspotandgetfound.
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SEO Best Practices Yourmostimportantkeyword,thewordthatyouwantyourblogtobebasedon,shouldappearin:
1. TheURLoftheblog
2. Thetitle oftheblog
3. Thedescription oftheblog
Step 1
Openyourblogandonthetoprightcornerofthepage,youwillseetwooptions,‘Customise’and‘Dashboard.’Click‘Customise,’andyouwillberedirectedtothe‘Edit’pageofyourblog.
Step 2
Atthetopleft,thereisabuttonthatsays‘Edit HTML.’
Exit Edit theme
Custom themeEdit HTML
Saved
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SEO Best Practices TheHTMLfilemightlookcomplicatedforthosewhoarenotusedtoit,howeverfeelfreetoignoreeverythingandsearchfor<head> (pressCTRL+Ftoopenasearchbar).
Rightunderwhereyousee<head>(shouldbetowardsthetopofthepage),pastethefollowingcode(afterdecidingonadefinitemetadescriptionandpagetitle).
IfyouwantyourlatestblogposttobeshownundertheURLonsearch(insteadofthemetadescription),justcopyandpastethiscodein:
<head>
<title>{Title}</title>
<link rel=“shortcut icon” href=“{Favicon}”>
<link rel=“alternate” type=“application/rss+xml” href=“{RSS}”>
{block: Description}
<meta name=“description” content=“{MetaDescription}” />
{/block: Description}
<title> {block:PostSummary}{PostSummary} {block:PostSummary} {Title} </title>
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SEO Best Practices Step 3
Anotherimportantpartisthetitleoftheblogitself.Onceyouaredonewiththeabove,gobacktothepreviouspage.Youwillreturntothemaincustomisesection,andnoticeablockthatsays‘Title.’That’swhereyouaddthetitleofyourblog.
APPEARANCE OPTIONS
Title
Description
Avatar
?
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Technical SEO Recommendations HerearetherulesofengagementandcodesnippetstomakeyourTumblrthememoreSEOfriendly.
Step 1: Settings and Coding
Underthe‘Advanced Settings’menu,turnonthe‘Use Descriptive URLs’option,whichallowsyoutoincludesomekeywordsinyourpermalinkURL.Makesureyouaddafewwords(suchastheposttitle)inthisfieldwhencreatingeachpost.
Furtherdownthatmenu,doublecheckthatthe‘Allow search engines to index your tumblelog’and‘Ping the Blogosphere’optionsarebothticked.
YoushouldalsoregisteryourblogwithGoogleWebmasterCentral.Toverifyyourblog,you’llbegivenasnippetofHTMLtopasteintheheadsectionofthepage.
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Technical SEO RecommendationsCreate an XML sitemap and submit it
Tumblrletsyoucreateasitemap,whichisgreatforsearchenginespidersthatcrawlyoursite.Butifyouwanttospeeduptheprocessandget spiderscrawlingyoursiteimmediately,you’llneedtosubmitthesitemap todirectories.
Here’s how to do that:
•GotoGoogleWebmasterTools
•AddyourTumblrblog
•Addyoursitemap
Theprocessisthesamefor Yahoo!SiteExplorer.
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Technical SEO RecommendationsStep 2: HTML Body
Thenameoftheblogisthemostimportantitemonthefrontpageoftheblog,sowehavetoputthatinaH1 tag(HTMLheading)sothatwhenGooglecrawlsthepage,itwilllandonthetitlefirst.Whenviewingotherpagesonthesite,therewillbeothermoreimportantareasoftext(theposttitle,typically)soyou’llwanttheblognametobea<h2>(secondheader/subheading)onotherpages.
This code does that for you:
{block:IndexPage}<h1 class=“blogtitle”>
<a class=“default” href=“/”>{Title}</a>
</h1>{/block:IndexPage}
{block:PermalinkPage} <h2 class=“blogtitle”>
<a class=“default” href=“/”>{Title}</a>
</h2>{/block:PermalinkPage}
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Technical SEO RecommendationsNowwejustneedtoupdatetheCSStodisplayh1.blogtitleandh2.blogtitleinthesameway.
NB:Youshouldmakesuretoalwaysaddatitlewhencreatingtextposts.Here,theposttitleshouldbe<h2>whenitappearsonanindexpage,<h1>whenit’sonapermalinkpage:
{block:Title}
{block:IndexPage}
<h2><a href=“{Permalink}”>{Title}</a></h2>
{/block:IndexPage}
{block:PermalinkPage}
<h1>{Title}</h1>
{/block:PermalinkPage}
{/block:Title}
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AnalyticsEveryTumblrbloghasananalyticsdashboardyoucanusetoinformyourcontentefforts:
Theactivityscreeniswhereyoucantrackpostviews,notesandfollowers.Ifyouadjustthedaterange,youcanseemoredetail,aswellastogglepaidversusorganicactivitytogetacompleteviewofyourblog’sperformance.Youcanalsoidentifyyourbestandworstperformingcontentbysortingpostsbynotecountorimpressions.
Post Views: Trackhowmanytimespeopleseeyourcontentasitspreadsacrossthenetwork.Youcancomparesponsoredversusorganicactivitytodetermineearnedmediabonusesandfigureoutwhatkindofpostsgetseenthemost!
