First in a three post series this week about social media case studies.
If your blog is essentially a post-modern diary where you share your deepest, personal feelings about life in a cathartic way, this is not the post for you. However, if you blog (or want to) because you are trying to build or grow your business, read on.
For my presentation at the recent PodcampAZ, I boiled down everything I’ve learned about blogging in the 16 months since launching Convince & Convert into 11 must-dos. You, the readers of Convince & Convert, are what make this blog successful, and I am sincerely grateful for each of you who spends some of your limited time here. I hope I can give back to you (at least a little) by distilling what you’ve taught me about blogging.
I started Convince & Convert on July 1, 2008. Since then, I’ve published 225 posts. I’ve redesigned the blog once (here’s a post about that process), and re-written the social media consulting and social media speaking content numerous times.
Patience is a requirement for successful blogging. Every blog starts out with precisely the same number of readers: zero. The goal should be to gain a few readers every day, and over time you have a viable blog community. I started with 312 total visits in my first week (mostly friends and family), and it took almost 10 months to cross the 1,000 visits per week threshold. This blog now averages approximately 3,500 visits per week.
Being found in search engines is a similar, long-term process. I initially had 46 visits per week from Google searches. Now, it’s nearly 1,000 visits per week.
In addition to patience, here are the 11 must-dos to build and sustain a successful blog.
Specificity
Who is the audience for your blog? What is your blog about? What similar blogs exist? How will you measure success? All of these are blog strategy questions you should answer. I encourage you to actually write down your answers, to make them more “real”. It’s okay if you don’t know the answers before you start blogging.
The results of your early blogging will inevitably change the direction of your blog. This blog was originally devoted to all things digital marketing, with a focus on helping ad agencies improve in that area. Over time, the topical focus narrowed to primarily covering social media, and while I work mostly with agencies as a consultant, the content here isn’t necessarily agency-specific.
I made those changes based on feedback from you, and from the successes and failures of my first wave of posts. That’s why I discourage you from promoting your blog aggressively until you’ve written approximately 50 posts. You’ll end up marketing something different from what you’ll become.
Consistency
The more you blog, the easier it will be to build an audience for your blog. Seven posts a week is better than five, and five is better than two. Many bloggers write when inspired, but I don’t have the discipline for that approach. I write on a schedule, and publish here every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I’ve found through experimentation that writing on consecutive days helps with your blog traffic, as you can more easily build momentum between posts.
Also, some days you just won’t be able to write. So always have a handful of posts that are not time sensitive saved as drafts that you can publish when needed.
Variety
Remember that your blog is essentially a magazine, and there’s a reason why magazines have many different types of articles in each issue. Mix feature length blog posts (like this one) with shorter, breezier reads. Mix timely post with timeless posts. Mix text with video blog posts. Mix positive with negative. Mix personal with professional.
Also, don’t over-think your blogging. Some of the most popular posts I’ve written were those I just knocked out in a few minutes. And sadly, some of the least successful were those that I really thought about and crafted. Individual post success can be fickle, so don’t worry about it too much. Create good content, and it will find an audience.
Imagery
Include images in every blog post. I use Flickr’s Creative Commons search engine to find images for Convince & Convert. I also sometimes use affordable stock images from Shutterstock. Jason Falls’ excellent blog Social Media Explorer also uses Shutterstock. Sometimes (like with this post) the imagery isn’t a photo, but rather a presentation or a video clip.
Utility
Where possible, don’t just ramble, be helpful. I create free social media tools that hopefully help you put the ideas we talk about here into practice. You should do the same thing. Create presentations. Publish checklists. As Chris Brogan says, find a way to give your ideas handles.
Gravity
I’m a big believer in building an anchor for your blog. A signature, routine series of posts that you can go back to with regularity. Steve Woodruff used this tactic to great effect when he published his Five in the Morning series. He documented the best social media blog posts of the day. Every day. Talk about utility!
Mack Collier had an anchor at his must-read blog The Viral Garden that ranked the top 25 marketing and social media blogs by number of RSS subscribers.
The anchor here at Convince & Convert is the Twitter 20 series, where I interview social media luminaries live on Twitter, and then create a blog post of the transcript. I’ve done nearly 25 of these interviews now, and publish a new one every 2-3 weeks.
Humanity
Whether you’re solo or part of a group blogging effort, being personal and showing yourself is critical. If people want to read content created by a nameless, faceless entity they can read a newspaper. Blogging is PERSONAL. That’s the whole point.
Thus, I recommend having a prominent picture of yourself on every page. And if it’s a group blog, have thumbnail images of the author of each post.
