PowerPoint Presentation

Blogging 101: First steps to stardomBill Sheridan, CAEBusiness Learning InstituteHi, everyone Im Bill Sheridan with the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute.

Im here today to give you a really brief crash-course on blogs.

In the interest of full disclosure, I love blogs. I co-write the MACPAs blog, CPA Success, and nothing has been as important to my career and as personally satisfying as blogging. It has really changed the way in which I do my job, and I think it has changed the way in which the MACPA connects to its members in a really positive way.

Peoples views on blogs have evolved over the years. Early on, I think a lot of folks looked at blogs as these narcissistic outlets for people with inflated senses of self worth. Today, blogs have really gone mainstream and are considered entertaining and important sources of content and information. Bloggers themselves are now often afforded the same rights and privileges as mainstream journalists.

And businesses are using blogs to great affect as a ways of informing and connecting with their audiences.

Were going to start at the beginning. Lets take a look at our agenda..1Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

Before we really get started, Ive got to tell you a quick story:

Part of this presentation is a look at some of the ways in which small firms are actually using social media to great effect, and I wanted to bring some of these small practitioners into the room to tell their stories.

One of them, Jody Padar, is here in person. A couple of others are here via the magic of video I asked them to record their stories and send me the files so I could share them with you.

One of them, Greg Kyte, who youll be hearing from later, was trying to send me the file but couldnt find my e-mail address. So heres what he said:

You can augment the content of the video with the fact that I don't have you email address, and I found it through Facebook after looking on LinkedIn. This video wouldn't have gotten to you without social media.

Well decide later after seeing the video whether thats a case in favor of social media or against it.

Anyway, thats the kind of world were living in today, and well take a closer look at how small firms are taking advantage of it.2

Introduction to blogs

Why should you blog?

Benefits of blogging

First steps: What you should do

What you shouldnt do

Resources for beginners

The bottom lineTodays agendaBill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

Were going to start by defining our terms what is a blog? Well give a brief introduction to blogs and what they do.

Next, well look at some of the reasons by you should consider blogging whats in it for you? What are some of the benefits of blogging? And there are a lot of them.

Next, Im going to take a quick look at some examples of great business blogs. Whos doing it right, and what are they trying to accomplish?

Then its on to the nuts and bolts of getting started: What are the first steps you need to take to get started down the blogging path?

Ill take a look at some valuable resources that will help you as you get started.

And then well sum everything up as neatly as we can.3Video: Blogs in Plain English, from CommonCraft.com: bit.ly/ft5NMJ

Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

But lets get started with a really easy-to-understand, simple explanation of blogs and blogging.4Whats a blog?A Web site of news and commentary that allows readers to comment on what they are reading.

Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

5So, lets start defining our terms.

First of all, what is a blog?

As the video explained, blog is short for Web log. They are Web sites of news and commentary that allow readers to give feedback about what they are reading.

Now, I love this video because it explains things in well, in plain English. The problem is that its 5 years old now, and some of the numbers have changed.

Most important, the number cited in the video 70 million blogs has more than doubled in the past 5 years. There are now more than 164 million blogs out there, read by more than 123 million people.

So many people still consider blogs a new trend. But believe it or not, blogs have been around for more 13 years. They are an accepted form of communication and more and more often, they are an expected form of communication. Ignore them at your own peril, because they are here to stay.

So if youre looking for reasons why you should be blogging, theres one your audience expects its.Why blog? Establish your company as a thought leader Reinvent your marketing strategy Build communities and improve customer relations Control Expand your brand

Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

6Establish your company as a thought leader. Were all experts in something. Blogs give you the opportunity to share that expertise with large audiences and communicate directly with that audience. We can use blogs to create niche content that promotes our expertise and, at the same time, our businesses. Informative, thought-provoking blog posts about issues that your audiences care about tend to spread quickly throughout the blogosphere. And, because of the great search engine results blogs receive, you will drive traffic to your company.

Reinvent your marketing and communications strategy. With blogs, you can:-- Bypass the media and take your message directly to the public -- and get feedback in the process. It provides real-time communication with your audiences and that includes not only current and potential customers, but their clients, investors, and dont forget employees. A lot of blogs are being used very effectively as internal communications tools.

-- Great way to quickly publish company news in real time, and to get that news out to the world quickly. Blogs are known as search engine darlings. Search results are dominated by blogs. Its amazing the kind of traffic you can push to your site through search engines. And because of that, you can bypass normal channels to get the word out. You no longer have to write a press release and hope the media run it. You can publish it yourself.

-- Blogs can be great marketing tools as long as the content is not blatant marketing. Blog readers are a finicky bunch and, as a rule, they dont like to read sales pitches.

Build communities and improve customer relations. The readerships of successful corporate blogs include engaged customers or potential customers who are passionate about your company and its products and services. Blogs often turn readers in champions for your company especially if youre giving them content that they care about and that they cant get anywhere else.

Next is the notion of control. Right now, you have none. People are talking about your company RIGHT NOW, and you don't even know it. But with blogs, and specifically with the Comments feature, you can join the conversation and get your messaging out. It gives you an element of control over the conversation that you didnt have before.

-- Ability to quickly address positive and negative feedback.

-- Market research: Gather feedback from customers, other key constituencies. Posting questions to your blog and gauging reactions by seeing how your readers are answering those questions. And it doesnt cost anything. Market research is notoriously expensive, so this might be a way to get actionable results at a fraction of the cost.

Expand your brand. If people like your blog, theyre going to tell others about it. More people are going to know your and what you do.Companies that blog have 55 percent more visitors to their official Web sites.

97 percent more links to their Web sites.

