blogging + marketing: making it work
TRANSCRIPT
Blogging + Marketing
making it work.
How can you bring excellent
writing to your blog, but still
create marketing copy that
leads to conversions.
How Web Content Is Different
• Visual
• Surrounded by distractions
• Snackable
What is good writing?
“No sentence can be effective if it contains
facts alone. It must also contain emotion,
image, logic, and promise.”
– Eugene Schwartz
Facts = Five “Ws”
• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
Story
• Emotion
• Imagery
• Beginning –> Middle –> End
What’s Different About Marketing
Writing?
Marketing Writing Needs To Be:
• Urgent
• Relevant
• Real
• Clear
• Concise
Emotion Still Drives
Marketing Content
Emotions motivate people, and marketing copy
plays on these emotions:
- peer pressure
- self-improvement
- FOMO
Using Marketing Techniques
in Your Blog
• Goals
• Strategy
• Tracking
• Optimization
Establishing Your Blog
Setting Goals
Determine what a conversionis for your blog.
Strategy
• Create reader personas
• Editorial calendar
• Curate other sources to add value
Track
• set up goals in your analytics program
• collect and evaluate reader feedback
• Check goals monthly or quarterly
• measure conversions
Optimize
• USABILITY
• ease of social sharing
• Go organic
• SEO is no longer all that matters
SEO
• Title
• Description
• Internal linking
* Schema markup works for some sites
Authorship vs. Author Rank
Authorship was for display purposes.
Author Rank is for determining trustworthiness
of the author
Story vs. Content
Key elements to good stories include:
• powerful opening and closing paragraphs
• story/journey with beginning, middle, end
• specifics
Key elements to good content include:
• simple words
• short sentences/paragraphs
• active voice
• scannable (sigh)
Marketing + Blogging
Content needs to tell a story using short sentences and
paragraphs, an active voice, be scannable, and have a
beginning, a middle, and an end.
DO:
• simple words
• short sentences/paragraphs
• active voice
• scannable (sigh)
• EDIT
DON’T:
• Use fluffy words
• Ramble
• Use cliches
• Don’t repeat yourself
• Don’t defend yourself
• Don’t overwrite
Write for other sites? YES.
• To get bylines for author rank
• Inbound links
• To establish thought leadership
• To break out of a niche
Cecily Kellogg
cecilyk.com Womenspeakgeek.com
(coming soon)
@CecilyK (I swear a LOT)