Why should you start a blog? Find out about easy blogging tools, how often to blog, and what to write in a blog. Do you write? Take photos? Run a business? Work for a non-profit? All or any of the above? Workshop explored both the technical aspects of blogging (how to set up a blog) and the social aspects (how to get and maintain readers). We also talked about on blogging for monetary gain as well. Many small businesses can benefit from running a blog. Presentation by Leora Wenger, library webmaster.

1. with Leora Wenger
Highland Park Public Library
June 18, 2013

2. Why Blog?

3. Why Blog?
• You love sharing writing
• You love sharing photos
• You have a business to promote
• You get to meet people around the world
• If you loved writing as a child, now is the time to go back to
an old passion.
• You get to meet fantastic people.
• It challenges your writing style and skills.
• You can share the things that make you tick: food, books,
films, art, movies, maybe even religion or politics.
• Blogging makes you see things differently as you start
seeing them through the eyes of your readers.

5. Content is King
• Be prepared to invest the time to post on a
regular basis.
• Write content which has NOT been seen or
read elsewhere and work to get other
bloggers to notice you and your blog.
• Focus on one piece of information. A blog
entry on a recipe on American apple pie can
be identical to all others except maybe in how
you make or decorate the top crust.
http://biz.leoraw.com/beginning-bloggers/

6. Importance of Commenting
• Meet other bloggers
• Get links back to your own blog
• Establish authority in your niche
• Respond to comments on your own blog so
that you can meaningfully engage with your
readers.
• CommentLuv plugin

7. Sample Comment Area

8. Blog vs. Website
• Blog consists of articles (called posts) and
maybe a few informational pages. Blogs can
be organized by categories and by tags. One
might be able to view all posts in a set
category on one page.
• Websites are often pages, possibly stores,
event calendars, and more – they can include
a blog (or blogs).

10. Make Money Blogging?
• Not at first - work on getting an audience
• Three methods:
1. Sell your own product or services
2. Sell someone else’s – ads on your site,
Google ads, affiliate marketing
3. Set up a donation box (ex. use Paypal) –
works mainly for non-profit organizations.

11. Business blog example: http://www.ccwinsurance.com/insurance/blog/

12. http://www.problogger.net/

13. Wonder of Tech
http://www.wonderoftech.com/

14. Just Ask Kim
http://just-ask-kim.com/

15. Keep Up Web
by Sherryl Perry

16. Platforms for Blogging
• Blogger
• WordPress.com
• Self-hosted WordPress <-my favorite
• Tumblr
• Google+
• YouTube – video as a form of blogging? As a
complement to one’s blog.

17. Even if you use a free site like
WordPress.com or Blogger, you
may later decide you want to
monetize. Be prepared.
Buy your domain

18. Urbach Avraham blog
http://uandacpas.com/blog/

19. Cheese Guy blog
http://www.thecheeseguy.com/blog/

20. Why Self-hosted
• You own the blog (instead of borrowing space)
• Lots of plugin and theme choices
• Establish business authority – shows you take
your business seriously, and others should,
too.
• Backups and ability to move blog to other
hosts

21. Leora Wenger, Sketching Out blog
http://www.leoraw.com/blog/
An example of self-hosted WordPress

22. SEO (search engine optimization)
• SEO is about getting higher ranking in search
engines, especially Google
• On Page Optimization – title tags, key words,
header tags, meta description
• Incoming Links or Link Popularity – one reason
why Guest Blogging is so popular

23. • Promote a new service
• Meet potential clients
• Improve SEO for your site
• Get feedback on your service or product or
your marketing efforts
http://biz.leoraw.com/benefits-of-a-business-blog-for-small-biz/

24. Set a Strong Password
• Use as many different characters as possible
when forming your password. Use numbers,
punctuation characters and, when possible,
mixed upper and lower-case letters. Choosing
characters from the largest possible alphabet
will make your password more secure.
http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/password.html

25. About SEO
“Write for the reader,
tweak for the search
engines.”
http://web-design-sussex-seo.co.uk/lsi-keywords-simple-yet-very-powerful/

26. Promote Your Blog
• Leave comments on related blogs – make sure
to include a link back to your blog
• Use social media – Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn
groups (such as Bloggers Helping Bloggers),
Facebook. Even better than tweeting your
own posts is when people like your content so
much they tweet/share it.
• Be friendly to other bloggers.

27. Guest Posting
• Write a guest post for someone else’s blog
• Allow guest posts on your own blog
• Guest posting is a way introduce your writing
to new blog communities
• It is also is a top way to get backlinks to your
website – crucial in this tough business
environment.

29. http://biz.leoraw.com/

30. Images for Blog Posts
• Best method: create your own. Take photos.
Make illustrations.
• Other ideas: use public domain photos. Or use
Creative Commons photos and give credit if asked
to do so.
• See: http://biz.leoraw.com/explore-free-image-sources/
• Pinterest: images can be pinned for more traffic
to your blog.
• Alt tags: important for SEO, visually-impaired
• Be aware of lawsuits. Don’t use images illegally.

31. When you visit a new blog,
read comments. Visit some
of the blogs of those who
are commenting. If they
comment on one blog, they
might comment on yours.

32. Beware of Spam
• Akismet – comes with WordPress
• If a comment has a funny sounding link and
the comment is so general and in no way
relates to the post, it is probably spam. Delete
it.
• Some bloggers employ CAPTCHA or click this
to prove you are human plugins.

33. Fancy Girl Must
http://afancygirlmust.com/

34. What Next?
• Exchange business cards and/or blog
addresses with others in the room
• Have fun with blogging – enjoy the
experience.