NCET Blogging 101

Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D.

NCET, February 25, 2015

Blogging 101

www.bretlsimmons.com

http://www.slideshare.net/BretLSimmons

What do you want

to learn today?

Let me ask you

• Own, operate, or chief marketer for a

business?

• Does the business have a website?

• Does the website have a blog?

• Personal blog?

Your Website

More social, less media(Coine & Babbitt, 2014)

Be more human (Schaefer, 2015)

If your website does not have a

blog, it’s missing the engine of

relational capacity

752 blog posts total;

first new one 9 months

What most companies think

1. When we get started, people will

show up

2. Well, we gave it a couple months,

and no one showed up, so let’s quit

Falls & Decker, 2011

The Reality

• It takes at least SIX MONTHS

before you will start seeing any

demonstrable results and success

from your blog

Falls & Decker, 2011

Before you start

• Read your competitor’s blogs

• Look at your industry’s best blogs

• Note the best design elements and

content marketing aspects

• Talk to subject matter experts within and

outside your team

• Coine and Babbitt (2014)

Know your Value

What you can do uniquely

well to help others address

opportunities or solve

problems that matter to

them.

Your First 50 Posts

1. What are the most important things

your customers need to know to

successfully shop for or use your

products or services?

2. What problem are you solving?

3. How do your solutions make a

difference?

Effective Blog Post

• Conversational

• Informative/Helpful

• 3-6 paragraphs

• Links to other sites

• At least one picture

• Call to action

Savvy Marketing

• Give a bunch

• Provide plenty of value

• Earn the right to ask for a sale

• Ask

(Gary Vaynerchuck, 2013)

Hiring Help

• Content

• Technical Issues

• Social Media Marketing Strategy

Examples

• Alice Heiman

• Guy Johnson

• The Applied Companies

• The Abbi Agency

• Tahoe Mountain Sports

• River Pools and Spas

• Mirabeau Wine

• Tiffany Brown

Summary

• Blogging is one of the most effective

ways to document and target your value

• Delight your customers and bury your

competitors with helpful, human content

• Start now, don’t quit

Questions?

Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D.

www.bretlsimmons.com

[email protected]

(775) 336-9576