Guide to the Blogosphere

December 12, 2012 ~ Pemberton & District Public Library, With Lisa Richardson

How to Get StartedThe Library SoMe Sessions, part 3

DIY Guide to the BlogosphereHow to use blogging to get you where you need to go. (A three

part series.)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

DIY Guide to Blogging

✤ How to Get Started

✤ How to Write a Killer Blog Post

✤ How to Build Momentum


Blogs

✤ online journal meets dynamic website

✤ good for anyone who:

✤ wants to be ‘findable’ by Google SEO,

✤ has content to share and/or something to say,

✤ wants to be on the radar of their community

✤ Examples: The Wellness Almanac, Choose Pemberton, Mt Currie Coffee Co, Icecap Organics, Rootdown Organics, Gary and Zoe Martin, Paul Cumin

✤ ++ can be completely personalised/custom

✤ -- is a “content” heavy platform - requires content-creation heavy lifting/dedication and some strategy


Why Blogging?

✤ Guy Kawasaki says the benefits of blogging are:

✤ Personal - as an outlet for expression and creativity

✤ Business - as a fast and free marketing and communications weapon

✤ good writing comes from having a voice that shines through - the informal medium of a blog combined with frequency of publishing really helps develop your authentic voice

✤ takes “journalling” or scribbling up a level, forcing you to “finish” drafts or make them publishable. This helps build a body of work that you can polish, enhance, compile.

✤ Think “book” not “diary” - a blog is a published product, not a collection of your spontaneous thoughts and feelings.


Getting Started

✤ What: is your inspiration? Role models? Look for examples.

✤ Where: Where will people find out about you? Integrate where?

✤ When: How often will you post?

✤ Who: Who do you want to reach with this content? Who is your target audience?

✤ Why: ID your purpose. What do you want to achieve.

✤ How: What blog software?


What inspires you: Study the Masters

✤ create a blog roll - follow bloggers whose style or beat appeals to you. (Subscribe to them in an e-reader, via RSS feed, or email notification.)

✤ Look at the blogrolls of people you follow and like already, for ideas about other top bloggers.

✤ Read them regularly. Study the posts that really speak to you. Ask: how did they do that?

✤ My top 3: Penelope Trunk, Brainpickings, Fast Company


http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/

http://www.brainpickings.org/

http://www.brainpickings.org/

http://blog.fastcompany.com/

http://blog.fastcompany.com/

http://www.anastasiachomlack.typepad.com/

http://www.anastasiachomlack.typepad.com/

Getting to Why: Ask the same questions a marketer will ask a client

✤ What do you stand for? What makes you awesome? What 3 words would people use to describe your brand/business/enterprise/association/personality as a writer/artist?

✤ Who are you talking to? Who is your target? Who is going to read this?

✤ Whats your tone? What ground rules will you set?

✤ What’s your beat? What are you an expert in? How will there be thematic cohesion in your blog?

✤ Who are your competitors? Join their community.Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Getting to How: Choosing your blog’s Look and Feel

✤ Pull together a moodboard of inspiration.

✤ What does it say about you?

✤ What assets do you have?

✤ What pages/content do you need? What is the static to dynamic ratio?

✤ Where will the content come from?

✤ Template tour


Case Study: The Wellness Almanac


Overview

GOAL: With funding from WB Foundation, develop an updated communications piece to raise the profile and increase the effectivenes of the Winds of Change Steering Committee.


Mission

Grow and enhance: Resilience. Recreation. Respect. Relationships.

We join together with a common call to:

grow community resilience

encourage individual wellness journeys

advocate for wellness services from recreation to treatment and recovery.


The Website

A virtual gathering place

A community almanac - seasonal observations, rooted in a strong sense of place, collaboratively sourced

Shareable snackable content, updated on an almost daily basis

Engage the community (Area C, VoP and Lil’wat residents) to share stories/images/contributions on wellness, through a combination of dedicated contributors and contests/call-outs.

Help bridge the cultural divide and bring our communities closer together

Rounded up in a weekly newsletter that is emailed out to subscribers, media, friends.


Content Buckets

Daily Posts.

Weekly Themes.

21 Entries per Topic.

7 contributors/topic, post once a month

recipehighlighting food in

season

inspiring video

in season

photo observation of life in the valley - wildlife, gardens,

plant ID

ucwalmicw

word of the week

soundfile?

coaches corner

wellness pep talk for local coaches and

counselors and elders and wise folk

spotlight/profile

Q+A feature on local person, Winds of

Change champions and others

the wellness report

Barometer. contributions from steering committee

member organisations


Wellness is our mission.

