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Biggest Blogging Mistakes, Fixed: Part 1

March 9th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Blog Mistakes

If you’re looking to increase traffic to your website, generate more leads for your business, and become a knowledge leader in your industry, nothing beats the blog. Small companies can leverage their blog to take their business to the next level, but many of them are making costly mistakes that negate all the hard work. Here are some of the biggest blogging mistakes made by businesses, courtesy of Hubspot’s own business blog. Don’t worry – I’ve included some tips for correcting the mistakes, too!

Mistake #1: Publishing inconsistent or infrequent posts

Nothing ruins a great blog faster than neglect. Many businesses are guilty of publishing a few articles in spurts, then neglecting their blogs for weeks – or even months – at a time. If you aren’t posting on a regular basis, your blog is not getting the chance it needs to work for you. Companies benefiting the most from blogging stick to a regular publishing schedule, filling their blog with continuous fresh content.

The Fix: Commit to blogging regularly, and incorporate it into your or other staff members’ jobs. Start by aiming for one new blog post a week, which is the most common frequency, and build from there. If you do not have the resources to keep your blog current, consider outsourcing this important piece of your online marketing strategy.

Mistake #2: Publishing too many posts about your products

If you’re lucky, you work in a business in which you love your products so much, you could talk about them all day. Even if this is true, you need to accept that your customers might not want to hear about them all day! Actually, this goes for content that is centered on you and your company, too. It is completely fine to mix in some self-promotion, but your content should largely focus on helping your readers by providing interesting, useful, instructional or entertaining information. Your goal is to use your blog for thought leadership while making it enjoyable to read.

The Fix: Use an editorial schedule to plan different types of content for your blog. Focus on educational, data-driven and thought-provoking posts, and then sprinkle in news about your products and company. Using an editorial schedule can help you see the big picture while keeping your content varied.

Mistake #3: Failing to integrate your blog with your website

Where your blog is published matters. If it is published on its own domain, or worse yet, if it is published on a free blogging platform’s domain such as WordPress.com, Blogger.com, or TypePad.com, you are not getting the full benefit of your blog. Publishing blog articles can be thought of as casting a net out into the Web to bring interested people to your website, but if your blog doesn’t live on your company’s main website, you are losing opportunities for search engine optimization and branding.

The Fix: Keep your blog on a sub-domain of your website (e.g. http://blog.website.com) or in a folder of your main website (e.g. http://website.com/blog) to reap the rewards blogging provides for SEO.

Mistake #4: Failing to promote your blog on social media

Marketers often want to know what type of content to publish on social media. Your blog is perfect for generating continuous fresh content to share on Facebook and Twitter, and social media is the perfect place to promote your blog. When you fail to integrate these two communications channels, you miss opportunities to connect with new audiences.

The Fix: Take more time to expand your reach on social media and promote your blog there. In fact, using social media to promote your blog’s content is so important that you should focus on promoting existing blog content before you try to scale up your blogging habits. Build your brand’s presence online, and then share links to your content. Be sure to make social sharing easy by adding share buttons to every article you post.

In my next post, I will introduce you to three more mistakes small business bloggers make, as well as what to do to fix them.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

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Tags: blog publishing, blogging, blogging mistakes, editorial schedule, Marketing, promoting blog, social media
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

What Time and What Day to Publish Your Blog Posts

February 10th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

Right off the bat, I want to say that publishing blog posts is as much an art as a science. What works in general might not work specifically for you, so be sure to experiment a bit before settling on a strict publishing schedule.

I have this awesome new client that I am blogging for (and then turning those blogs into a monthly newsletter – always repurpose when you can!). She is brilliant – has her own thriving business, is recognized as an expert in her field, etc. The more we talked about her new blog, the more I realized that all aspects of blogging come naturally to me now while remaining a true mystery for the most accomplished business people.

One of the keys to a successful blog is publishing times. As I explained to my new client, you have to take timing into account, much of which I learned from Dan Zarrella in his Science of Timing webinar.

When to publish your blog posts:

Early morning.
Not Tuesday.

That’s it.

Dan found that the most links back to blog posts come around 7am, most comments come around 5am (seriously – I guess early birds get the worm by reading everything before the rest of us) and then again at 8am, while views peak around 10am.

