STO37: 12 Must-Know Blogging Tips – Part 1 of 2

By John Dennis on Jun 25, 2014 in Podcast | 0 comments

Click here to subscribe to the ‘Smart Time Online Podcast’ in iTunes

Late in 2013, Facebook rolled out an update that affected millions of business owners who have Facebook Pages. The update significantly reduced organic reach and therefore engagement and conversions greatly suffered. For a time afterwards, the solution seemed to be a $5 bill – creating a growing resentment towards Facebook among businesses who leverage Facebook for marketing purposes.

Unfortunately, this was a rude wake-up call for many people. You simply do NOT own anything you’ve created or built on Facebook (or any other platform), and that’s a fact.

Another fact is, we absolutely DO own our own websites and the content that we publish on our blogs.

I stand to reason that a blog is one of the most important digital assets of any business. Whether you run an e-commerce website, host a podcast or own a content-based website – a blog is a crucial part of your marketing plan.

While we should not ignore the marketing opportunity on Facebook (it stands as one of the biggest income producers for both me and my clients), your blog, ultimately, will always be your own asset. And based on Facebook’s track-record, it’s only a matter of time before another radical change is made again.

In this episode of the Smart Time Online podcast, I reveal the first 6 of the 12 must-know blogging tips to help you grow and leverage this ever-important digital asset.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

How to build more authority, value and ultimately sales through your blog.
Why it’s so important to know your customer avatar, and how this alone can mean success or failure with monetizing your blog.
Why “mapping out” your blog posts is critical for ensuring consistency and ultimately goal conversions, and what my personal strategy is.
The 1 keyword research blogging tip that can help boost your organic search engine rankings significantly – and this doesn’t involve installing a plugin.
BUT, I also reveal how to utilize, what I feel is, the number 1 Search Engine Optimization plugin for WordPress.
Why images and graphics are so important for grasping readers attention, and how you can utilize them to both educate and state a call to action.
Why having multiple mediums of content on your blog can double or even triple your readership and subscriptions.
The one thing you should do at the end of every single blog post (and no, it’s not to “include an email sign up form”. Although, this is important too!)

ACTION STEPS:

Ask yourself, “when I’m on Facebook – what gets my attention?” The answer will ALWAYS be images and graphics. Make sure you always have featured images set for your blog posts that are compelling and convert the click. Include educational and call-to-action based images throughout your blog posts, too.
With each blog post, select 1 single customer avatar that you are writing to – and write to them. Be specific with your communication, and treat each blog post as a “mini sales letter”, as you are selling your value, your email list, your market position and ultimately a REASON why someone should come back for more.
Outline each blog post before you write it. Start with your headline, then move onto bullet-points, which represent your sub-headlines.
Consider recording your blog posts and turning them into an audio version. This offers up a whole new way to consume your content, and allows for you to pierce the iTunes and Stitcher Radio markets (among others), by turning your audio content into a podcast. This is actually a service I’ll be starting soon. If you’re interested, go ahead and contact me.
If you would you like some 1-on-1 help with anything else, then click here!

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

WordPress SEO by Yoast – in my opinion, the BEST WordPress SEO plugin available (plus, it’s free)! This link includes the training documentation.
Google’s Keyword Planner Tool – for keyword research as mentioned in must-know tip #3.
My Content Production Service – coming soon