Presentation given at #DPiP, August 2014 on Blogging for Businesses and those looking to develop a career or grow a site to the size it can supply a partial or full income

1. Blogging for Business or
Profit:
Building Sales or Careers
with Content

2. - Making a living from
your blog.
- Being hired to write for
others
- Using a blog to build
your business website

3. Why blog as a business?
- biz with blogs = 70% more leads
- 434% more pages indexed, 97%
more links
- 15 posts per month = 5x more traffic
than no blog

4. Why blog as a person?
- no wait to get experience. Post
about companies you'd like to work
with.
- Build a rep as a thought leader
- get invitations to speak, consult,
write.
- Build your network. Guest post etc

5. +
- Don't rely on 3rd
party social media
to exist
- control over design and content
- be found via search
- target semantic/contextual queries

6. Step 1
'Define your target'
- 5% of leads from the blog
in the next 12 months?
- to earn £300 per month in
24 months?
-To get 3 paid writing
assignments by October?
( Make it measurable! )
-Cut customer service
enquiries by 20%?

7. Step 2
'Research readers & Competitors'
- identify your niche & identity
- Write for your ideal
reader/customer/client
-Who else is trying to get to them?
What do they do well (steal!) or
Badly (Attack!)

8. Step 3
'plan'
But be prepared to learn and
evolve daily/weekly/monthly

9. No, Really plan:
- Editorial/Content plan for
consistency
- marketing plan to actually
reach new readers &
customers
- Costs: Resources,
Design, Sanity?

10. Step 4
'realism & perseverance'
- millions of bad blogs exist &
achieve nada
- Blogging & 'content marketing'
take focus, perseverance & skill
-blogs don't magically fix seo,
bad products or bad businesses

11. perseverance'
You are probably not
Pete Cashmore
- starts 'Mashable'
blog age 19 in
Scotland
- Now CEO of
Mashable company
worth millions in U.S

12. Step 5
'focus'
- 1 idea, blog or social network at a
time & don't jump on every viral
bandwagon
- What works for your ideal
customers, not every internet user
- what drives the results you need?

13. Step 6
'learn your tech /embrace
your geek'
- domains/sub-domains?
-Self hosting is way better
-get to know Google
Analytics, Webmaster Tools
and how to set tags and
event tracking
- Know how your ad
software works!

14. Step 7
'for every job, a tool'
- ads: Google Adsense,
Google DFP
-Affiliates: Skimlinks, viglinks,
Amazon, Commission
Junction.
-email: mailchimp
-Social Media: Buffer
-offline: Windows Live Writer

15. Step 7
'for every job, a free open
source tool'
- writing: Open Office,
Libreoffice
-Images: G.I.m.p
-video: Blender
-audio: audacity
Wordpress plugins: 'WordPress
SEO by Yoast', WooCommerce,
akismet, etc

16. 'Stay inspired'
- Read everything:
Blogs, books adverts,
packaging, comics
- pick out what is
engaging you and why it
works
- 'Bad artists copy.
Good artists steal' said
Picasso
- check q&A sites, social
media etc for questions

17. 'develop your style'
- Keep consistent style
and tone, even with
multi-authors
- easiest with one editor
/ sub-editor
- create a style guide
-Don't make it too dull or
you'll be the same as
everyone else
- Dull B&W
presentations is a style

18. Step 10
'Make it fun'
- fun means you'll keep
going
- helps you stand out
- stops you getting dull,
and any subject can be
fun at times

19. - Signalvsnoise (37
signals)
https://signalvnoise.com
/
- The Rivet Press (Hiut
Denium)
http://www.therivetpress.com/
- Buffer (Buffer)
http://blog.bufferapp.com/
- Innocent Drinks

20. & share on instagram,
flickr, pinterest
- Create video & share
on youtube, Vimeo,
Dailymotion
- create audio & share
on soundcloud,
audioboo
- presentations =
slideshare
- pdfs = scribd
visualisations,

21. Notes:
- this Presentation:
http://www.thewayoftheweb.net/dpip-aug
- For Me:
dan.thornton@thewayoftheweb.net or
@twotwmarketing
-For DpiP Presentations:
http://www.slideshare.net/DigitalPeopleInPe
terborough