The best days to publish are pretty much any except Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday tend to have decent traffic, while Friday through Sunday are great - views actually peak on Sunday. Do you catch up on email and reading over the weekend? So does everyone else. Monday is also good, as people tend to go through their email more carefully on Mondays (if they didn’t do it on the weekend). On Tuesday, it’s back to work – views plummet.

One other thing to keep in mind if your blog is new:

While you may be super eager to publicize your blog, hold off until you have a handful of posts published. When people come to your blog, they’ll want to see what else you have written before deciding whether or not your blog offers enough useful information to warrant subscribing.

Gives these tips a try to see if they work for you – good luck!

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Tags: blog publicizing, blog publishing, blogging, Dan Zarrella, Marketing, science of timing
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

What Time and What Day to Publish Your Blog Posts

February 9th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

When to publish your blog posts:

Early morning.
Not Tuesday.

That’s it.

Dan found that the most links back to blog posts come around 7 a.m., most comments come around 5 a.m. (seriously – I guess early birds get the worm by reading everything before the rest of us) and then again at 8 a.m., while views peak around 10 a.m.

One other thing to keep in mind if your blog is new:

Gives these tips a try to see if they work for you – good luck!

Image by Flickr user Dave Stokes (Creative Commons)

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Tags: blogging, Marketing, publicizing blog posts, publishing blogs
Posted in Marketing | 8 Comments »

How to Use Keywords to Improve Your Blog’s Search Results

December 12th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

If you have never thought to use keyword research as a way to improve the visibility of your blog posts, think again.

Whenever we search for information online, what do we do? We do a Google (or Bing, or Yahoo) search. It makes sense, then, that if you want your blog to get found and read (and shared and commented on), you should include the keywords people are currently using in their searches.

For instance, I just did a search for web video templates for another blog post I was writing. Not only did I find companies that offer templates, but I found plenty of blog posts, articles, and videos about web videos in general and web video templates specifically in the search results.

Now, the term “web video” is a very broad keyword search term and is therefore pretty competitive. Whether you are a management consultant, graphic designer, plumber, or attorney, you’ll run into the same problem: broad keywords won’t help you get found because they are used so often.

You need to do 2 things to find better keywords: 1.) get more specific and find less competitive keywords, and 2.) hone in on those keywords that could generate huge traffic.

Let’s use an attorney as our example, because I know a bunch of super fun and very capabile attorneys who must compete in this very broad category.

Our attorney specializes in employment law; specifically litigating discrimination cases. He is writing a series of blog posts about employment law that are aimed at small businesses.

Using Market Samurai (you can download a free trial version that is good for 2 weeks), I searched “employment law” and got 47 million results. This blog post, though, is a guide for small businesses – that gets 15.2 million results –that focuses on racial disrimination – that gets just under 3.5 million results.

So you see, the more our attorney focused on keywords specific to this particular blog post, the better the chance his blog post will be found online.

To really take advantage of search engine optimization, our attorney needs to use those keywords in the title of his post, in subheadings in the body of his post, in the text itself (of course!), and in the image tags.

Try it yourself and see if it helps your blog posts generate more traffic!

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae.

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Tags: Bing, blog writing, blogging, Google, keywords, Marketing, search engine optimization, Search Marketing, search results, seo, Yahoo
Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing | 2 Comments »

7 Keys to Growing Your Blog Readership

November 22nd, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

If you have been blogging for a while and wondering why no one is reading your articles, it can be super frustrating. I wish I could say there are only one or two things you need to do to grow your blog readership overnight, but unfortunately, as with many things in life, you must consistently do a number of things to see results.

Think about what it takes to lose weight, which will be a huge topic for most of us in about a month and a half – right after the holidays. Losing weight doesn’t happen overnight. Advice does not just focus on eating healthy and exercising; it also includes eating less, tips on portion control, mixing up your exercise routine, getting enough sleep, drinking more water and so on.

Blogging is the same. Do the following 7 things, be persistent, and you will certainly see the results.

1. Write good content

Good content always means useful content. Don’t be vague or give advice in an overview-type way. Include details and examples of what you are describing to prove your point. Use your own experiences to teach others.

