Category Archive: blogging
Great to meet Scott Stratten (upper left), photo (cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.snapfoc.us
It took me a little time to fully process everything I learned at BlogWorld 2010. While many other attendees produced glowing blog posts within hours or days of the Oct 15-16th conference, my head was still a little “spinny”. I can’t wait to implement and share what I’ve learned, but that will fill waaay more than this blog post. So I will attempt to share at least SOME of the awesomeness with you right now!
Start by Being Awesome
The opening keynote practically felt like a dialogue with Scott Stratten, President of UnMarketing (@unmarketing) and set the tone for the entire event. Scott spoke about the traits that have contributed to his success namely: connecting with your audience by giving a damn and providing awesomeness. Scott quipped “When you are your authentic self you have no competition.” I love it! This is a message we all need to take to heart. It’s time to discover and use our strengths, the traits that make us great, if we want to succeed. As for his definition of providing awesomeness, Scott talked about creating content that your followers and clients will find, what else, AWESOME! My favorite quote of Scott’s keynote though, which made me burst into laughter, was “When somebody gets a notification that your new blog post is up, I want them to crap their pants and say, ‘I’ve gotta read this now.’” It certainly drove home the point for me—so I’ll be working on more awesomeness to come.
My Top 7 Take Homes
So here’s your abridged Cliff’s Notes on Blog World 2010:
- Be yourself (your most awesome version) and you’ll blow the competition away
- For love of Pete, Use Common Sense when it comes to blogging, social media (or any branding/marketing for that matter). And if you don’t have any common sense, hire someone who does.
- Get ready for big changes in the way people consume information (hint, hint: mobile)
- Don’t be afraid to take the risk and put yourself out there! As Mark Burnett said in his keynote: “People who need all the conditions to be right [to take action] don’t have the intention of following through anyway. …Take the Risks”
- Work together. It’s time for the marketing, branding and sales teams to work together to achieve social networking success.
- Provide meaningful [read: awesome] Content that your clients, customers, friends will actually want to read!
- Get networking already. If you don’t have a social media or blogging presence, get going, this isn’t a trend, it’s a great opportunity to connect on a meaningful level with friends, colleagues and customers. So don’t miss out.
The Future of Blogging (& Social Media) – A Recap & Some gratitude
Some of the great people at Blog World: Ashly, the guys from SMReach and even Top Chef Rick Moonen!
So as many of you know I got a free ride to go to Blog World 2010 in Las Vegas, a few weeks ago via Mashable.com. (I know ‘Lucky’ 19 right?) I won my ticket as a result of answering a single question, namely: “What is the future of blogging?”.
This was my answer: “As blogging grows and matures it will continue to provide a venue for transparency and community/connection in business. I see it evolving from “everyone writing about everything” to more and more experts writing from their wealth of knowledge whether that’s in parenting or rocket science. It will become more clear who is providing fluff and who is providing meaningful content.”
Someone recently asked me, after attending Blog World, do I still agree with my winning comment? Yes, yes I do—content is king and it will continue to weed out the mediocre. But, man I learned a lot more at BlogWorld than just that! I look forward to sharing some exciting new things in the coming months!
Thanks again Mashable & Blog World for probably the best time I’ve ever had in Las Vegas!
I talk to a lot of business owners who nearly run for the hills when I bring up the dreaded word, “blog.” Believe me, I know it can be daunting to take on yet another new task (especially involving creative writing) when you’re already doing a thousand other things. Hey, I’m a single mom entrepreneur, if I can (somewhat) keep up a blog, you have no excuse! 
A blog is a powerful marketing tool that should not be ignored. It should be a part of YOUR branding strategy.
Here, in my point of view, are the TOP 5 reasons why you should be blogging:
1. Show the more personal side of your business.
It can be a little scary to share a more personal side when you’re blogging for business. There’s always the fear of revealing too much or compromising your “professional image.” But let’s face it–we do business with people, not robots. So go ahead and share a little of your personality, interests & thoughts. Now, don’t go hog-wild or anything–we really don’t want to read pages and pages about the cute things your cat, Larry, does. On the other hand, when you’re writing about engineering, manufacturing, music, human resources, or whatever you do put a little of your personality into it. Have an opinion. (And if you don’t have a personality–go get one already!)
Bottom Line: Everyone is blogging these days–if you don’t have something interesting to say people won’t be interested.
2. Establish your expertise.
Think about it hypothetically; you’re looking to buy a widget and there are only two widget stores online. They both have great websites, but one has a blog with a plethora of articles on, for instance: ’how to use a widget’, ‘how to store a widget’, ‘the best widget materials’, etc. You get the idea. Which site would you be more likely to buy from?
A website is a great tool for giving an overview of what your business is about, but it’s not always the best place for tons and tons of information. A blog, however, is a great place for more elaborate articles about your industry/expertise.
I also encourage you to involve your employees with expertise to become authors on the blog as well. It’s a great way to get your team involved and it speaks volumes to your ideal customers.
Bottom Line: People are more likely to buy from someone who knows what they are talking about.
3. Bring in the traffic.
Since blogs are so content rich and nearly instantly cataloged by search engines they are great tools for generating visitor traffic. There are literally thousands of online articles about SEO (search engine optimization) for blogs so I won’t go into great detail here, but I will offer a few key tips: name your posts with key words you want to optimize for, pepper your posts with key words/phrases (without going overboard), offer QUALITY content and take advantage of the “tags” or “labels” features to add more keywords to your posts.
Bottom Line: Blogs help bring in traffic!
4. Make new friends.
Before “social media,” people actually networked in person. Remember that? Well, social media has helped speed up and expand our networks, but remember that real contact makes a difference. So find other blogs that compliment yours and ask for link exchanges or reprint their articles (with permission & credit of course) and you’ll start making connections you never knew where possible.
Bottom Line: Blogs provide another platform for networking without compromising the structure of your website.
5. Keep your finger on the pulse of your industry.
If you are committed to writing new content (or even reprinting new content) then you will naturally be forced to notice the trends in your industry. We all know how caught up we can get in the daily grind, but blogging (& looking for content ideas) can really help you stay ahead of the curve and act on opportunities you may have never noticed before. This is a great way, as my colleague the great Starr Hall, puts it, to “sharpen your axe.”
Bottom Line: Keeping content fresh on your blog with involve some research and networking which will inevitably help keep you up-to-date on industry trends.
Ok that’s my Top 5 for now. Hope you find it useful. Please leave comments with your input!
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The Lucky 19 Blog
Welcome to the Lucky 19 blog! I am Andrea Guevara, founder of Lucky 19 and I specialize in helping businesses decipher, plan & manage their brands through brand strategy, design & development. I hope you find lots of great info here! To get the latest posts as they arrive "hot off the press," please subscribe below. And if you have some comments/input on anything here please join in! I look forward to hearing from you.~Andrea
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