Kathleen Pequeo

Social Justice Communications Portland, OR www.kathleenpequeno.com

11 Tips For Strategic Blogging Success

1. Write about what interests you
Isnt that great news? You get to write about what you find interesting. Passion and enthusiasm are persuasive --- take advantage of them. Write in the first person and tell folks what you think.

2. Be accurate and credible

Whenever you refer to a fact, chances are that someone has already posted it to the web somewhere. Link to a credible site so that a reader can follow that link to learn more and verify your credibility. Linking is a great way to get noticed, as described in tips #6 and #7. Dont ever make things up! People will figure out if youre not being honest.

3. Each post is about one topic. ONE TOPIC

Many readers will land on one of your posts because they have typed something into a search engine. They probably have a question, and you are answering that one question. Readers can then browse your site to answer their other questions and you have a fan!

4. Your post titles should say exactly what that post is about
A reader should be able to read the title and first sentence and know whether or not this post is what theyre looking for. Good titles help search engines and readers find you. 5. Short posts are great Think of it as someone you meet for the first time who talks for 20 minutes before you get a word in edgewise. Its not nearly as appealing as someone who says, Well I think.. And what do you think? Thats what youre doing when you have a short post and a Comments box right underneath it. Set your own average post length and stick with it. (Tip #3 will help.) Start with 300 words

6. Links are gold

Link to facts that support your argument (tip #2) or to show who influences your thinking. Twothree links per post will make you more credible with search engines and readers. Links that are right in your text work better than the dreaded click here text links. Link to your allies more often than to your opponents.

June, 2011

www.kathleenpequeno.com

7. Want someone to notice you? Notice them first. If you want to be noticed by a particular (more popular) blogger or other website: Read their content regularly and post comments on their site Write about them on your blog with links to their content that you like Use Google searches to see who else is writing on this topic and is more popular than you. Use your blog to start a conversation with them by writing about their posts. Were circling back to #1 -- read, write and link based on your interests and opinions. 8. Reply nicely to your comments I cant wait till you have fans and some comments wont be from fans. If someone posts something with inappropriate language, you can delete it, but be prepared to keep comments up from people who disagree with you. Its the price of fame. No matter what anyone else says, your content will be more effective if it is personal, factual (see #2) and civil. Reply to your opponents just as nicely as your fans.

9. Distribute your content via email and social networks

Create an email list for your blog using Feedburner or another email tool that will automatically send email when there is a new post (like Mailchimps RSS tool). Use a Facebook app to automatically update your page (individual or your groups page) when there is a new post. Post to your Twitter feed or set up a plugin to automatically post it to Twitter. And be sure to include Like on Facebook and Share on Twitter buttons on your blog posts.

10. Use categories/tags to organize your ideas and help your readers
Categories will help you to stay focused on what you want to write about. Categories will also help readers and search engines find you. Create category names (or tags) that are clear to other people (see tip #4 about titles) early in your blogging. Then make sure to use them.

11.Track who is noticing you

There are several ways to know when others are noticing your blog: Set up a Google Alert with your name (and your blogs name) Look at your website statistics to see what search phrases are landing folks at your site This will help encourage you when you are wondering is anyone reading? How are they finding me? You can then adjust to build your audience. Those are my best tips have fun!

Updated June, 2011

www.kathleenpequeno.com