2. Write in plain English

The simpler the words and phrases you use when writing, the better. Write like you talk, not as if you are writing a 243-page dissertation for your Ph.D. Think People Magazine, not The Economist.

3. Talk directly to the reader

Freely use “you” and “me” in your blog posts. Your blog posts should be conversational in tone to help you better connect with your readers. You are talking to them, after all, just with words on paper rather than spoken words.

4. Include calls to action

As a small business owner, one of the reasons you are blogging is to generate leads. Ask your readers to do something at the end of your blog post – subscribe to your newsletter, download an eBook, sign up for a free trial or consultation, or anything else you can give them of value that will also give you their contact information, thus enabling you to start the sales process.

5. Promote it

Promote and distribute your blog posts on all the social media channels you and your audience use, from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn to Reddit to StumbleUpon. Use a social media dashboard (like Hootsuite) to make this a bit easier.

6. Build relationships

Reach out to other bloggers, as well as editors of digital publications, and start building relationships with them. Introduce yourself and your blog. Ask to guest blog for them and in the case of other bloggers, vice versa. Offer to repurpose blog posts for their sites. Comment on their blogs. If you can get a backlink to your site from a high-profile blogger or publication, your readership will spike.

7. Submit guest posts to major blogs

If you write valuable content, any editor –of even major blogs – will be happy to use your guest blog posts. As Editor at Tech Cocktail, I speak from experience here. I regularly get guest posts from a handful of fabulous writers that I know our thousands of readers will enjoy. Don’t be shy – just ask. Editors are people too!

Image Courtesy: Karen Axelton

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Tags: blog, blog growth, blog readers, blogging, calls to action, content, digital publications, editors, guest blogging, Marketing, social media
Posted in Marketing | 3 Comments »

5 Easy Ways to Build a Community on Your Blog

October 20th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

The hardest thing about blogging is building an engaged readership. After all, if I visit a blog that is completely lacking in comments, I am not really compelled to stick around, let alone subscribe. I immediately think, wow, this blog must not be that good – no one is leaving comments.

If you want to build a community on your blog, here are 5 easy ways to get started:

1. Make sure people can comment – and you can respond

I contribute to a blog called Web 2.0 with a few other people in the sales and marketing space. We just realized that the settings need to be changed so we can respond to comments. Lesson learned: Make sure all your writers can approve and respond to comments! If you have a WordPress site, make sure the developer who set it up for you makes that allowance.

On the flip side, you want to make sure people can leave a comment. You probably use WordPress or Blogger – both let you control comments. Here’s how to make it easy for your readers to add their two cents to your blog:

On WordPress, set two requirements: First; comments from people must be approved by you; second, only ask for a name and email address (don’t require a lengthy registration process).

On Blogger, set two requirements: First, let anyone comment; second, turn on the word verification setting to catch spammers.

2. Write up a policy

You don’t have to do this, but it can be really helpful for your readers – and make things easier for you in the long run. No one likes the rules of the game to change halfway through.

Let your readers know whether they can mention their company or blog, if they can swear, how much negativity is tolerated (and whether you will remove comments if things get out of hand), and if you will correct spelling and grammatical mistakes.

3. Ask for comments

You might say, “Duh!” at this point, but seriously, you do need to ask for comments to encourage a conversation. It’s just like meeting someone for the first time at a party or networking event. Say you are having a conversation with a few people, and someone new comes up to your group. If you want to make them feel comfortable and welcome, you could ask their opinion of the topic at hand.

Same with a blog. At the end of your post, ask your readers whether or not they agree and why. Ask if they have tried this product or service before and what they think about it.

4. Respond to comments – good and bad

You not only want to respond to all comments, but to do so quickly. Obviously, if the comments are positive, they’ll be fun to answer. But if they’re negative, don’t ignore them. You can ask people why they feel that way and possibly get a good thread going that others might also respond to. If you keep your comments professional and friendly, you could get a really good conversation going.

Another thing to keep in mind: Negative comments could simply be a misunderstanding over something you wrote. This is your chance to clear up any confusion.