Also, don’t completely hide your real life from view. Remember, your personal life is a lot more interesting than your professional life.
Community
I learned from Valeria Maltoni that I wasn’t fostering community on this blog as much as I should. Based on her incredible efforts to connect her readers together to form a community over at her outstanding Conversation Agent blog, I built a formula for fostering community on a blog. It’s called WFACT. W=Welcome. F=Facilitate. A=Answer every comment. C=Connect. T=Thank.
In addition to answering (nearly) every comment, I’m a big believer in acknowledging readers and contributors in other, subtle ways. That’s why I use the “Recent Readers” tool over on the right (via mybloglog). I’ve also seen success with the technique of asking readers for help in figuring out social media issues. Amber Naslund is exceptionally good at making her blog seem like a group project. It’s a best practice, to be certain.
Searchability
One of the primary benefits of blogging is that blogs do very well in search engine results. Hubspot released a study recently that showed that Web sites with a blog received 55% more traffic than those that didn’t have a blog.
You need to realize that the most important reader of your blog is Google, and that every blog post is more bait in the water for search engines to nibble upon. I’m not saying you need to write your blog for search – far from it. But, it’s certainly a good idea to include search terms in your post URLs, titles, headlines, and subheads. I don’t do this for every post, but where it makes sense I absolutely pay attention to search terms.
In fact, last April I wrote a post called Should Facebook Dominate Your Social Media Strategy? Based on including “social media strategy” in that post in a search-friendly way, I went from #55 to #17 in Google in one day for the search term “social media strategy”. Paying just a little attention to search can pay big dividends for your blog.
Extensibility
Being a good blogger doesn’t end at your blog. Mack Collier once told me that for every hour he spends on his blogs, he spends three hours reading and commenting on other blogs. Being a good commenter is a fantastic way to increase awareness for your own blog, provided you do it in an honest way, and always add to the conversation.
In addition to blog commenting, there are other ways to repackage and extend your blog content. Can you create an ebook of your best posts? For example, Dave Fleet (whom I interviewed on Twitter) has a great ebook of corporate social media policies.
Maybe you could also create an email newsletter that combines your best posts with other interesting content? Jason Falls has a great newsletter. Chris Brogan, too. And I’ve recently launched my own called Social Media Messenger. It goes out every two weeks with links to the four social media stories you simply can’t miss.
Virality
The Convince & Convert business model is that what I do on Twitter drives traffic to this blog. The blog generates speaking engagements for me. And speaking engagements yield consulting clients.
So, I unabashedly promote this blog on Twitter, and encourage you to promote your blog as well. Twitter may or may not be the right place for you. It might be Linkedin. Maybe Facebook. Maybe a vertical industry community. Experiment and find out what works for you and your readers. But realize that you can only promote yourself and your work in social media if you promote other people as well. Reciprocity is key.
Also, you cannot underestimate the importance of headlines. In almost every case, a potential reader only has the headline of your blog post to determine whether to click. Thus, to be a good blogger you must be an excellent headline writer. Michael Stelzner at Social Media Examiner is the all-time best at this, one of the reasons his excellent group blog has become very popular almost immediately. My headline rules include brevity, challenging conventional wisdom, using numbers/lists (like this one), using unexpected action words, and incorporating search engine keywords.
What’s Next?
Thanks to you, I’ve learned a lot about blogging over these last 16 months. I know I’m just scratching the surface. What have I missed? Can you please help me uncover other must-dos for serious bloggers?
Great Post Jay.. I agree with them all, especially Consistency, I am working hard on that now, staying on a posting schedule and sticking to it.
That’s great John. What’s your schedule?
Really, really liked this. Thanks Jason.
I think various frequency/content models can work, depending on circumstances.
With my own work, I discovered that I got more RSS subscribers, incoming links and comments with fewer posts, but more in-depth posts. This also took the pressure off in terms of writing time and coming up with new ideas every day. The key, I think, is to ensure your frequency reflects your ability to produce consistent, quality content. But, of course, what works for me won’t necessarily work for others.
I’d also add “originality” to “utility” if you’re in a niche with lots of competition.
.-= Mark Brownlow´s last blog ..MarkatEMR: Really like @jaybaer on what it takes to make a blog successful http://idek.net/fts tho’ fewer posts also work if hi-value + regular =-.
Mark, thanks so much for the very sharp comment. I agree entirely. Your length and frequency will be defined by your audience, and their expectations. Not just of you, but what type of content they find valuable in their industry, etc. Yes, and I’d agree originality can be a key differentiator. I sometimes find, however, that in trying to be “original” bloggers aren’t true to themselves, and that messes up the whole blog long-term.
