Guide to the Blogosphere

DIY Guide to the Blogosphere
How to use blogging to get you
where you need to go. (A three
part series.)

How to Get Started
The Library SoMe Sessions, part 3
December 12, 2012 ~ Pemberton & District Public Library, With Lisa Richardson

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

DIY Guide to Blogging

✤ How to Get Started

✤ How to Write a Killer Blog Post

✤ How to Build Momentum


Blogs
✤ online journal meets dynamic website
✤ good for anyone who:
✤ wants to be ‘ﬁndable’ by Google SEO,
✤ has content to share and/or something to say,
✤ wants to be on the radar of their community
✤ Examples: The Wellness Almanac, Choose Pemberton, Mt Currie Coffee Co,
Icecap Organics, Rootdown Organics, Gary and Zoe Martin, Paul Cumin
✤ ++ can be completely personalised/custom
✤ -- is a “content” heavy platform - requires content-creation heavy lifting/
dedication and some strategy


Why Blogging?
✤ Guy Kawasaki says the beneﬁts of blogging are:
✤ Personal - as an outlet for expression and creativity
✤ Business - as a fast and free marketing and communications weapon
✤ good writing comes from having a voice that shines through - the informal
medium of a blog combined with frequency of publishing really helps develop
your authentic voice
✤ takes “journalling” or scribbling up a level, forcing you to “ﬁnish” drafts or
make them publishable. This helps build a body of work that you can polish,
enhance, compile.
✤ Think “book” not “diary” - a blog is a published product, not a collection of
your spontaneous thoughts and feelings.


Getting Started

✤ What: is your inspiration? Role models? Look for examples.

✤ Where: Where will people ﬁnd out about you? Integrate where?

✤ When: How often will you post?

✤ Who: Who do you want to reach with this content? Who is your
target audience?

✤ Why: ID your purpose. What do you want to achieve.

✤ How: What blog software?


What inspires you:
Study the Masters

✤ create a blog roll - follow bloggers whose style or beat appeals to
you. (Subscribe to them in an e-reader, via RSS feed, or email
notiﬁcation.)
✤ Look at the blogrolls of people you follow and like already, for
ideas about other top bloggers.
✤ Read them regularly. Study the posts that really speak to you.
Ask: how did they do that?
✤ My top 3: Penelope Trunk, Brainpickings, Fast Company


Getting to Why: Ask the same questions a
marketer will ask a client
✤ What do you stand for? What makes you awesome?
What 3 words would people use to describe your
brand/business/enterprise/association/personality
as a writer/artist?

✤ Who are you talking to? Who is your target? Who is
going to read this?

✤ Whats your tone? What ground rules will you set?

✤ What’s your beat? What are you an expert in? How
will there be thematic cohesion in your blog?

✤ Who are your competitors? Join their community.

Getting to How: Choosing your
blog’s Look and Feel
✤ Pull together a moodboard of inspiration.

✤ What does it say about you?

✤ What assets do you have?

✤ What pages/content do you need? What is the static to dynamic
ratio?

✤ Where will the content come from?

✤ Template tour


Case Study: The Wellness Almanac


Overview

GOAL: With funding from WB Foundation, develop
an updated communications piece to raise the
proﬁle and increase the effectivenes of the Winds
of Change Steering Committee.


Mission
Grow and enhance: Resilience. Recreation.
Respect. Relationships.

We join together with a common call to:

grow community resilience

encourage individual wellness journeys

advocate for wellness services from recreation
to treatment and recovery.


The Website
A virtual gathering place

A community almanac - seasonal observations, rooted in a strong sense of
place, collaboratively sourced

Shareable snackable content, updated on an almost daily basis

Engage the community (Area C, VoP and Lil’wat residents) to share stories/
images/contributions on wellness, through a combination of dedicated
contributors and contests/call-outs.

Help bridge the cultural divide and bring our communities closer together

Rounded up in a weekly newsletter that is emailed out to subscribers,
media, friends.


Content Buckets
in
recipe inspiring season
highlighting food in
season video photoinobservation-of
Daily Posts.
life the valley
wildlife, gardens,
plant ID

coaches spotlight
ucwalmicw
Weekly Themes.
word of corner /proﬁle
wellness pep talk for Q+A feature on local
the week local coachesand Change champions
21 Entries per Topic.
and person, Winds of
counselors
soundﬁle?
elders and wise folk and others

7 contributors/topic, post once a month thereport
wellness

Barometer.
contributions from
steering committee
member organisations


Wellness is our mission.
This website was designed to be an interactive gathering place and
community-powered almanac to help two neighbouring communities share
what we know about where we live.
It’s a celebration of place. An invitation to pay attention. An opportunity to
discover common ground and celebrate unique differences.
This site is a project of the Winds of Change Steering Committee, a 10 year
old community-to-community initiative to build healthy relationships and
respect between the people of Mt Currie and the Pemberton region.
The Winds of Change Steering Committee has representation from the
Village of Pemberton, Mount Currie Band, Squamish Lillooet Regional
District, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, RCMP, Sea to Sky Community
Services, Mount Currie Health Care Centre, Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police, Youth
Mental Health, School District #48, Xit’olacw Community School, N’Quatqua
Band, Pemberton and Mount Currie Youth Leaders, and a nominee from the
Community at Large.
By growing and enhancing resilience, respect, relationships, and recreation,
we hope to build stronger communities, and support the ongoing work of
the Winds of Change – to reduce the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol on
our communities through awareness, advocacy, and promotion of healthy
alternatives.
We welcome your comments and contributions.


How: tumblr vs wordpress

✤ Beneﬁts: Both are free, offer range of design templates, and don’t
require any understanding of how to code HTML


Sign up for account

Fill in the
blanks.

Make a
note of
your
password

Wait for
the email.


Check email to complete registration


Pt 2: How to Write a Killer Blog Post


What are the Elements of a Good
Blog post?

✤ Information + Point of View.

✤ Visual eye-candy: spice it up with photos, video

✤ Add value for the reader - timely, insightful, expert.

✤ A catchy headline.

✤ Skimmable: use subheds, bullet points


Q: What is the measure of a Good
Blog post?
Clear communication achieves
✤ Good writing? ✤

its intention.

✤ Not necessarily. ✤ It gets read. (Measure by
amount of click throughs,
subscribers, bounce rate.)

✤ It gets shared.

✤ It’s engaged with/
commented on.

✤ It instigates action. (Votes!)


Write a Killer Headline

✤ How to... ✤ Name Dropper

✤ 5 Ways list ✤ Pun

✤ Negative headlines ✤ Quickie

✤ Adjectives

✤ Urgency

✤ Exclusivity

✤ Explanatory


A headline
that makes
people click


A hot
topic, a
“how to”
list, and a
featured
influencer

A personal
revelation


An appeal
and a call
to action


Pt 3: How to Build Momentum


Grow an Artistic Career (or Build
a Brand)


Get Found

✤ Search is social. So, to generate trafﬁc, your content must:

✤ be optimised for the right keywords

✤ be intriguing enough to share

✤ be interesting enough to read in the ﬁrst place.

✤ http://blog.shareaholic.com/2011/11/10-kinds-of-shareable-
headlines-to-try-on-your-blog/?
utm_campaign=blogging_101&utm_source=shareaholic_blog&utm
_medium=shr_twitter&utm_content=blog_headlines


How to build readership

✤ Ask a question ie the “ordeal” ✤ Syndicate
or experiment
✤ Inbound links
✤ Cross promote in other
channels ✤ Engagement strategies

✤ Team or guest bloggers or
interview high proﬁle people

✤ Contests

✤ Make it shareable


Guide to the Blogosphere

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