A short collection of thoughts on tips and best practices for blogging. As originally presented to the First Coast Coaching Association of Jacksonville on May 17, 2010

1. SO YOU WANT TO
BLOG?

2. #SBSbloggingtips

3. Introduction

4. Introduction
• Who we are
• These aren’t rules, just best practices
• The Basics, Writing Tips, Making it Work

5. The Basics

6. Why Blog?

7. Why Blog?
• To be accessible
• Truly connect with audience/readers
• To share information and content

8. What’s your niche?

9. What’s your niche?
• Gotta have one
• Stay true to it (people should visit your blog for “it”)
• Shows expertise

10. Platforms

11. Platforms

12. Platforms
• Use what you’re comfortable with
• Use a real domain
• Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Typepad, LiveJournal,
Posterous... and more

13. Writing tips

14. Writing tips
• Keep it simple
• Know the objective
• Know your audience
• Copy should be concise, scannable; use bullets and
lists
• Conversational, informal
• Have a voice

15. Be original

16. Be original
• Stand out
• Don’t just regurgitate content

17. Be real, be genuine

18. Be real, be genuine
• Transparency is important
• Have “About Us”/ “About Me” info readily available
• Be available and accessible

19. Content velocity

20. Content velocity
• Quality comes first, but you should have quantity
too.
• Post regularly (Daily?)
• Be current
• Manage expectations (Your own); This takes time

21. Making it work

22. Build a community

23. Build a community
• Welcome and encourage dialogue
• Ask questions from your readers
• Always answer comments

24. Use social Media

25. Use social media
• Integrate Facebook and Twitter
• Generates traffic
• Builds exposure
• Facilitates sharing

26. Have a good design

27. Have a good design

28. Have a good design
• Communicates legitimacy
• Builds trust with your audience
• Use images/video
• Be mindful of readability, use subheadings
• Be inspired, browse design galleries
• (Call us!)

29. Use plugins & widgets

30. Use plugins & widgets
• Creates actions for your readers
• Make it easy
• Depends on what platform you use

31. Be found

32. Be found
• Write search friendly content
• Use tags
• Implement SEO tactics during production

33. Promotion

34. Promotion
• Other bloggers
• Guest blog for other bloggers, and invite people to
guest blog for you
• Get listed

35. Thanks! Questions?
#SBSbloggingtips
email: shane.santiago@sbsstudios.com
twitter: @shanebsantiago
site: www.sbsstudios.com