Advice on tips on how to take blogging to the next level to start seeing results from your efforts.

1. THE ART OF BLOGGING:
A GUIDE TO BECOMING A SERIOUS BLOGGER
NIKKI LITTLE | IDENTITYPR.COM | @NIKKI_LITTLE

2. WHY GET SERIOUS ABOUT BLOGGING?
o Showcase expertise
o Your own publishing hub
o Generate new business leads
o Advertising/sponsorship ops
o Media/guest post ops
o Presentation/speaking ops

3. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PEOPLE
WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU (AS
LONG AS YOU PROVIDE VALUE)

4. FIRST STEP: SELF-HOSTED
WORDPRESS BLOG, PURCHASE
DOMAIN NAME & HOSTING

5. BENEFITS OF SELF HOSTING
o Access to more customization/themes/plugins
through WordPress
o Unique URL
o Custom analytics
o Site support through your domain and hosting
companies
o You own it – WordPress doesn’t

6. IMPORTANT: INSTALL GOOGLE
ANALYTICS BEFORE YOU RAMP UP
POSTING

7. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

8. CRANKING OUT CONTENT – WHERE DO
I FIND INSPIRATION?

9. CONTENT IDEAS
o Your customers/clients – What questions are they
asking? What do they care about?
o Your employees
o Keywords that bring people to your site (look in your
analytics program) and AdWords Keyword Tool
o Company news
o Events/philanthropic efforts
o Your culture
o Customer stories/testimonials

10. CONTENT IDEAS
o LinkedIn Answers, Quora
o News and blogs related to your
industry – build off their content (don’t
copy – add something new)
o Book reviews, recaps of
conferences/events/Webinars/seminar
s
o Good old Google

11. TIP: CREATE A CONTENT
CALENDAR, ASSIGN DEADLINES
& AUTHORS

12. ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A KICK
ASS BLOG

13. BLOG MUST-HAVES
o Updated and consistent content
o Multimedia – at least one image for each post
o Subscription options (RSS & email) – FeedBlitz is best
available
o Commenting plugin – Disqus or Livefyre
o Sharing plugin – Digg Digg is my favorite
o Contact information
o Optimized for mobile and tablets – WP Touch plugin

14. BLOG MUST-HAVES
o SEO elements – WordPress SEO or All in One
SEO plugin
o Fast loading site – W3 Total Cache plugin
o Suggest related content to keep readers on
the site – nRelate plugin
o Information about you/your company
o Clean design

15. CALLS TO ACTION – WHAT DO
YOU WANT READERS TO DO?

20. SNAZZ IT UP EVEN MORE – LEAD
GEN WITH LANDING PAGES

21. MARCUS SHERIDAN
(THE SALES LION)
MADE MORE THAN 2
MILLION IN SALES
THANKS TO HIS
BLOG AND LEAD
GEN
CAPTURING/TRACKI
NG

22. PROMOTING YOUR BLOG &
POSTS

23. WAYS TO SPREAD YOUR CONTENT
o Share on social networks – personal and
company
o StumbleUpon
o Email signature – WiseStamp for Gmail
o URL in online profiles and business cards
o Comment on other blogs
o Submit to directories like Alltop
o Paid ops: AdWords, LinkedIn/Facebook ads

24. WAYS TO SPREAD YOUR CONTENT
o Guest blogging
o Share with relevant groups/people
online – be selective!
o Link to previous posts within your
content
o Use for new business follow
ups/customer retention
o Include in e-marketing campaigns

25. QUESTIONS

26. NIKKI LITTLE
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER | IDENTITY
@NIKKI_LITTLE
WWW.IDENTITYPR.COM
WWW.IDENTITYPR.COM/BLOG
WWW.NIKKILITTLE.COM

27. Photo Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30931517@N03/4520713515/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13006614@N07/2206974242/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50318388@N00/519286151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84856173@N00/3734360895/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31502604@N00/251570225/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelanman/366192378/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaibara/2756361218/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24749556@N08/2428589782/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73194085@N00/253074522/
http://www.smartlaunch.com/wed-love-to-hear-from-you/