anamaria sencovici - blogging primer

Real Estate Marketing & Technology Academy

April 29, 2010

Ana Maria Sencovici

®

Blogging Primer Seminar

http://theapplepeeled.com/

Table of Contents

The Deep Dive

• What’s a blog, anyway?

• What is it to you?

• Is blogging for you?

• Other questions to consider

The Set-up

• Choosing a blogging platform

• Choosing a domain

• Designing your blog

The Content

• Content drivers

• Best practices

• Plan for dry spells

• Developing a community

The Marketing

• Growing your community

• Tracking tools

• Deciphering the metrics

2www.theapplepeeled.com

The Deep Dive

• What’s a blog, anyway?

• The NYC real estate blogging landscape

• What is it to you?

• Is blogging for you?

• Other questions to consider

The Deep Dive

The Set-up The ContentThe

Marketing3www.theapplepeeled.com

What’s a blog, anyway?

‘A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”. A blog comprises text, hypertext, images, and links (to other web pages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular “area of interest”, such as Washington, D.C.’s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences.’ (Wikipedia)

Personal diary

Daily pulpit Political soapbox

Breaking-news outlet Collection of links

Your personal thoughts

Whatever you want it to be

Lead generation tool

Advertizing platform

Reference source

The Deep Dive



The Blogging LandscapeNYC Real Estate

The Deep Dive



What is it to you? A question of personal brand

What differentiates you from everyone else who might have a similar background or set of experiences?

What skills, abilities, knowledge and attitudes do you have that will make people want to work with, follow or "friend" you, online or off?

What value can you create for others?

What will make you satisfied and fulfilled that you are indeed making a contribution?

What is your overarching mission and purpose in what you do?

We are all our own chief branding officers.

The Deep Dive



Is blogging for you?A realistic look in the mirror

Your level of commitmento Time: if not daily, how often?o Financial

• Blogging software• Upgrades• Domain name• Web hosting• Support costs• Web designers• Bells & whistles (add-ons, themes)

Your skill-seto How are your communication skills?

o Are you a good and creative writer?

o How technologically savvy are you?

Your personalityo How thick skinned are you?o Are you willing to be in the public

spotlight?o Do you have a sense of humor?o Do you have a mix of ego and

humility?o Are you a self-starter?o How disciplined are you?

Should you decide that creating your own blog is not for you, there are other ways to benefit from the advantages of blogging without doing it all yourself:

•Write every now and then as a guest contributoron other, more established blogs•Write as often as you’d like without the hassle of the set-up and maintenance via outsourcing services•Offer yourself up for interviews to bloggers and the general media

The Deep Dive



Other questions to consider

Your angleo Professional vs. personal

o Funny vs. serious

o What words would you want your readers to use in describing your site?

Your messageo What are you trying to say and why?

Your nicheo What aspect of the market will you focus on?

o What kind of topics are off-limits?

Finding your unique value

The Deep Dive



The Setup

• Choosing a blogging platform

• Choosing a domain

• Designing your blog

The Deep Dive



Choosing a blogging platformHosted blogging services

The pros and cons of choosing a developer-hosted platform

Basics to look for in web hosting• User-friendly interface / control panel• Good comment management system• Spam deterrents• Rss feeds (a computer-readable version of your

blog which helps your content appear in other newsreaders, websites and blogs)

Popular service providersBlogger.comTypepad.comWordpress.comLiveJournal.com

Pros: it takes care of …–Web domain management–Software maintenance and upgrades–Data storage and backup–Template design and management

Cons: – Ultimately, you’re not in

control of your own blog– Less customizable– Depending on the service,

you are a part of the other company’s look and feel

The Deep Dive



Choosing a blogging platformSelf-hosted blogging services

The pros and cons of choosing a self-hosted platform

Basics to look for in web hosting• Reliability and uptime guarantees• Data transfer limits• How much disk-space comes with it• Tech support / telephone hours / email support• Popular providers: godaddy.com, doteasy.com,

nexcess.net

Popular service providersWordpress.org (different than .com)Movable typeDrupalExpression Engine

Pros:–Enhanced design personalization–Customization of every aspect of your blog (your own domain name, domain email addresses, etc.)–Control, should something go wrong–SEO / higher page ranks

Cons: – More time consuming– Extra costs– Tech support is limited if you

mess up

The Deep Dive



Choosing a domain nameWhy have one?