5. Say thanks

Another “Duh” moment maybe, but always thank your readers for their opinion and comment, even if you think their contribution is the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard in your life. Everyone likes to know their opinion was heard. Even if it wasn’t valued, they don’t need to know that. Keep it positive, and you’ll go a long way towards building a great community with your blog.

Image by Flickr user Kat (Creative Commons)

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Tags: blog comments, blog community, blogging, engagement, Marketing
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | 29 Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Curationsoft

September 26th, 2011 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

Curationsoft

It’s a fact: The more content you have on your website the more likely your site is be found by the search spiders, and the higher your site will show up in search results. Sharing useful content on social media can also help you improve your status there. But how do you find all that content? Enter Curationsoft. Search blogs, Twitter, YouTube, the Web and more by keywords, choose the content you want to share, and simply drag and drop the content onto your site or blog. Because Curationsoft helps you find relevant content, you’ll attract more followers and fans and enjoy better search engine rankings.

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Tags: blogging, small business resources, social media
Posted in Marketing, Resources, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media | No Comments »

Is Your Blog Worth the Effort? How to Calculate ROI

August 11th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

Whether you spend significant amounts of time pounding out blog posts, or pay others to blog for you, how can you be sure it’s worth all the effort? Convince and Convert’s Jay Baer has created one of the best methods I’ve found for calculating a blog’s ROI. It involves some math, so if you hate math like I do, I apologize. But it’s a worthwhile exercise, so give it a go!

Here’s what to do:

How much does your blog cost?

1. Determine how many hours your or your staff spends writing, editing and managing your blog. For each person, divide his/her salary by 2,000 (the hours worked per year based on a 40-hour work week and two weeks’ vacation) to get an average hourly salary compensation. Multiply this number by the number of hours each person contributes per month, and then add up a total for all of them.

2. If you don’t know it already, ask your accountant for your company’s standard overhead. Multiply your total from step 1 by the overhead calculation. Add this number to your total from step 1, and you’ll have the total labor cost of your blog each month.

3. If you built your blog internally, you can use steps 1-2 to determine the labor cost of designing your blog. If you had a third-party create your blog, determine how much you spent on the initial design process. Don’t forget to add redesigns and updates.

Baer suggests using a 24-month amortization schedule since blogs tend to evolve quickly and require redesigns about every two years. So, divide the amount you spent on design by 24–this number is your monthly design expense.

4. Add up any fees you spend on Web hosting and SEO services to determine the cost of hosting and maintaining your blog.

Add up your totals from steps 2-4 above, and you’ll have your blog’s total monthly cost.

How much is your blog worth?

1. Now you need to determine which actions on your website can create instantaneous sales or leads. Items such as “Subscribe to our e-newsletter” or “Sign up now” are examples.

2. Set up a Web analytics program to determine how many people take action on your blog. You may want to set it up to count only those people who spent at least three minutes on your blog, for example, to be sure the blog was the driving factor for the behavior.

3. To determine the value of each action, you’ll need to calculate the average lifetime value of your customers by multiplying the average amount of money a customer spends with you per month to the average number of months they remain your customer.

4. Multiply the number of revenue-generating behaviors by the average lifetime value of your customers to get the total value of your blog.

And the ROI is…

If you found the above calculations to be a bit hairy, at least determining return on investment is always simple and straightforward: Revenue – Investment / Investment = ROI

In this case, revenue = total value, and investment = total cost. So, subtract the total cost of your blog from the total value of your blog and divide by the total cost. Convert that number into a percentage, and you have your blog’s ROI.

How does your blog measure up? After performing these calculations, do you think your blog is worth the effort?

Image by Flickr user Sushiina (Creative Commons)

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Tags: blogging, Jay Baer, Marketing, ROI, social media
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »

How to Launch a Challenge on Your Blog

August 3rd, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

Creating a steady stream of new and engaging content for your blog can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve been blogging for a while. As bloggers, sometimes we feel like content-producing machines, as we face the blank screen of our laptops day after day.

If you’re ready to shake things up a bit, consider launching a challenge on your blog. Challenging your readers to learn something new or make a change in their lives is an effective way to build community among your readers, as you get to engage more directly with them.