Hi Jay, Great post, got the wheels turning in my head this morning! I struggle with consistent posting to my blog so its good to see that other people have the same problem and how they fix it!
Still wrapping my brain around a consistent blogging cycle. I read a post, forgot where, that people are more likely to reply/respond on blogs and on Twitter on Monday mornings than any other day of the week. I am sure that the best route is to take a schedule that works for you and keep it consistent!
Thanks again for sharing!
Hi Matt. Indeed, consistency is the hardest part. It makes blogging more like a job, and that’s a good news/bad news scenario. I can see Monday mornings being hotter, and I’ve witnessed a bit of that. Also a lot of competition for mind share on Mondays. For me, the consecutive days part is more important. So, if I wrote on Monday, I’d be publishing M, T, W and that front loads the week a bit too much for my tastes.
This was a perfectly timed post for me. I have been wrestling with moving to a new blog host and redesigning my blog. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I should just work on being a better blogger!
.-= Mimi Meredith´s last blog ..Five Steps to Gentling the World =-.
Hi Mimi. Thanks for the comment. I’m so glad I could help you at the right time. Come on back and let us know how it’s going, won’t you?
Jay
As usual – great stuff here. As a serious blogger, it makes me feel good to see that what I’m experiencing/learning follows much of the same trail that you are noticing…
I’d add one more thought: look for places to syndicate your content. I was invited to cross post content at BusinessWeek’s Business Exchange http://bx.businessweek.com/
At first I didn’t cross post a lot because you have to manually load your post, tag it, etc. and it was time consuming. But of late, I’ve been more diligent and sure enough, the site directs a good bit of traffic to my blog. If you’re not over there, maybe you should check it out too.
Take care buddy.
@TomMartin
.-= Tom Martin´s last blog ..Three for Thursday – Nov 13 =-.
I completely agree Tom. I should have included that in the Extensibility section. I’ve enjoyed writing for the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog, and my posts are also carried on Social Media Today and Online Marketing Connect. Guest posting and syndicating your content opens you up to a different, larger audience. Thanks for the reminder and the comment.
I appreciate your remarks about blogging consistently, headlines and commenting. When I focus on those three things I always notice positive results.
.-= Your Jack´s last blog ..Why Do You Blog? =-.
Thanks very much for the comment Jack. Indeed, if I had to pick three favorites from among the 11, those would be right up there.
Jay,
Great stuff. Its encouraging to read something like this and see that, hey, I just might be doing a couple of things right… and those things have names! (Love Gravity BTW!)
Then of course, there are the things that aren’t getting done. There’s always something to improve on, right!
I’m also going to throw one more onto the list if I may. Generosity. You touched on it a bit in a couple of places but its worthy of its own mention in my opinion.
Generously giving your readers what they came looking for, even if that means pointing them somewhere else, is a gift that will turn readers into die hard fans. Being willing to give something important is crucial.
Thanks again for the post and its admonitions. Now I’ve got some work to do!
Thom
.-= jtrigsby´s last blog ..What Do You Call What We Do? =-.
I love the Generosity idea. That’s a good one. Damn, now I have 12 and counting. This post could get really long! I’m so glad you found it helpful. Please come on back and let us know how you’re progressing.
Love this Jay.
Now thinking up an Anchor section for my own blog. I need it badly…
.-= Stuart Foster´s last blog ..The Creative Seed =-.
Come up with some ideas, and let’s vote on them here!
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Sound, original advice that directly impacts me. Thanks for writing it. I might take difference with the insistence on images. Not sure that this has to be a requisite. In fact, I think there’s a real shortage of whitespace in the infosphere.
Thanks for the comment Dr. I’ve just found that since I tend to write a bit longer than some, images spice it up and draw readers into the post. Definitely the overall blog theme impacts image viability.
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Jay-
This could not have come at a better time for me. “Get Started With Blogging” guides are a dime-a-dozen, and most simply regurgitate the same old truisms. But your specificity–yep, just like you talk about–and commitment to accessible, actionable content puts this head and shoulders above the rest. Thank you for this! You’ve won a reader.
Thanks Ian. One of the nicest comments ever here on C&C. I printed it out and taped it to my computer. Glad I could help you.
Really? I’d expect you to get fawning comments by the bucket. Glad to be taped to your computer.
.-= Ian Greenleigh´s last blog ..Be 3D. =-.
Great post Jay, I was mostly kidding about my tweet.
“JUICYcreative @jaybaer what if you’re not so serious, just doin it for kicks?”