Why have your own domain name?

• Build credibility and a sense of professionalism around your blog

• Can enhance the brand of your business, service or identity

• Provides benefit of email addresses with the same domain, creating one holistic entity

• Can enhance your search engine ranking

Many theories abound about dos and don’ts, yet personal tastes also come into play; successful blogs exist that broke all the “rules”

The Deep Dive



Factors to consider in choosing a nameLong-term vision

Think about your goals and objectives for the blog

• What is your blog’s focus? (news aggregator, building reviews, tips & hints, neighborhood focus, etc.) Make sure the name reflects this.

• What is your intention for the blog? (generate leads, build your brand, sell ad revenue, etc.)• What’s your style? (multi-author, longer posts vs. snippets, pictures, videos)• What’s your tone? (formal, conversational, funny, scandalous)• Who is your audience? (professionals, out-of-towners, real estate aficionados, buyers, renters)

Consider the kind of traffic you want to build

• Loyal readers: most likely to build relationships with you, be your “ambassadors”• Search engine traffic: best for generating click-through ad revenue• Link followers: referral traffic from other sites, can often flood sites, good “afterglow”

Keyword-based domain Brandable domain

The Deep Dive



More domain factors to consider

Preparing for future growth

• Make it expandable if you’re thinking big (will other sub-blogs grow under the domain?)• Don’t make it too “trendy” such that it quickly becomes dated

Does size really matter?

• The shorter the better generally

• Easier to remember• Less room for misspellings• Better word-of-mouth marketing• Aesthetically pleasing

• Easy to pronounce

• Generally avoid hyphens and numbers

Dot what? (top level domains or “TLDs”)

• People generally assume .com or .net• Most believe .com is the most powerful – stay away from little known TLDs

The Deep Dive



Designing your blogThe basic anatomy of what makes a blog a blog

Frequent updatesPosts / entries

(info: date, author, time,

category,)

Permalinks

Reverse chronological

order

Categories

Branding – Logo - Header

Sid

eb

ar ArchivesBlog-rollNewsOther links

Most recent posts

The Deep Dive



A matter of designKey elements and best practices

The headero The first element that people see: a first impression. Make it memorable!

o Include a logo and some visual flourish to make it unique

Post headlineso Larger and bolder font / color than the general text without cluttering the page

o Make it easy for readers to scan through multiple headlines

Navigationo Make it intuitive and reader-friendly (do not overload with pages, categories or columns)

o Ensure that topics of interest are accessible and clearly marked

Archiveso Increase the usability and the stickiness of your site by giving readers easy access to past posts

Site searcho Key to providing readers a way to search for what’s on their mind on their own via keywords

Commentso Make sure they are prominent enough to be seen and their design reflects a respect for commenters

The Deep Dive



Getting some helpThemes and skins and plug-ins, oh my!

A theme serves as a functional and cosmetic foundation that provides

the building blocks for the customizing your

blog.

A skin is usually a "visual look" that is an overlay to a theme. Most skins allow you to change the

overall look via styles and without a complete

redesign of a theme.

Plug-ins can do anything from improving the user

experience to maximizing your blogging power. Popular ones include thumbnails, comment

management, spam filters and social media links.

Themes Skins Plug-ins

The Deep Dive



The Content

• Content drivers

• Best practices

• Plan for dry-spells

• Creating a community

The Deep Dive



Is content really that important?

The Deep Dive



Primary content drivers

• Start a conversation and encourage its continuationInteraction

• Address topics people are already thinking about

• Put yourself in their shoesRelevance

• Make one key point: what’s your bottom line?