Posts
Followers
Activity
Customize
Mass Post Editor
12
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You can track impressions on:
•WebDashboard(Paid&Earned)
•SponsoredRadar
•MobileDashboard(Paid&Earned)
•Notes:TrackLikesandReblogsearnedbyyouroriginalpoststounderstandchangesinaudienceengagement.Resultsautomaticallyadjusttoyourselectedtime-scale.
•Followers:Viewfollowergrowthcumulatively(defaultsetting)orseechangesovertime.Adjustthetimescaletoviewchangesbyweekor byday.
•TopPosts:Comparetheperformanceofyourtop-performingoriginalpoststogainabetterunderstandingofthecontentthatresonateswiththeTumblrcommunity.
Image Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2013/11272/socialskim-social-media-this-week-including-social-analytics-and-improved-meetings
Analytics
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Connect Your Google Analytics AccountSomeblogthemesallowyoutopasteaGoogleAnalyticsIDintheAppearancesectionofthe“Customize theme”page.Ifyourthemedoesn’tsupportthat,followtheinstructionsbelow:
1.VisitGoogle AnalyticsandloginwithyourGoogleaccount
2.GotoAdmin–Property SettingsandtheTrackingIDisatthetopanditwilllooksomethinglikethis:UA-xxxxxxxx-1
3.Copythecode(selectandCTRL+C)
4.GotoyourTumblraccount
5.ClickEdit Themeandfindthe Google Analytics ID box **
6.Pastethecodeinthere
**KeepinmindnotallthemessupportGoogleAnalyticsintegration.
Tracking code not verified?Don’tpanic,thisjustmeansGoogle’ssystemhasnotprocessedyourdatayet.
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Other Considerations URL and custom domain nameTumblrgivesyoutwooptionsfortheURLofyourblog:
•HaveafreeTumblrdomainwhichwillbe:yourname.tumblr.com
•Haveacustomdomainnamewhichcanbe:yourname.com(ifavailable)
FordetailsonhowtosetupacustomdomainnamefollowtheinstructionsontheTumblrpagededicatedtothisissue.
yourname.tumblr.com
yourname.com
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Other Considerations Make your Tumblr more accessible to non-Tumblr usersAlotofTumblrusers/brandskeeptheirTumblrblogclosedto non-Tumblrusers.
It’snotagoodstrategytoexpectpeopletoadopttoanewplatforminordertoengagewithyou.WhiletherearemillionsofpeopleonTumblr,therecommendationistomakeyourTumblrblogaccessibletoeveryone.NativeTumblrusersareusedtoengagingwiththeplatformbydoingthingslikebrowsingtheirdashboard,followingandrebloging.Buttooutsiders,thedefaultTumblrlayoutandwaysofengagingmightbetooconfusing,eventuallymakingthemleavetheblog.
YouneedtomakeitaseasyaspossibleforpeopletoconnectwithyourTumblrblog.WhathappensifoneofyourTumblrpostsgoesviralanddrivesatonoftraffictoyourTumblrsite?You’llsurelyloseoutonconvertingnon-Tumblrusersintoregularreadersifyou’redependingonthedefaultTumblr“Follow”button:
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Step 1: Navigation
Tumblrblogsaresimpleandclean,makingnavigationprettyeasy.UserscanseeinaninstantwhataTumblrisallabout.Thelayoutkeepspeoplefocusedonyoursinglestreamofcontent,butonethingpeoplecan’tdoiscrawlthroughyourhistoriccontent.
Thelayoutalsodoesn’thelptohighlightyourbestcontent.
Onewaytoovercomethissetbackistocreatepagesdevotedtocategorieslike‘mustsee’,‘mostreblogged’or‘mostpopular’.Youcanalsocreatecategorypagesgearedaroundthecategoriesonyourblog.
ThegoalistokeeppeopleonyourTumblrblogandreduceyourbouncerate.Creatingcategorieswillhelppeoplenavigateyoursitebymakingitstickier.
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Step 2: Give your readers more options to subscribe
ProvideoptionsforpeopletosubscribeusingRSSoremail.
FortheRSS,GoogleFeedburnercanbeaviablechoice.
Theothersubscribingoptionyoushouldofferisbyemail.Feedburnercanbesetuptoacceptemailsubscriptionforyourcontent,butthereareotherserviceproviderslikeMailChimporAweberwhichareusuallypreferableforanyemailmarketingcampaign.
These services will provide templates to create email sign-up forms:
Theinstallsareeasytoimplementandonceyouhavethemsetup,youprobablywon’ttouchthemeveragain.
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Summary 1. Publishcaptivating contentonyourblog.Thismaysoundobvious,butit
isagreatwayofattractingvisitorstoyourwebsite.
2.Use hashtagsatthebottomofyourposts.Tumblruserscommonlyutilisehashtagstofindnewcontentandpagestoaddtotheirstreams.
3.Searchand follow industry influencers, hashtags and related blogstoincreasetherelevanceofyourpage.
4. Monitor analyticsbyconnectingyourTumblrblogtoGoogleAnalytics.
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