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Blog posts tagged blog
Ten ways to create great blog content
July 07, 2010
I’ve long been an advocate of the power of blogging, but when you’re posting three times a week – or even trying to muster up something original once a week – it can be hard to consistently create compelling content for your blog posts.
We all have ‘off’ days, times when the creative juices aren’t flowing. Sometimes finding different, interesting and useful content to share on a blog proves tricky. With that in mind, here are ten ways to consistently create great blog content:
1. Re-visit your blogging legacy
Have a look through your previous posts – are there any blogs you can add a second part to, an update, additional content?
2. Read through the last 24 hours Home feed on your Twitter account
Reviewing the last day on your Twitter Home feed usually delivers a few good blog ideas or content themes to explore.
3. What are you doing at the moment – share the love
Discuss things you’re working on at the moment: projects, new client work, challenges, success, lessons learnt. Add value.
4. Check the blogosphere
Look at what bloggers are posting and expand their debates – this is a great way to further link into the blog community, too.
5. Become a source of exclusive information
Are you a thought-leader in your commercial space? No? Become one. Add exclusive content in your area of expertise.
6. Ask for help
Speak to your clients, colleagues and trusted network associates about what interests them. Ask for their help in creating content.
7. Do market research
Get online and see what your competitors are talking about. Then write something better on the same subject. Add insight.
8. Get passionate
If you have strong beliefs or proven methods around a commercial subject, share it. Share your passion. Readers love this.
9. Remain teachable
Ask your readers what they want to see. Start a survey, ask your audience what they value. Create statistical value.
10. Start with the end in mind
Remember why you’re blogging – think back to your earliest blog posts and recall what sparked you to start blogging. Share it.
- This article orignally appeared at BristolEditor.co.uk
Automation, repetition and laziness make for a healthy blog
July 01, 2010
Here are three steps to making sure your content is seen by an interested audience.
Automation is good
It performs a small but significant task for your carefully crafted text. Sign up to the dlvr.it service and add the RSS feed of your blog to the system. dlvr.it will detect when you have published a new blog post and then seed it into your status updates across a range of social networks. This leaves you more time to get on with all the other jobs you need to do and draws in your interested audience wherever they choose to have a presence.
Repetition is good
Not only is it perfectly acceptable to repeat your status updates, it is encouraged. Your audience will not be on the web all the time. You may have an international audience where time zones come into play. If you publish a blog in the morning it is good practice to update your Twitter status and any others later in the day with a link to your blog post.
Laziness is good
Do not panic if you get ‘Blogger’s Block’. If you do not have any inspiration for writing content do not force yourself to write. Your audience will thank you for the quality control. Regular updates keep a blog alive but writing content for the sake of it will do you no favours.
Blogging businesses benefit best
January 22, 2010
A new report into the benefits experienced by small and medium businesses with blogs has been conducted by social media research specialists, Hubspot. Having previously released findings that demonstrate blogging businesses experience 55% more visitors to their target website than those who do not, the latest research has shown the overall reach a blogging business can expect through Twitter increases by 79%.
The most impressive statistic for small businesses with blogs is that small businesses that blog, on average have 102% more Twitter followers than those who don't. This highlights the personal relationship and down-to-earth communication a small business can take advantage of over big businesses and businesses that do not make the most of blogging opportunities. The more open and regular your conversation with existing and potential customers, the more likely they are to invest time, an online connection through a follow or subscription and ultimately, financial commitment.
The report, which looked at a dataset from 2,100 Hubspot customers, concludes,
“…businesses of different sizes and service nature can reach more potential customers via Twitter by enriching their Twitter streams with content from their blog.”
A blog alongside your business website is a great way to add that splash of personality and open up your day-to-day business experience with your customers. Everytime you publish a new blog post, tell your Twitter following all about it, you are writing for them as much as for yourself and so you should let people know and join up your online community dots.
The more you engage with your customers and link up your communications through Twitter and blogging, the greater the opportunity you have to be noticed as an expert in your business area and as a small business, you offer personality, understanding and an environment where consumers build-up trust and a relationship with you the company and the products or services you can provide. So, why wouldn’t you want to put your business in the proverbial shop window?
What do you use your blog for? How do you make your blog stand out from the other 126 million?
Like Minds 2009 - Social media conference
October 15, 2009
Today is the first ever Like Minds conference in Exeter. The impressive line-up of speakers will be sharing their wisdom about social media and its applications in business. The big questions of the day include What is the return on investment from using social media? How can it be used to engage customers best? We will bring you all the crucial ideas from all the speeches and will pitch your questions to the various panelists throughout the event – completely live! Following the event is simple. Either bookmark this page now or register for email notification in the window below. Sit back and watch this live-blog page from 2pm this Friday or if you want to get more involved, you can submit comments using the system in the window below (when live) or by sending a question to the @MarketingDonut Twitter account.