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Jay – I am very flattered to be included in your list! Thanks so much for mentioning SocialMediaExaminer.com
All my best!
Mike
.-= Michael A. Stelzner´s last blog ..5 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page =-.
Absolutely Mike. It’s one of the best group-written social media blogs out there, no question. Keep up the great work!
This is a fine post, timely for me as well. I’ve had a couple of blogging failures. Let me rephrase that, a couple of learning experiences.
What I learned was, if no one is interested what you’re writing, do something else. Not all things work.
If you don’t get it right the first time, keep trying. Once you feel you have found a home, so to speak, don’t quit.
Thanks for some fine advice.
Hi Hal. Thanks very much for the comment. I completely agree that sometimes you have to keep trying something new. The hard part is that unlike most forms of digital marketing, the trial cycle for blogging is fairly long-term. I’d say you need to give a new blogging direction 25 posts or so (depending upon your publishing frequency) to determine whether it’s viable. That’s a serious testing commitment – but it works.
The best tips and advice I’ve found yet for the getting-started blogger, Jay. Your approach is very candid and practical–much of the other info I’ve come across doesn’t hit the nail on the head like you’ve done for me. I’ve reserved you a bookmark spot. Thanks so much!
Hi Morgan. That’s really nice to hear. I appreciate you taking the time to read the LOOOONG post, and to leave a comment. Please come back and tell us all how you’re progressing. In terms of being practical, that’s my gambit. If I can’t help people learn something (almost) every day, that’s when I’ll quit doing this.
What speaks just as much as your excellent post is the fact that you have taken the time to respond to nearly every single commenter. That’s a classic old-school blogging technique that’s all too often ignored these days.
I agree Chris. I’ve always tried to respond to comments, but I’ve really redoubled my efforts in this area thanks to inspiration from Valeria Maltoni (conversationagent.com) and the subsequent creation of my W FACT blog community formula I wrote about in the post. It makes a big difference. It’s worth the time.
Great post – am a first time reader but I can tell already I will be back. I am 3-4 months in to maintaining a regular blog and it can get very easy to get wrapped up in just blogging and not seeing the bigger picture. It seems you juggle well.
.-= Rick Goetz´s last blog ..Independent Radio Promotion With Munsey Ricci =-.
I don’t know if my wife would agree with you about my adept juggling, but I’m doing my best. Glad to know you found value in the post, and I do indeed hope to see you here often. If there’s something you’d like to see, or something I can improve, email or DM me whenever you like. (that goes for the rest of you too. my primary email is jason at convince and convert dot com)
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Great post. I linked to it on my blog post about social media:
http://offonatangent.blogspot.com/2009/11/social-media-blogs-twitter-youtube.html
Jay, this is the best post I have seen on blogging in a long time. I am busy sharing it with others now. Just when I thought I knew just about everything about blogging, you came up with this! Thanks so much!
.-= Tom Allinder´s last blog ..The Invicta Group and IMAGE Chicago to Market Official Playboy 2010 New Year’s Eve Celebration =-.
Wow. Thanks Tom. I appreciate that. I don’t feel like I know all that much about blogging, just trying to pass along what I’ve learned. Lots of other folks have great info, including Mack Collier, and of course ProBlogger and CopyBlogger.
Hi Jay,
Thanks so much for this post, very helpful information. Like many of the other commenters, this came at a perfect time for me.
I started blogging in the early part of ’09. It was pretty successful out of the gate, but then I struggled with a schedule (and some changes in my schedule at home) and it started feeling like a job. Instead of half-@ssing it, I took a hiatus and just returned to re-start the blog this week.
I’m definitely going to use many of your tips and also create a schedule that keeps the blog informative but fun at the same time. Thanks!
.-= Brian Gleason´s last blog ..Can Social Media Change the “One and Done” Rule? =-.
Thanks Brian. I actually started off doing the “let’s see, what do I want to write about today?” routine, but found that it was too easy to not blog that way. And I’ve been through periods where it feels like a job. I think that’s one of the downsides of keeping a strict blogging schedule. It removes some of the spontaneity from it. But for me at least, it’s a tradeoff worth making.
Thanks for your comment. I’m checking out your blog now.
Jay, first of all, everyone that is serious about blogging should read this post. Your philosophical and strategic outline can be adapted by anyone that wants to produce content online.
Personally, I resonated with the sections regarding variety and gravity. These are both things I have integrated into my own blog. Also, thanks for challenging me in the extensibility section.
.-= David Finch´s last blog ..52 Tools to Add to Your Digital Marketing Toolbox =-.
