As you cook Thanksgiving dinner today, watch how your hungry guests keep returning to the kitchen– drawn in by attractive, delicious-smelling food. Today, these hungry people are your family, but on your website they represent your visitors. You want to attract vistiors to your website with compelling content. Notice that as your family comes into your kitchen, they sniff it out, maybe even steal a bite. If this was your website, you’d offer the bite in exchange for a bit of information about the visitor and transform them into a lead.
INGREDIENTS
1 blogger (preferably someone passionate about content production)
1 RSS reader (set up and containing blogs related to your industry)
1 URL (with Typepad or Blogspot accounts removed and discarded)
Blog Analytics, installed
2 cups Social Media
1 cup SEO
1 Image, iconic and captivating
Blog Post Titles, Engaging
3-10 Meta Keywords, Researched
1 Meta Description containing 1 Keyword Phrase
Call-To-Action, Attractive and Mixed with a Compelling Offer
A whole lot of patience (don’t worry if you bake it, they will come)
(Optional) Team of passionate employees who foster a sense of content creation in your company
PREPARATION
1. Use your RSS reader to begin reading the blogs of other people in your industry. Be sure to comment, especially on posts interesting to your prospects, with meaningful insights and questions. Repeat this step continually while your blog bakes.
2. Begin writing posts that your prospects will find interesting. You can format your post in a variety of different ways, but make sure that you organize your thoughts in some way. People have a tendency to skim, so be sure to highlight important sections with a sub-title or organize your post into a list format. When completed, set blog post aside to cool.
3. Start thinking of photos for your blog post. It’s easy to get distracted searching for an image. Keep the process short by focusing on the theme of your post and using it as a keyword in an image search. You can make an image yourself (a chart or graph) or use Flickr’s Advanced Search to search for images based on tags people have used. Be sure to include alt-txt that contains important keywords when you add the image to your blog post.
4. Now it’s time to add an effective call-to-action to the end of your post. If you’d like you can prepare these ahead of time. Make sure your offer is compelling to people who may read your blog post.
5. Top off your blog post with an engaging title which will draw people into your site. It’s best if your title is also less or around 70 characters in length.
6. Return to your blog post and populate the keyword Meta data with appropriate keywords you’ve selected as low difficulty, but have a generous search volume (if you’re a Hubspot customer you can use Keyword Grader to compile and monitor your list of keywords).
7. Write a unique Meta description that does not include your blog title. Include 1 of your keyword phrases. You want to keep your Meta description less than 156 characters in length.
8. After proofreading your post, your blog post is now ready to share. Be sure to share your blog posts via your social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you can, set up a tool that automatically posts your blog posts when they go live.
9. Your blog is now in the oven of the internet, baking. Repeat steps 1 through 8 once a week or more for the next few months, all the while using your Blog Analytics to discover who is visiting your blog posts. Check out your most popular blog posts and try to recreate your success in new posts. Analyze and repeat.
Yield: endless
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Danusia 8:38 AM on November 26, 2009
Has to be said: brilliant recipe for success if ever I heard one.
I would also add: turn up the heat when required to ensure appropriate baking occurs throughout, i.e. write timely posts that coincide with events - both one-off and regular, such as thanksgiving ;)
Snoman 9:19 AM on November 26, 2009
excellent recipe & pretty much how we made our ski holidays site blog - I would add "look after your regulars" by making sure you respond to all first-time commenters & having an easy way to subscribe via both email & RSS
also, try to do something blog worthy occasionally, instead of always writing about existng events (many people will be blogging about whats going on in the world, but only I know whats happening on our Grand Alpine Tour of European ski resorts)
thanks for a great post
Codruta Moga 9:51 AM on November 26, 2009
The way this article is written makes it so simple to understand and to put it in practice.
For the first step, Alltop.com is a great destination to find blogs in your industry, which you can add in your RSS.
thanks
Jane 2:51 PM on November 26, 2009
Yet another reason why I'm Thankful for Hubspot today. Great reminders, and catchy format. Love it!