• What is the message you want taken away?Focus

• Grab the readers’ attention

• Ask a provocative question or present a “Top 3” listCatchiness

• Relate the content to readers’ personal experiences

• Instill an emotional reaction in your readersMemorability

The Deep Dive



Blogging best practices

Blog often

Kiss perfection good-bye

Write how you speak

Own your topic

Know your audience

• More often at first to build momentum• Be disciplined; create a set time

• Don’t let perfection paralyze you

• Avoid formality• Be yourself and relate to your readers

• Take a stand; take a risk• Not everyone will like what you say or agree with it

• Track your visitors• Profile your audience•Note which topics generate most interest

Perpetual Learning

The Deep Dive



Plan for dry-spells

• Stockpile timeless posts

• Recycle your “classics”

• Post a photo or video

• Develop a survey or contest

• Write about a relevant book, TV show or website

• Conduct an interview

• Ask for suggestions and feedback

The Deep Dive



Developing a community

CommunityAsk readers

for input and feedback

Respond to comments

when appropriate

Admit your mistakes and

fix them

Fuel the conversation

to keep it going

Keep people in-line; don’t accept mis-

behavior

Make yourself

accessible

The Deep Dive



The Marketing

• Growing your community

• Tracking tools

• Deciphering the metrics

The Deep Dive



Your community10 Ways of Growing It

The Deep Dive


Marketing

Link it upo Link to other blogs for credit to their ideas and relationship building

o Link to your past blog posts that are relevant to your topic at hand

Get involvedo Join conversations of interest to you on other blogs

o Contribute to those topics (don’t be a link spammer) by adding value and becoming a trusted resource

Extend your brando Get word of your blog out on your marketing collateral, business cards, etc.

o Include a live link in your e-stationery; keep it clean, avoid more than 2 links to avoid the “junk” label

Share and share alikeo You have your own unique URLs now for each and every post; make sure they are shareable across

multiple social media platforms

o Create and maintain a profile on your selected platforms, whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter

RSSo Make sure the RSS feed image on your blog is recognizable and well-placed for your readers to find so

they can subscribe to your brilliance


Your community10 Ways of Growing It (con’t)

The Deep Dive


Marketing

Become a favoriteo Allow readers to socially bookmark and tag you via sites like Digg, del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon

o This will help your blog rank higher on search engines and increase traffic/links to your site

Invite guest bloggerso Infuses new ideas and perspectives into your blog

o Guests will help promote your blog by promoting themselves (and vice versa)

Get on directorieso Submit your blog to online directories to increase reach

o Little to do thereafter so it requires no additional maintenance

Have a big moutho Talk about your blog with everyone you know; have your elevator pitch ready to go

o Use your own material as a resource with your clients when questions arise, reinforcing the conversations you have with them

Submit to media channelso Send articles to different blogs or media channels if you think they may be valuable to their readership


What about leads?“I want more business”

Content is King


Tracking ToolsMany abound

The Deep Dive


Marketing

Google Analytics

Pikwik

Reinvigorate


Deciphering the metricsThe Basics

Visitor Trending

• Bounce Rate: how many visitors come to your site and then leave without viewing any extra pages, the lower the better

• Average Page Views: how many pages your visitors are viewing per session, the more the better. (You can also find similar page view data under Visitor Loyalty: Length of Visit and Depth of Visit.)

• Time On Site: indicates the stickiness of your site. The longer they stay, the more opportunity for them to click, read and comment.

• Visits: enables you to understand the trends of your visitors, in terms of daily, weekly or seasonal trends. When does your greatest traffic come in? What time of day or week? It allows you to gauge when to best publish your posts.

Traffic

• Traffic Sources: how are people finding your site, through which sources (search engines, directly, referring sites)

• Direct Traffic: readers who type in your URL in their browser or used a bookmark to visit you

• Referring Sites: which other sites or blogs are referring you the traffic; helps you gauge which “investments” in social media are working and which are not

• Search Engines: readers who find your blog via keyword searches on Google or other search engines. Knowing these keywords can help you optimize your content to give readers information they seek

The Deep Dive



Now what?

Parting thoughts

Your questions
