Saratoga

At last night’s Blog seminar a prize was presented to the ‘Blogger of the month’: Desk Coach (Shirley Thompson)

The decision was based on number of posts, quality of posts (measured by number of people commenting) and general style. When analysing the posts from Shirley it was clear that they started in an article style (giving information) and ended with a question. It was agreed that this was a great way to stimulate thought and encourgae responses.

Well done Shirley - enjoy the wine!!
Wayne

We have embarked on this project to raise awareness in the Wessex region of the value of blogs as a marketing tool.

Whether you are one of the 9 involved in this project, or someone else looking for blog advice, you need to be clear about why you are blogging. It can be a time consuming activity and requires commitment over a period of time.
To make your blog an effective marketing tool you need to remember the following;
1. Do not rely on your blog as your only form of marketing. To have one form of marketing is never effective. Make sure your blog complements the rest of your marketing and is part of a planned approach to marketing.
2. Know your audience. You need to know what interests your target audience and how to get their attention AND get them coming back for more.
3. Have a focus for your blog. You are far more likely to get word-of-mouth promotion for your blog if the focus is clear. Visitors that find it of interest will know who else would be interested and be able to tell people what your blog is about!
4. Take a look at other business blogs. Find ones that you like and try to replicate the features and/or style. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
5. Set targets that can be measured. You need to know if the blog delivers or not. If after a while, it does not deliver then it may not be an effective marketing tool for you.

You are doing this for business reasons - but you can still enjoy it!!

Have fun
Wayne

The software powering the Blogs for this project is WordPress.

WordPress provide a number of guides, how to instructions and lessons. Many of these are for advanced users or web designers. There are some that are very helpful for beginners too. I have transferred the content into PDF files so that you can easily access them for download to read at your leisure.
They should help you get used to the basic features within the blog package.

wordpress-blog-lesson-1-introduction-to-blogging.pdf

wordpress-blog-lesson-2-wordpress-basics.pdf

Happy reading
Wayne

Writing content for a blog is similar to writing for a Web site in many ways: reading on a screen is difficult so keep it brief, use headings, sub headings and bullet points. Let people scan easily.

Follow this link to access a PDF of a recent presentation about writing content for a Web site. It does not all apply to blogs, but it could give you some useful tips.

http://blog.saratogauk.com/archives/51

My advice: take the leap of faith. Put content on your blog. We all have to start somewhere and only through trial and experimenting can you improve. Write with emotion, humour, etc - generally, people do not want to read slick marketing copy on a blog.

Good luck

Wayne

Saratoga Blog Project

Session 1 notes:

1. What is a blog?
Web log or online diary
See www.inflighthq.com example for elements and layout.
Look at other online examples

Blogs have an informal and conversational style (2-way)
Originally used for personal reasons or for hobbyists/enthusiasts/etc. It has now become an established business tool. There are 2 typical types: blog as a business and brand blogs.
Used by companies for 3 reasons: communicate marketing messages / carry out market research / give customers a way to interact with them.

Why should you blog?
More visibility / Low cost / More web traffic / Use of a cms system / Interactive / Informal style – more personal / Search engine friendly
Customer/client involvement / Cross-linking: traffic from other peoples blogs and web sites
It is EASY!

2. Why are we doing this?
Used predominantly by big business. We want to introduce the concept to small businesses locally.
Long term benefits for us through promoting the use of technology for all aspects of business.
We want to be seen as ‘experts’ and adding value for our clients and the local business community.

3. What are your targets for this project?
Choose 3. They can be changed later.
Some possible ideas:
Marketing                    Build awareness / Increase web traffic / Increase sales / Interact with clients / Support existing customers
Public Relations          Enhance image / Influence customer perception
Customer Service        Assist and inform customers / Market research / Build knowledge base
Also think about how you will measure success.
                        Search engine rankings on specific terms
                        Visitor stats – Google analytics
                        Orders/profits
Don’t let a lack of targets hold you back. As you progress you will get a better idea of what you can achieve and add or amend targets accordingly.

4. To get started find out how to do the following;
- Give Blog a title.
- Add ‘about’ information.
- Write, edit and publish ‘posts’.
- Put contact details on Blog.
- Link to, or from, other online resources.
- Write content.
- Run a successful business Blog.

5. What we asked the participants to each do by next month;
- Complete ‘about’ section.
- Visit www.technorati.com. (If you are able to, register your blog)
- Create at least 2 links to other online resources (your web site! + 1 other)
- Minimum 1 post per week until next meeting.

Please feel free to use this or the other project blogs for advice or ideas.
If you are based in the Dorset/Hampshire region and want to start a business blog give us a call or send an e-mail.

Thanks
Wayne

Having had the launch meeting for the people involved, given them instructions for using the blogs to post articles and generally generating enthusiasm  - we then had technical issues that delayed the real launch of the blogs!! Hopefully this will not deter our intrepid bloggers and very soon there will be an abundance of blog entries across all 10 blogs for us to read, enjoy, reflect on and, if sufficiently moved, comment on and engage with the author.

Use the links to view the other blogs that are part of this project. The resources here should grow rapidly so feel free to return and find out more.

Wayne