Luckygirl Podcast05 - Blog Best Practices

Luckygirl Podcast05 – Blog Best Practices

Speaker Christina Aldan .

Blogs are an easy way to reach an audience and increase your credibility as an expert in your field but there are some practices you should know about. Christina Aldan from LGDesigns.co gives you some best practices about blogging that will help maximize your readership and increase the likelihood of being discovered by new users online.
Check out this episode!

Blogging is awesome because it allows you to set yourself as an expert online to your audience and also to the search engines requires consistency and strategic thinking, but it’s easier than you might think! search engines want audiences to find high quality relevant content. relevant to their interests and questions. what will those be? What will make your customer’s day to hear? Topics you may want to write about might include: “How customers can use your product or practical tips.”

Blogging is a useful marketing tool to share your story and your expertise and the stories of your community. Blogging is important for Search Engine Optimization and setting yourself up as a brand expert online. It is also a useful tool to help you tell your story and share your passions with the world. Having a blog on your own website is important. You can build up your online presence by becoming a guest blogger on another’s blog.

By Guest Blogging on other people’s websites (but only if the content is relevent and high-quality. Blog with purpose!), you will increase your search engine rankings, as long as your social media profiles are included in the blog post, ESPECIALLY google+. Make sure your google+ account is connected to any blog posts you create online for your own website or as a guest blogger. The more places your work is represented online, the stronger your online profile will be listed in the search engines.

Blogging for the web needs to be fast and concise.
“Dialogue is NOT proper english” ~As my friend, Tami Belt, of Blue Cube Marketing says

There are several blogging platforms to choose from. We (at LG Designs) suggest tumblr, wordpress or blogger for free blogging platforms. However, Ideally, your blog will be built-in to your website instead of on one of these separate platforms.

Elements of a Blog:

Title – Titles should be chosen with intent, as this is what your readers will see first in search engines. Choose a title that encompasses a keyword your are focusing one and also that will inspire curiosity so people will be more inclined to click on it.

Header – The headers of your blog go in order. For example, H1, H2, H3, etc. The title of your blog will be classified every time as H1. You may only have 1 H1 header tag in order to be compliant for search engines. You may create as many H2, H3, etc. as you like. Do not skip over numbers; keep them consecutive.

Meta data – Basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be built in to every blog post. That means using about 5-6 focused keyword phrases, your name, your business name, your business location city and state. Make sure you are tagging your blog posts. Make sure you assign descriptive categories to your blog posts. We will discuss SEO more and how to choose the best keywords in the “Luckygirl Designs SEO Marketing Module.”

Content – The content of your blog post should include your focused keyword phrases. You may choose a few different styles when you are blogging. In fact, I encourage you to try a few and see what works best for you. Remember, in the early stages of building your audience, you will have to experiment to see what they respond to the most. Sandwich style – Tell them what you will write about, write about the “meat” of the content, then review what you just said.

Hour glass style – Start in the middle of the story, then go to the beginning, then circle back again.

Free flow style – This is more stream-of-consciousness writing style, where you allow the content to “flow” out of your pen (or keyboard, as the case may be).

Disruptive Style – Disruptive Writing Style leads readers to Our friend at sprygemini.co does a great job of this. Check out her Disruptive Writing Style.

Images – The human brain processes images significantly faster than it processes words. Include at least one image for every blog post. Make sure it is your own image, or you have permissions to use the image. The last thing you want to experience is a Cease and Desist Letter from the image-owner’s lawyer.

Call-to-Action (CTA) – inspire your audience to take action! This could be an offer, telling them to “Like” your Facebook page, or Make a Purchase.

Make sure you have your keyword list that you are focusing on. You should include your keywords in every blog.Cut to the chase. It’s important to be direct in your blog.

The wisdom behind what you are saying is where the juicy stuff is. Some of the best advice I received was from Andrea Vahl. She says we should Treat content like building a house. lay a strong foundation, then frame your content and put in the little details and flourishes after.

Your blog posts should be:

SIMPLE

TIGHT

CLEAR

– Simple – explain as simple as possible

– Tight – not using extra words. Cut out the fat. Macro and Micro level. Leave out the boring parts. Consolidate as much as possible. Cut any word that is not needed.

– Clear – if there are similar parts of speech, you can consolidate – Subject, Verb, Object

FRAMING

Inverted Pyramid format -This is where you talk about everything you want your reader to know at the beginning.

Hour glass format – begins with pyramid – in middle add a twist, and builds and builds to a pay off for reader at the end.

Sandwich format – begin with an anecdote to create an emotional connection. Then get to meat of the story and you should end with the emotional connection.

The Rule of Three format – repeat something three times. This is a very effective way to tell stories. No one does this technique in their writing better than my dear friend, Jay Harris. This format allows one to weave into Macro and Micro level as the story is unfolding. I love this type my as my favorite and use it in TED-style talks

FINISHES

– …are what sell the story

– Every story needs to have rhythm

– Vary sentence lengths and reflect the way we talk

– Rhyme

– Alliteration – Monday Mailbag or Friday Freestuff

– Onomatopeia – zing!, Whoop, whoop!, Briiiiiiiiing!

– Powerful Verbs – Murder your adverbs, Replace it with a killer verb

– Every word in your sentence needs to be justified

– Adjectives – use the ones that are unusual

– Go ahead and use cognitive dissidence

– Pops of Expression

– Add some teasers and suspense

– Visual metaphors

Craft a Catchy Headline

– I use a free tool called Headlinr, H E A D L I N R – which is an addon extension for your web browser that helps me create catchy, relevant blog titles

– Connect with an emotion Use feeling words to make a heart connection with your audience

– People love list posts:” 3 reasons why your linkedin profile sucks” or “7 steps to financial freedom”

Thanks for listening and I hope you found value in my message today. I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite motivators of all time:

Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.

Ralph Waldo Emerson,

If you like this podcast, please share it with your colleagues and friends. If you like what you hear, and you know of any upcoming conferences and events, then hire me to speak! I LOVE sharing what I’ve learned in digital advertising and the world of entrepreneurship.

You can follow me on twitter and instagram as @luckygirliegirl

Thanks and we’ll catch you next time.