434 percent more indexed pages. Source: HubSpot

Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

7And then theres this: Because the search engines love blogs so much, companies that blog have:

-- 55 percent more visitors to their Web sites.-- 97 percent more links to their Web sites, which is a primary factor in where your Web site shows up in search results. (Want a higher ranking, get quality links to your site).-- 434 percent more indexed pages. this is the number of pages that show up in search engines.

Bottom line: Having a effective, well-written blog with fresh, relevant content will help your company get found. Many, many more people will know who you are.

Video: Seth Godin and Tom Peters on Blogging, from Innerpreneur: bit.ly/fK1gUv Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

And if you dont believe, listen to what Seth Godin and Tom Peters have to say.8Blogging: What you should doBill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

1. Decide:

What platform should you use?

TypepadWordpressBloggerTumblrCreate a unique URL.

Its all a matter of personal preference, really.9Blogging: What you should doBill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

2. Decide:

What are your goals?What will you write about?Who are your bloggers?Are you committed?

The first steps involve making some important decisions:

What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to address customer service issues? Do you want to inform? Be very clear about what you want your blog to do.Be clear on the type of content youll give your readers. Choose something you know about and are passionate about and are excited about and stick to that. Dont vear off into a million different directions. It will only confuse your reader.Who will be your bloggers? Make sure its someone who wants to do it? If you try to bolt this task onto someone elses job description, you are doomed to fail. It wont get done.Are you committed to making it work? Because theres a lot of work involved. Some experts claim that it takes up to three years of consistent blogging to gain the attention of your audience. Are you willing to put that kind of time in? Because that means making blogging part of your life.

If the answer is no, dont bother. The Internet is littered with the corpses of deserted, outdated blogs and they will do your brand more harm than good.

10Blogging: What should you do?Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

3. Understand:

Blogging takes time and hard work.

Update frequently, consistently.Become a blogger.Be human.Be clear.Edit.Promote everywhere.These things arent easy even for the most gifted bloggers. The answer is practice, repetition, just doing it, making it part of your DNA.

Some tips from successful bloggers:

-- Update your blog frequently and consistently. More people will read it, more search engines will find it, and if they like what they see, people will keep coming back looking for more.

-- Become a blogger. By that, I mean make blogging part of your day. Constantly scan and think about how you can turn everyday experiences into a good blog post. And write all the time the more you write, the better a writer you become.

-- Be human. Write conversationally. Write the way you talk. Avoid corporate-speak. Nobody wants to come to your blog to read a press release. They want to think, to be entertained, to be informed, and to hear what YOU think. Dont be afraid to give your opinion. Thats how you become a thought leader.

-- Be clear. Dont confuse your readers. When they come to your blog, they should know instantly what theyre getting who you are, who your company is, what youre writing about. Use a clean, uncluttered design. Dont clutter up the blog with a lot of bells and whistles. Keep it simple.

-- Edit. Good grammar and spelling wont win you legions of new fans, but bad grammar and typos will drive readers away FAST. Use spell check and have someone else read what youve written before you post it.

-- Promote everywhere. Share your posts on Facebook and Twitter. Put your blog URL on business cards. Link to it on your home page. Leave comments on other related blogs. Put links to your blog posts in your e-newsletters. Remember, no one knows you have a blog until you tell them about it.

11Even more important Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

What shouldnt you do?12Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

What shouldntyou do?

Expect overnight results.Give up.Forget to attribute.Regurgitate.Be a corporate mouthpiece.Get sloppy.Be someone youre not.Forget to promote.Ignore your readers.13

And CPAs are right there in the thick of things, too. There are hundreds of really good accounting-related blogs out there.14Keys to blogging success

Content

and commitmentBill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

15Keys to blogging success.

Content. It starts and ends here. If you dont write something worth reading, nothing else matters.Commitment. Creating a blog is easy it literally takes about 5 minutes. The hard part is maintaining it and making it succeed. Technorati estimates there are nearly 113 million blogs in existence today. That sounds impressive, but what it really means to me, anyway is that theres a lot of garbage out there in the blogosphere. The great blogs are rare, because they take a lot of hard work. But the payoffs can be substantial.Advice for beginners

Blogging tips for beginners, from ProBlogger: cpa.tc/beginners How to start a blog, from WikiHow: WikiHow.com/Start-a-BlogTop 10 blogging tips for beginners, from BlogHer: cpa.tc/top10tips 9 tips to start blogging successfully, from ProBlogger: cpa.tc/9tipsThe Corporate Blogging Book, by Debbie Weil: www.debbieweil.com/bookSocial Media Strategies for Professionals, by Michelle Golden: amzn.to/e1N6VJ

Blogging platforms

Typepad: TypePad.comWordPress: WordPress.orgBlogger: Blogger.comTumblr: Tumblr.com

Blog readers

Google Reader: Google.com/Reader Bloglines: BlogLines.com FeedReader: FeedReader.com

ResourcesBill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

Advice for beginners:

That first couple Blogging Tips for Beginners, from ProBlogger, and How To Start A Blog, from WikiHow are great. They include links to resources about designing your blogging, finding ideas to write about, choosing a domain name and a blogging platform. Just a ton of great stuff there.16Download these slides:Slideshare.net/BillSheridan

Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute

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Flickr.com/photos/Sheridan17Keys to blogging success.

Content. It starts and ends here. If you dont write something worth reading, nothing else matters.Commitment. Creating a blog is easy it literally takes about 5 minutes. The hard part is maintaining it and making it succeed. Technorati estimates there are nearly 113 million blogs in existence today. That sounds impressive, but what it really means to me, anyway is that theres a lot of garbage out there in the blogosphere. The great blogs are rare, because they take a lot of hard work. But the payoffs can be substantial.