Marketing Donut's Customer Service Manifesto for small businesses
October 09, 2009
At the start of the week we asked you to put forward your key ideas for a best practice customer service manifesto that small businesses should adopt and you didn’t let us down. Below are the best tips that any small firm should abide by, not on occasion but all the time. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed.
“Great customer service as a standard, not a bonus.”
Our basic core principles are built on:
Listening. By @picseli
Being nice, being helpful and being there. By @RealTrevorLever
Honesty. By @Web_D
Thinking about how we would wish to be treated in the customer’s position. By short couture
Understanding the context of our customers. How does your service affect their life/business? By @tazbride
Good communication and respect for your customers. By @atkirby
In our endeavours to provide a first rate customer service, we will:
Show that we appreciate their business. Say thank you once in a while. By @SonjaJefferson
Think of our customers' needs. Focus on their problems and make ourselves invaluable. By @SonjaJefferson
Care (and don't just pretend). By Digital Jonathon
Treat our customers as we would like to be treated. Call when we say we will, even if we have nothing new to tell them. By @nigel_dean
Act fast, speak truth, admit mistakes, undertake to fix and follow through fast...do NOT pass the buck! By @DebraTemplar
In improving our existing customer service offering, we will:
Acknowledge it is OK to make mistakes but crucially, to learn from them. Be genuine and humble in our apology. By @jamesainsworth
Communicate in ways they appreciate. Find out how they want to hear from us. Don't spam. By @SonjaJefferson
Be reliable. Do what we say we'll do or be honest when we can't. By @SonjaJefferson
Measure our success - get regular feedback from customers on our service quality. By @benpopps
To ensure that our high standards of customer care are uniform across our business, we will:
Be consistent. By Will Stone
Give authority to ALL staff to fix problems for customers without miles of red tape. By @DebraTemplar
Provide multiple contact channels. Customers are different and have diff contact preferences. By @benpopps
Empower front line team to recover service without having to go to a 'supervisor' - give a budget and ensure they spend it. By @michellecarvill
Incentivise 'extra mile' service from staff. By @benpopps
To keep up with the competition and to go the extra mile in a way a larger business can not, we will:
Always be thinking about what we can do that their larger competitors can't. By Andrew McMillan
Treat every customer as an individual. By Chris W
Adopt proactive communication...at beginning, middle and end of service delivery. By @benpopps
Transparency helps in customer service - if we are open and honest customers often feel they can trust more. By @ronkelawal
Stay in touch. Too many businesses chase new business when existing customers are much more valuable. By @mickdickinson
Have a phone number so a customer can contact a real person directly. By @yBCmels
The quicker a caller speaks to a real person the better, even if they gone on hold/into a queue after that. By @jakepjohnson
Have we missed anything important? Please share your thoughts and comments with us in the box below.
Social media for business – is the honeymoon period over?
October 01, 2009
Social media is all the rage and no end of people are trumpeting what it is and why you are nothing without it. But the honeymoon period is over - what businesses need now is concrete information: how, actually, do you use social media as a marketing tool in your business? And what’s the return on investment?
In a couple of weeks, businesses and social media practitioners will gather in Exeter to discuss these very issues and by the sounds of it, we wont be let out of the room until we have the answers!
The Like Minds event in Exeter takes place on Friday, 16 October at Exeter’s Conference Centre, and not only does it have sponsorship from social media savvy big business boys, the organisers have also sourced small-business owners and managers to put forward their experiences and views on how these new tools can be used in smaller firms.
Event organiser, Scott Gould explains: "Every business owner knows that social media is providing plenty of new opportunities for new business, it’s enabling firms to engage more deeply with current clients, and it’s helping them become a stronger leader in their market.
"But every business also has the query of how to implement it, coupled with the fear of making mistakes and getting it wrong. For the businesses that are doing it, and particularly agencies offering social media to their clients as a service, a roadblock they may be facing instead is providing return on investment.
"Like Minds is a gathering, bringing together some of the world's foremost social media and media experts who will be discussing, debating, and answering your questions."
Naturally, Marketing Donut will be there and we’re planning to provide a live blogging commentary of the highlights and report back to you the big ideas and how they can be implemented in small businesses.
The event promises to be a purposeful mix of speakers, panel discussions and networking. So, don’t forget to tune in! And if you’re interested in going yourself, early bird tickets are £25, available from http://www.alikeminds.org
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