Creative yet inexpensive Internet marketing techniques such as blogging can build a company’s online presence, spawn brand loyalty, and generate leads/results. Through comprehensive SEO techniques and other inbound marketing methodologies, companies can increase website traffic and be top-of-mind for those discussing similar topics. Because a corporate blog is a place for customers, prospects and like-minded individuals to share ideas, it reinforces a company’s image and brand as a thought-leader. This session will discuss what kind of content you can create to attract your customers, how to bring people to your blog and how to keep the momentum going. We’ll also cover how you can measure your success so you know what works and what doesn’t.

1. Rock My Business Blog Slides: SlideShare.net/HubSpot Twitter: @KarenRubin Karen Rubin HubSpot Product Owner

2. Agenda About HubSpot & Inbound Marketing Five Keys to a Successful Blog Identify Target Personas Create a Mix of Posts Write Great Posts Sustain It Spread It How to Measure Your Blog

4. Outbound Marketing 800-555-1234 Annoying Salesperson

5. Inbound Marketing

6. Rethinking Marketing Outbound Marketing Telemarketing Trade shows Direct mail Email blasts Print ads TV/radio ads Inbound Marketing SEO / SEM Blogging Social Media RSS Free tools/trials Viral videos Interruption Permission

7. Exponential Effects

8. Agenda About HubSpot & Inbound Marketing Five Keys to a Successful Blog Identify Target Personas Create a Mix of Posts Write Great Posts Sustain It Spread It How to Measure Your Blog

9. Key #1: Identify Target Personas Kadient photo by: David Meerman Scott

11. What Keywords Will Attract Your Personas? Fill posts with them Build an archive of content full of them

12. How We Pick Keywords: Keyword Grader

13. A Word of Caution Writing for your personas DOES NOT mean writing about the products and services you sell them Write about the things they want to learn about

14. Key #2: Create a Mix of Posts Flickr Photo: jek-a-go-go

15. Plan a Mix of Posts News Opinion Feature Photos Video

16. Many Types of Posts Get Traffic

17. Raisin Bran – Basic, Everyday Posts How to posts Rich in keywords Get good at whipping them out Make sure they’re useful Flickr Photo: greeneyesmilw

18. Spinach – Healthy, Thoughtful Posts Should establish your site as a thought leader in the industry Put time into them Don’t do too many Flickr Photo: ulteriorepicture

19. Roasts – Big Blog Projects Lots of work Lots of links, discussion and attention Pick them well

20. Tabasco – Posts That Start Fires Make a bold statement Be prepared to defend yourself Lots of comments and links Too many of these posts could lose trust Flickr Photo: ANOXLOU

21. Chocolate Cake – The Sweet Stuff These posts make your blog fun A chance to poke fun at yourself Lots of traffic/links Often video, images Flickr Photo: scubadive67

22. Key #3: Write Great Posts Flickr Photo: Olivander

23. No Need to Be Hemingway Just follow a few simple rules. Photo: Wikipedia

24. Tips for Post Structure Use Headings 500-800 words (or shorter!) Lists are OK (just not too many) 1 idea per post

25. Blog Topic Ideas List of 5 ideas, trends or thoughts Publish a list of links Take a recent experience and share it Answer questions you received recently Comment on other blog articles Turn a press release into a blog article Check your email outbox

26. Always Add a Photo Flickr iStockphoto Shoot your own

27. How to Search for a Flickr Photo Go to Advanced Search Then search for CC licensed photos

28. Where Do You Get Ideas? Everywhere Keep a list When you learn something, flesh it out Ask your readers

29. Write Great Headlines

30. How to Write Great Headlines Write the headline before the article Imagine the reader won’t see the article Surprise people No spelling errors! Use your keywords

31. Blog Article Titles Funny: “GoDaddy's 16-Step Checkout: Brainless Marketing At Its Finest?” Enticing: “12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert” SEO: “Free Advertising on Google” 6th Most Popular HubSpot Blog Article

32. Key #4: Sustain It Flickr Photo: michalo

33. Pick a Publishing Schedule Once a week? Every Monday and Wednesday? Stick to it The goal is to build up a body of keyword-rich content (create an asset)

34. Different Ways of Doing Posts Email interviews Video interviews (conferences, office visitors, clients) Guest posts from people with similar blogs “Best of” lists “How we do it” posts

35. Should I Hire People? It depends. Pros: You don’t have to do the work You hire a “professional writer” Cons: Nobody knows your business like you do You don’t build your personal reputation You don’t participate in the conversation

36. Key #5: Spread It Flickr Photo: felipearte

37. Think of Blogging Like a Job Search Would you sit at home and wait for a call?

38. Take Comments Seriously Make sure you comment back Find out who the people are Follow their links Subscribe to their blog, follow them on Twitter Use these links

39. Why Leave Comments? Karma Get noticed by other bloggers Get noticed by other blog readers Get links back to your blog Thought leadership

40. Tips on Comments Increase the value of the article: Share an example Add a point Add a useful link Disagree Ask a question Use your real name (not company)

42. Post automatically via a feed to your fan or profile pageAlso consider LinkedIn, other sites.

43. Where Do You Link to Your Blog? Your homepage Press releases Business cards Email signatures

44. Agenda About HubSpot & Inbound Marketing Five Keys to a Successful Blog Identify Target Personas Create a Mix of Posts Write Great Posts Sustain It Spread It How to Measure Your Blog

45. Metric #1: Subscriptions A measure of you blog’s total reach A “sticky” number

46. Metric #2: Pageviews Great for media sites selling display advertising Potential problems for your business: Doesn’t measure RSS Weak measure of engagement What’s the business value of a “view”?

47. Metric #3: Comments Quantitatively, a good indicator of engagement Qualitatively, a great way to listen to market

48. Metric #4: Inbound Links Measure the SEO impact of your blog An indicator of your blog’s role in outside conversations

49. Metric #5: Conversions

50. Thank You! Any Questions? Learn more about HubSpot: http://www.HubSpot.com/Demo Free tools: http://Grader.com Karen Rubin Product Owner HubSpot Twitter: http://twitter.com/karenrubin LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karenrubin