I spent an inspiring afternoon with Charles of Cubic Promote who is one of my clients and we discussed how he could optimize his social media marketing including his blog. He is one very savvy businessman and is using his 23 blogs to optimize his website for search engines in ways that are producing top keyword ranking results.
Just like our company his brands marketing strategy doesn’t rely on cold calling but inbound marketing by making his site so visible on the web that clients call him. ( by the way I hate cold calling, always have and always will).
This post started with an article earlier this year on “30 Tips To Make Your Companies Blog Rock” and I had quite a few comments by readers and so added more tips on other keys to making a blog successful. I then added to that post with some ideas from readers and more of my own with a post titled “50 Ways To Optimize Your Blog“.
So here are even more ideas to add to those original articles for optimizing, writing content and promoting your blog that will help your company be found online and hopefully admired and remarked about by your customers and prospects.
1. Write about industry News – whats happening this week, this month
2. Read and develop content on industry Trends – where is the industry going, what are the emerging hot segments
3. Find out about your customers Pain Points – Write posts that provide solutions for your customers problems
4. Write about customers successes – Write up a case study about a clients successful project, they will often let you publish their name
5. Publish content on what not to do! – highlighting where something hasn’t worked (the names shall remain anonymous of course)
6. Create a video blog post by interviewing a successful client – this can a powerful providing authentic evidence of authority and credibility for both you and the client
7. Write articles for the different types of customers that are relevant for each of your vertical markets
8. Brainstorm blog post topics with colleagues and management and create a list for future reference and planning
9. Subscribe to the top industry blogs in your market, both company blogs and personal blogs for ideas
10. Look through your latest news releases for ideas
11. Sign up other staff to write on topics in your industry or market that they are passionate about
12. Develop a series of how to blog posts
13. Turn the “how to” blog posts into short videos
14. When you have a great idea, go straight to your “add new” button and write the headline and save it as a draft or write it down before you forget it.
15. Include a great iconic image at the start of the blog that catches the eye
16. Case Studies are always popular to write about and not just your own
17. Place Powerpoint presentations on your blog by posting and then embedding links from Slideshare
18. Run polls and surveys on your blog
19. Create great headlines that catch people attention and makes them want to read the rest of the article
20. Add credbility banners such as how many subscribers, number of hits, blog grade and any awards
21. Provide “share this” buttons to Facebook and Twitter as a minimum
22. Implement “subscribe” buttons via RSS and Email
23. Write in bite size chunks and use bullet points so readers can quickly and easy consumption
24. Break up large blocks of text with iconic and interesting images
25. Take screen shots to place in your post using Software like Snagit to highlight points .. a picture is worth a 1000 words
26. Be yourself even if it is a company blog.. be authentic.
27. Optimize your blog for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
28. Promote and distribute your posts on to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
29. Make the blog easy to find on your company’s web page with a large bannner or button
30. Finally, have fun, mix up the types of posts and add some humour occasionally Gini Dietrich from Spinsucks.com contributed to the list with the following eleven additional tips
31. Ask your readers what they want you to write about
32. Let your readers pimp their own blogs in your comments section (we’re going to do this on Thursday of this week)
33. Ask questions
34. Create contests (which goes along with your poll/survey idea)
35. Install the SEO All In One pack on your WordPress blog
36. Use StumbleUpon and AllTop to increase your readership
37. Create content for Associated Content by republishing your blog posts there (it helps with readership and news outlets will republish your content on their sites)
38.Comment on other blogs and news articles to show your thinking/expertise, but also link people back to your blog
39. Make sure, when you use Twitter to promote your blog post, that you’re tweeting about it more than once a day
40. Subscribe to SmartBrief newsletters, RSS feeds, and Google alerts in order to find ideas for new content (that’s how I found this blog!)
41. Post and link your content on the Delicious social bookmarking site. (This will again help spread your content by placing it on a highly trafficked site)
42. Try your hat at a guest blogger or two, this could add credibility to your site , especially if the person is influential in his or her space. Courtney Wiley of iNgage Networks also made this suggestion
43.In the meta tags for your photos, make sure the labels/words are what you want them to be – search engines can’t “read” photos, only the labels/meta tags. Dave Heinrich from WebTechUniverse.com also contributed with this tip which is vital and I do this with every image in my posts
44. When people write a comment actually take the time to email them directly and thank them for the comment and if they ask a question, then answer it. You will find that this will create a WOW factor and spread the word about the blog. If you took 10-15 minutes a day to respond to 5 comments via email you would make great impact on over 1,500 people during a year who would each spread the word to potentially 1000′s more. This could be the making of a tribe!
45. Comment appropriately on the top blogs ranked by Google on the major key word or phrase you are trying to optimize for SEO. This will create a a link back to your site and linking is key to increasing your own rankings with search engines
46. Write a blog post listing some important bloggers in your industry (such as the top 5) and point out how they make their blogs successful and you might find they return the love!
47. Interlink to other posts in your blog when writing a post especially those that are relevant and have been successful (this again is great for SEO)
48. Outsource content development for sections of your blog that are appropriate such as ‘resource’ sections.
49. Update an original post that provides more value to your readers (this post is an example)
50. Take readers comments and include and promote them in your blog (like we have just done)
51. Take a selection of your best blog posts and make an ebook out of it. Then distribute the ebook on the Amazon Kindle Store and Apple iBookStore. This will find you new readers for your blog. And you can monetize it in a whole new way by charging a dollar or two for your ebook. (Thanks to Vikram Narayam )
52. Collaborate with other Twitter users within your niche to promote each others content
53. Make sure that everyone within your company has their own Twitter account and promotes the blog and company social media accounts on that account
54. When speaking or presenting, record it on video and upload it to company YouTube channel. It will be a constant resource for clients as well as adding to your websites SEO.
55. Make excerpts of key points on the video and turn them into short blog posts.
56. On your YouTube make sure you have optimized the video for search engines through tags, key phrase in the description as well as the link to your blog in the description section.
57. The SlideShare account where you have uploaded your PowerPoint presentation should also be optimized for search with your blog or website URL in your public profile
58. The Slideshare account should also have your top keywords and phrases in the “Public Profile” about section so that search is optimized.
59. Keep most blogs short with no more than 400-500 words as most people don’t have much time and will be only spending a minute or two on your blog (average time on this site according to Google Analytics is 1 minute and 39 seconds)
60. If embedding a video in the post again brevity rules with the rule of thumb now at a 1-2 minute video
61. Take each post and post it on the New Digg (20 million visitors a month), it is quick and easy to do and will take you only a minute or two (it involves copying the URL and pasting it to Digg, add the headline and choose the section then hit
62. Take the results of your polls or survey and turn them into a blog post. A lot of people want know the results as over time the blog post is buried in the archives
63. Use a twitter app such as SocialOomph.com (Professional edition) to schedule tweets your posts on a regular basis
64. Collaborate and communicate with other successful bloggers in your niche especially those that enhance and add to your skill set (they will encourage and support you)
65. Implement an email acquisition strategy that includes a pop over form that hovers over the screen for first time visitors (offer free eBook or video tutorial as an incentive and a gift for people giving you their name and email address) . One platform that provides this is Aweber.
66. Another email subscriber tactic includes a suggestion to refer a friend to join the email list
67. Place a video on your Facebook fan page inviting visitors to subscribe.
68. Link to your blog on your Facebook fan page
69. On your email subscriber form don’t ask people for their life history keep it short and only ask for name and email address
And one other suggestion don’t give up “Persist” and your blogging journey may surprise you!
Image by Jetson