This website was designed to be an interactive gathering place and community-powered almanac to help two neighbouring communities share what we know about where we live.

It’s a celebration of place. An invitation to pay attention. An opportunity to discover common ground and celebrate unique differences.

This site is a project of the Winds of Change Steering Committee, a 10 year old community-to-community initiative to build healthy relationships and respect between the people of Mt Currie and the Pemberton region.

The Winds of Change Steering Committee has representation from the Village of Pemberton, Mount Currie Band, Squamish Lillooet Regional District, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, RCMP, Sea to Sky Community Services, Mount Currie Health Care Centre, Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police, Youth Mental Health, School District #48, Xit’olacw Community School, N’Quatqua Band, Pemberton and Mount Currie Youth Leaders, and a nominee from the Community at Large.

By growing and enhancing resilience, respect, relationships, and recreation, we hope to build stronger communities, and support the ongoing work of the Winds of Change – to reduce the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol on our communities through awareness, advocacy, and promotion of healthy alternatives.

We welcome your comments and contributions.


How: tumblr vs wordpress

✤ Benefits: Both are free, offer range of design templates, and don’t require any understanding of how to code HTML


Sign up for account

Fill in the blanks.

Make a note of your password

Wait for the email.


Check email to complete registration


Pt 2: How to Write a Killer Blog Post


http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/25.07.BusinessBlogging


What are the Elements of a Good Blog post?

✤ Information + Point of View.

✤ Visual eye-candy: spice it up with photos, video

✤ Add value for the reader - timely, insightful, expert.

✤ A catchy headline.

✤ Skimmable: use subheds, bullet points


Q: What is the measure of a Good Blog post?

✤ Good writing?✤ Not necessarily.

✤ Clear communication achieves its intention.

✤ It gets read. (Measure by amount of click throughs, subscribers, bounce rate.)

✤ It gets shared.

✤ It’s engaged with/commented on.

✤ It instigates action. (Votes!)


Write a Killer Headline

✤ How to...

✤ 5 Ways list

✤ Negative headlines

✤ Adjectives

✤ Urgency

✤ Exclusivity

✤ Explanatory

✤ Name Dropper

✤ Pun

✤ Quickie


A headline that makes people click


http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2012/12/09/climbing-taught-me-how-to-suck-on-grit-and-the-7-things-ive-learned-from-rock-climbing/

http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2012/12/09/climbing-taught-me-how-to-suck-on-grit-and-the-7-things-ive-learned-from-rock-climbing/

A hot topic, a “how to” list, and a featured influencer


http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2012/12/02/maven-michelle-leroux-top-5-ways-to-slay-the-social-media-scene/



A personal revelation


http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2011/07/14/a-letter-to-my-favourite-yogi/

http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2011/07/14/a-letter-to-my-favourite-yogi/

An appeal and a call to action


http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2012/01/26/vote-to-send-whistlers-lifers-heliskiing/

http://lisarichardsonbylines.com/2012/01/26/vote-to-send-whistlers-lifers-heliskiing/

Pt 3: How to Build Momentum




Grow an Artistic Career (or Build a Brand)


http://sevensentences.com/2012/11/15/artistic-career-social-media/



Get Found

✤ Search is social. So, to generate traffic, your content must:

✤ be optimised for the right keywords

✤ be intriguing enough to share

✤ be interesting enough to read in the first place.

✤ http://blog.shareaholic.com/2011/11/10-kinds-of-shareable-headlines-to-try-on-your-blog/?utm_campaign=blogging_101&utm_source=shareaholic_blog&utm_medium=shr_twitter&utm_content=blog_headlines


http://blog.shareaholic.com/2011/11/10-kinds-of-shareable-headlines-to-try-on-your-blog/?utm_campaign=blogging_101&utm_source=shareaholic_blog&utm_medium=shr_twitter&utm_content=blog_headlines








How to build readership

✤ Ask a question ie the “ordeal” or experiment

✤ Cross promote in other channels

✤ Team or guest bloggers or interview high profile people

✤ Contests

✤ Make it shareable

✤ Syndicate

✤ Inbound links

✤ Engagement strategies


Guide to the Blogosphere

Documents

Transcript of Guide to the Blogosphere