Thanks David. Several commenters and Tweeters seem to have found value in the Gravity section. I find that interesting, because it’s really an age-old approach. Like running serialized Dickens in your newspaper, or anchoring Thursday nights with Cheers.
I’m checking out your blog tonight. I appreciate the comment. Hope to see you back here soon.
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good stuff Jay. Definitely learned some things i need to adapt to and use on a frequent basis. Good stuff at podcamp this yr!
Jay :: I’m embarrassed to say but I just found your blog through popurls. After reading this article and several others, I’ve added you to my “must read” posts via my RSS news reader. Thanks for providing such quality content!
.-= Dr. Patrick MacNamara´s last blog ..How to Connect Your Twitter Account to Your LinkedIn Profile =-.
Dr. Patrick – I’m delighted to be found on popurls. Hell, I’m delighted to be found in any way, shape, or form. I appreciate being in your RSS reader. Hope to see you again here soon.
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Jay,
You nailed it. I built a readership of over 100,000 readers at GrokDotCom slowly over the past decade. It has been very humbling to remember what it was like as I am now no longer associated with FutureNow or GrokDotCom and am rebuilding my personal brand with a sparkling new (small readership) blog at BryanEisenberg.com.
.-= Bryan Eisenberg´s last blog ..How to Launch a Newsletter That Readers Want to Read! =-.
Hey Bryan. Absolutely thrilled to have you comment here at C&C. As a loooooong time Eisenberg fan, it means a lot to me to see your mug above. Didn’t realize you had moved past Future Now. Would like to chat about that some time. I’ll be RSSing.
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Great post. Thank you for the information. I am looking to begin a blog on my website and I will be referring to this post as I put together my strategy.
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11 Must-Dos for the Serious Blogger | Social Media Marketing … [link to post] (via @SocialMediaMaze:) #sbosm
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There will be a post Thursday about a couple of conceptual ideas you might enjoy. I cannot say more, my editor would kick me in the shin. Thank you for the kind mention, Jason. Your community building activities show – 16 months, wow! Took me 3+ years
.-= Valeria Maltoni´s last blog ..Is Social Media a Marketing Thing? =-.
Yeah, but I had you to learn from. That made it a lot easier! Seriously, huge thanks for your help and inspiration. Everything I do, you do better. Looking forward to seeing you soon, I hope.
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Sorry so late to the party here. Great post
I am adjusting my schedule and editorial calendar now!
.-= Dean Holmes´s last blog ..Seth Godin has this one right =-.
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Thank you for obvious time you put into this post. I know I’ll be reading it more than once because there is incredible value in each of your 11 Musts.
As others have mentioned in the comments, the “how to” of blogging niche is flooded with a scattering of common-sense hints and tips but most of them lack depth and stamina. This post delves into aspects that go beyond common-sense into uncommonly sensisible.
I’m working on reshaping and refocusing my primary blog project, Writer’s Round-About, at the moment. Your 11 Must-Dos have given me a great deal of insight to work with and a new perspective on what I’ve done in the past and what I could do in the future. You’ve given me the courage to truly examine the ins and out of WRA to see what has worked, what hasn’t, and what changes I could make to accomplish the community growth and development I want to foster there.
Thank you so very much!
.-= Rebecca Laffar-Smith´s last blog ..Five Inspiration and Creativity Writing Tips =-.
Thanks so much for the in depth info..just got started blogging looking to get my info out there for the world to enjoy. Thanks for getting to the point and keeping it short and sweet so a beginner could grasp it.
Great Job Sir..
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11 Must-Dos for the Serious Blogger [link to post]. Good tips, now for me to apply them.
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Hi there
I think you have covered just about everything there but I would like to suggest to you that a better way to think of things is a cause and effect model rather than a series of tips. If you use a model it reminds you that you have a strategy that you are moving towards a goal with. For instance your blog has a strategy that attracts readers and then leads them through to appointing you as a speaker and then as a consultant. I explain the model as part of our digital marketing strategy and it offers a joined up approach to marketing online.
There is a lot of conversation online at the moment about the need for digital agencies to stop thinking tactically (based on individual disciplines such as search, web design, email marketing, social media etc), and to start looking at things in a joined up strategic way. It is one of the cornerstones I looked at when I founded our digital marketing agency in London.
.-= Aaron Savage´s last blog ..Digital marketing strategy needs to grow up =-.
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Prioritize Your Social Media Efforts
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Very nice and interesting post for people that are beginning in these SocialMedia world.
I’ll keep on reading your blog
I really like it very much, I’ve already RT.
Asier Gomez Barrenetxea
.-= Asier Gomez´s last blog ..YouTube Direct =-.