Charlotte 4:18 AM on November 27, 2009
I have so much to learn about all the behind the scenes activity. I can cook but can't understand the oven! Is there anyone out there who has a simple step be step jargon busting list/guide I can use?
Msolution 8:13 AM on November 27, 2009
LOL ... just love it, well written!
Nadira Haniff 9:28 AM on November 27, 2009
Excellent! Well done. Very good information which works!
Adrian Chira 3:24 PM on November 27, 2009
I enjoyed very much this post. It has all the ingredients from content to title, form promoting your posts to keeping up the momentum. Thanks
HumInt Consulting Private limited 4:56 AM on November 28, 2009
Nice recipe of blog formation. I would like to add one more point. Use picture (taken by yourself). It may create viral marketing effective if it is different enough.
Neytri 5:01 AM on November 28, 2009
nice way to create blog.
Jack Napoli 8:40 AM on November 28, 2009
Excellent advice Shannon!
Your "Counter Top Coaching" Style is just what I needed.
I applaud your use of the The Baking Analogy.
It is extremly Powerful, Compiling & Engaging.
Not to mention timely with the Biggest Cooking Day of the Year upon us.
I'm with Charlotte - I like to "Cook" however I really don't Know or care how the "Oven Works"?
As Charlotte mentioned is there a Jargon Busting List we can Follow?
How about "Blog in a Box" Cake Mix like Service we can subscribe to so Charlotte and I don't have to Build an Oven, Crack our own Wheat, Grow our own Pumpkins and Milk the Cows?
For Newbies like me I get confused, intimidated and don't know what I can and can't substitue when I see something like:
1 URL (with Typepad or Blogspot accounts removed and discarded)
Does that also mean no Wordpress?
Because if it does Wordpress has been my Easy Bake Oven that I'm farmiliar with.
The confused mind usually says No or worse Yet - WAIT.
Feel free to reply via e-mail if the questions are two basic for this forum.
Keep up the Great material because through this dialogue I'm having a conversation I could't have had a two weeks ago.
Yime for some Left Overs - Have a Great Holiday.
gregor 5:45 AM on November 29, 2009
Hey nice post.
Thanx for sharing.
Regards,
Gregor S.
from Germany
Sofort Free SMS kostenlos versenden.
Brad Smith 10:05 AM on December 01, 2009
Great post! Once you begin making posts be sure to distribute that content through your social networks. Set up RSS feeds to automatically post to Twitter and Facebook.
Use LinkedIn's apps to pull in content and actively push your content to LinkedIn Groups. And also be sure to use social bookmarking sites like Digg and Stumble Upon (and dozens of others)!
Regards,
Brad Smith
Haley Marketing
Shelly 11:00 AM on December 01, 2009
Great Article.
Dan 12:44 PM on December 01, 2009
What a brilliant analogy. No wonder reading your posts makes my mouth water. Really tasty blog recipe thanks. :)
Laura Christianson 10:18 PM on December 01, 2009
What a tasty post! I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this first. I own a business called Blogging Bistro and this would be perfect for my blog. Do you allow reprints?
Vernon Chalmers 11:32 PM on December 03, 2009
A simple and fresh approach with a guaranteed out-of-the-oven end-product.
Regards,
Vernon Chalmers
Tony V 12:51 AM on December 05, 2009
This was a very, very clever post. Nice job!
Brenda Coffee 1:07 PM on December 14, 2009
What great advice & I love your analogies. Somehow, in the middle of the night, gremlins opened the oven door, climbed into my BLOG and made themselves at home. They have really screwed up my recipe so I am off to cleanup their mess. Oodles of thanks, Brenda Coffee http://www.breastcancersisterhood.com/_blog/Brenda%27s_Blog
Tara Allen 10:16 AM on December 17, 2009
What a tasty morsel! Great article, love the analogy and I will definitely be coming back for seconds.
Any thoughts for Xmas dinner?
David Mirza 8:14 PM on December 26, 2009
I write an article on my website every week http://www.shoptexaselectricity.com/blog.aspx how can I market my articles to various readers and websites. I do not use wordpress / typepad and I do not have a dedicated url for my blog.