Each day this week, prTini.com will feature lists of resources to help small businesses navigate social media and the changing business landscape. First up, blogging. Check back tomorrow to see what else we’ve got in store.
Think your company needs a blog? Or, have you already created a blog but not seeing the benefits? Blogging isn’t as simple as “if you build it they will come.” Successful blogging requires a mix of strategy (with goals!), creativity, calculated risk-taking, collaboration and commitment. The good news is that you’re not alone. Blogging is a challenge; however, there are plenty of free resources available to bolster your blogging. Whether you’re company is just entering the blogosphere, or if you’re ready to kick it up a notch, here are some resources to help you get more out of blogging.
- Value Your Blog Real Estate — Because we couldn’t have a list of blogging resources without Chris Brogan: “Look at your blog as if it were a storefront, or an office space, or a gathering spot for conversations, or a magazine, or a part of a mall. Look at it as a property. Ask yourself what are the most valuable parts of that real estate. Ask yourself how you’re choosing to use that real estate. I have a few thoughts.”
- 7 Fascinating Ways to Spice Up a Boring Blog — From Pushing Social: “I’m going to give you the recipe to making your blog absolutely fascinating. By the way, the bloggers that push the envelope get their guest posts published, strike up lucrative partnerships and land those juicy joint ventures. Do not ignore this…”
- 5 Ways to Create Fresh Content for Your Blog — From Open Forum: “One of the toughest parts of running a blog is coming up with fresh content. The writing part can be hard enough, and when you’re stuck with writer’s block, coming up with one more idea feels impossible. Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can pull out when you’re tapped out and in need of some new blog content.”
- 5 Google Analytics Metrics that Can Improve Your Blog Insightful post from Arik Hanson: “We put so much time and effort into developing rockstar content for our blogs and promoting them, sharing and commenting that we don’t spend nearly enough time analyzing the data and adjusting our blogging approaches.”
- 10 Common Spelling Mistakes that Haunt Bloggers — Darren Rowse’s headline pretty much says it all. “Whether you like it or not, people will judge your blog by the quality of your writing.”
- 11 Characteristics of Highly Influential Blog(ger)s — From Tamar Weinberg: “Want to build your blog and following? Here are some key ideas and takeways — as well as inspirational bloggers you might want to follow — who can help you realize that dream.”
- How to Produce Video Interviews for your Blog Using Skype — A step-by-step guide from Social Mouths: “It’s not rocket science, anybody can do a video interview and while the technical part is very important and entertaining at the same time, make sure the main focus is on delivering good quality in the content.”
- How Twitter Increased My Blog’s Traffic by 300% in 1 Week A fascinating experiment from Mack Collier: “The point is, even if you only have 100 followers, you can still leverage Twitter as a tool to build your blog IF you are active on Twitter. Active interacting with others, engaging in conversations, and linking to valuable content.”
- 5 Old Rules Killing Your Blog Readership — From Lisa Barone: “Back in the Web 1.0 days, there were strict commandments intended to guide new bloggers along. They were things the experts swore up and down that you HAD to do in order to see success. But blogging has grown up. We’ve evolved. Here are some of old blogging commandments that will actually hurt you if you follow them today.”
- S.P.E.E.D. 5 Tips to Double Your Writing Productivity — From Copyblogger: “Some people are writing machines. They get an idea, pound it out in minutes, post it to their blog, and move on to something else. For the rest of the world, writing is often slow, grinding work. But it doesn’t have to be. Anyone can write faster if they follow a 5-step formula for writing more efficiently. I call it S.P.E.E.D. Writing.”
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