A challenge can be as simple as taking your area of expertise and creating a set of actions readers can take that will improve their skills in that area. Celestine Chua successfully challenged the readers of her personal development blog to take 30 Days To Live a Better Life. She offered some tips on how to make your challenge as successful as hers on Problogger.

Here are some highlights I found useful as I brainstormed ideas for a blog challenge for a client:

Build a Community Around Your Challenge

Challenges present a great opportunity to engage your readers and get them talking to you and each other. Communication tools, such as Twitter hashtags and dedicated forums, can enable discussion around your challenge.

Don’t underestimate the power of blog comments. Be sure to read and reply to as many comments as possible – and always answer questions readers may have. These channels of communication will also provide insights on how your challenge is being received. Use this feedback to make tweaks along the way as your community works through the challenge together.

Use Bite-Sized Tasks

Be sure to create tasks that are manageable and effective. It’s best to present tasks that can be completed on a daily basis so participants can make progress and remain engaged. Use layman’s terms and keep it simple. Your role should be to teach and encourage, not to dazzle and intimidate. If people feel they are gaining ground through your challenge, they are likely to continue.

Keep Time on Your Side

Provide enough lead time so people can learn about your challenge, prepare to join, and spread the word to their friends and colleagues. A week should be enough time to get the word out and allow people to make some time in their lives to complete the challenge.

The duration of the challenge is also important for keeping momentum going. Two or three months may be too much of a commitment for busy people; 21 or 30 days is more reasonable. Even the busiest people will likely devote this amount of time to achieving an important goal or learning a new skill.

Have you ever challenged your blog readers? Leave a comment below and let us know how it went.

Image by Flickr user Eva (Creative Commons)

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Tags: blog, blog challenge, blogging, Celestine Chua, community building, Marketing, Twitter
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

6 Steps to Finding Guest Bloggers for Your Company Blog

June 10th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

If you have a blog and are feeling so crunched for time you are on the verge of abandoning it, or have yet to start a blog because you fear you’ll end up in that situation, don’t give up!

The key to keeping a blog going when you’re super busy is to use guest bloggers/contributors. Not only will they help relieve the burden, but they will keep fresh content coming when you are on vacation, traveling or just overwhelmed with projects.

Guest bloggers are also a fabulous way to reach a new audience, as they will undoubtedly share their blog post with their network, and your audience will gain a fresh perspective on a topic you already cover or one that you don’t cover at all.

While all of this sounds awesome, finding guest bloggers is not always easy. Here’s the process I use:

1. What blog posts have generated the most interest?

If you haven’t done this yet, first you want to figure out what topics have resonated with your audience based on comments, likes, tweets and shares. Not only will you know what you should write about more, but you’ll be better able to give your guest bloggers some direction.

2. Who do you know?

Go through the contacts in your network and make a list of all the people who write well (or who you think might write well) and who would have something to share with your audience.

3. What would they write about?

Brainstorm the topics the people on your list could cover. They could be topics you write about, have covered before, or haven’t covered yet but think might be of interest to your audience.

4. Ask!

Start asking everyone on your list if they would be interested in writing for your blog, either occasionally, regularly, or just once. (If their blog post does well, they might be able to contribute on a more regular basis.) When you receive a “yes,” immediately ask for a bio to include in their blog post.

5. Set deadlines

As the editor for a few blogs, I have learned to set expectations and deadlines to ensure I am not left hanging. It doesn’t always work, though I have found reminder emails—and lots of them—as well as heartfelt thanks, help!

6. Provide guidelines

To make it a little easier on your guest bloggers, draft a set of guidelines for them to follow when writing and preparing their blog for publication. (If they will write for you on a regular basis, you might as well set them up with an account on your blog platform.) The guidelines should include information on formatting, links, images/photos and their attribution, blog length, adding categories and tags and anything else you require for consistency.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Elaine Vigneault (Creative Commons)

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Tags: blog guidelines, blogging, guest bloggers, Marketing
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

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Posts Tagged ‘blogging’

What Time and What Day to Publish Your Blog Posts

What Time and What Day to Publish Your Blog Posts

How to Use Keywords to Improve Your Blog’s Search Results

How to Launch a Challenge on Your Blog

6 Steps to Finding Guest Bloggers for Your Company Blog