Content Marketing:
Blogging &
Creating E-Books for
your Business
Jessica MaesOwner, Maes Consulting Group
Today’s Plan
BBB – Benefits of Blogging for Business
Blogging Best PracticesHow to Launch a Blog in 4 Minutes (or
Less)How to easily create an eBook with
existing (blog) content.
Jessica Maes
Business Owner since 2004 Virtual Assistant 2005-2011 Infusionsoft Certified Consultant ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant HubSpot Inbound Certified Blogging since 2011 Author of 6 eBooks
Jessica Maes
When your why is big enough you will always find your how.
What Is Blogging?
Online content on any and every topic you can imagine.
Blog posts can be written, images, audio, video and/or a combination of these.
Written Blog
Images Blog
Audio Blog
aka: Podcasting
Video Blog
Combo Media Blog
Who Blogs?
o Ordinary People (Creative Outlet)o Businesses (Marketing Strategy)o Anyoneo Everyoneo You?
Why Blog?
o A low cost way to rank high in Internet searches (Organic SEO).
o An effective way to establish authority.
o A way to provide free resources to your audience.
o In a nutshell: Exposure
Organic SEO
o SEO = Search Engine Optimization.o Organic SEO = Unpaid exposure on the
Internet.o Search engines return best match search
results. o Blog posts often match up with what people
are searching for.o The more useful content you produce, the
more you will show up frequently in Internet searches.
Case Study
o In January, 2013, I decided to generate online traffic to my website via blogging.
o I committed to blogging every business day.o Traffic to my blog increased 129% between month
1 and month 2.o Month 1: 189 visits to my blog.o Month 2: 433 visits to my blog.o Today, average is 4000 visits to my blog per
month. I measure this using Google Analytics.o Because of all of the content I now have, I only
have to blog 1-2 times/week to maintain these stats.
Case Study
“Jessica Maes, please report to the Principal’s Office…”
Establish Authority
They can’t put anything on the Internet that isn’t true.
Where did you hear that?The Internet.
-State Farm television ad, 2012
Free Resources
People need and want to experience your business at all price points.
Quality, free resources build trust and establish a relationship with your audience.
Advanced Strategy: Your blog can be your Lead Magnet.
Blogging Reality
The road to blogging……is paved with the best of
intentions.
Tips/Best Practiceso Blog consistently (at least 1x/week).o Consider being a guest blogger (great
exposure to other people’s audience).o Consider hosting guest blog posts (exposure
to other people’s audience AND less blog posts you have to write).
o Because of Google’s “Search Algorithm”, how-to blog posts are very popular (= Conversational Search).
o Cross post your info (put a video on your blog, and on You Tube).
o Use a social media scheduling platform (Hootsuite, Edgar…) to regularly share your content on social media.
Take Action!Launch A Blog This Afternoon!
If your website is built on Wordpress:o Create a PAGE and name it Blog. o PUBLISH the PAGE.o Click on Settings, Click on Reading.o Set the POSTS page to “Blog”o Start creating POSTS. They will now
publish to the Blog page on your website.
If your website is built on something other than Wordpress, check your Help docs for “Adding a blog”.
Take Action!Relaunch Your Blog This Afternoon!
This is what I did in 2013. Review: Went from 100+ views/month to 4000+ views/month.
Write and publish a post TODAY. Even a post declaring that you are going to blog regularly going forward.
Create a 1x/week blog schedule. Schedule guest bloggers ASAP so you don’t
burn out. Watch your stats. As soon as results hit, you
will be hooked.
Take Action!
Who is launching/relaunching a blog this afternoon?
Email me at [email protected] when you do so I can check it out!
Blog Recap
o Blogging is so easy, so inexpensive, so impactful to any marketing strategy.
o The secret to success is simple: Consistency
o Begin (or begin again) TODAY.o Measure results and do not give up!
Blogging
But wait, there’s more!
You can use your blog posts to easily create an eBook!
What’s An eBook?
Online content on any and every topic you can imagine.
eBooks can be as simple as a PDF doc and as complex as a Kindle or Nook file.
Why Write eBooks?
To entertain and/or inform.To make $.Lead generationTo solve a problem by sharing a
solution.To position yourself as an authority.
eBooks
It’s Not All About You / It’s All About You
People consume eBooks to entertain and/or help themselves.
If people are entertained/helped by your eBook, you become an authority to them.
Do not write eBooks just to “hear yourself talk”. You will never get the results you are hoping for.
eBooks
Content Is Key You can write an eBook from scratch You can transcribe an interview and make it an
eBook You can take your blog posts and create an
eBook
Blog => eBook
Use Case For Taking Blog Posts and Creating an eBook
eBooks are an excellent lead magnet People land on a web page People then enter their email address You email them your eBook You follow up regularly to build a relationship
10 Step eBook Blueprint
Your 10 Step eBook Blueprint 1. Create a “working title” for your eBook. 2. Write the About The Author section. 3. Create “working titles” for your chapters. 4. Add your chapter titles to your eBook
Template. 5. Create your content (this takes the most
time).
10 Step eBook Blueprint
Your 10 Step eBook Blueprint 6. Decide on your eBook “Bonus”. 7. Create your Bonus. 8. Work on your “chapter flow”. 9. Write the Intro, Conclusion and Bonus
sections in your eBook Template. 10. Create your launch timeline and
marketing plan.
Chapter Flow
Especially when you are using blog posts as content, working on chapter flow is incredibly
important.
Let’s Do This!
Let’s log in to my website and outline an eBook using existing
content!
Content Marketing:
Blogging &
Creating E-Books for
your Business
Jessica MaesOwner, Maes Consulting Group