blogging strategy

 

 

intro

implementing a blogging strategy
ask higher level questions first
apply those questions in many areas of the strategy.

x references consolidated and counting

 

=== step 1 – PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ===

step 1 – establish your blogs purpose to derive its KPI’s

1.1
KPI’s – “Once We Have a Blog, We’ll Be Able to _______”
Your objectives – blog purpose / goals and objectives. personal objectives or business objectives
What is this blog going to do for you, or for your business?
boost awareness?
sell a product – top of your purchase funnel.
Are you trying to build community around company / idea.

1.2
KPI’s – user objectives – blog calls to action
“After Reading, We Want Blog Visitors to _______, or _________”
custom CTA for every post
interaction
comment or post
share
list building
referral traffic

step 2 – understanding your reader – targeting and writing for the right visitors

2.2
user personas – defining your blogs visitors
where to find them
email list – domain names from email addresses
email list – send email and ask what they are up to
quota, yahoo answers etc
who are they
occupation
how do they make money?
what are their problems?
biggest challenges
what do they love?
interests, and curiosities.

2.1
blogs persona
blog persona should be easier once your user persona’s are crisp.
Site wide overarching reason for your blog existing.
Your agenda and reason for blogging.
What is the greater purpose your company is trying to fulfill?
What story supports this purpose?
Is your blogging team aligned with the meaning of this purpose?

2.3
rinse and repeat
combine 2.1 and 2.2 – make sure your blogs purpose and story aligns with your user personas

2.4
writing style
appeal and delight your readers with the correct use of language.

=== TASK 2 – MAKE YOUR BLOG ===

step 1 – blog copy

step 2 – design and make the blog wireframes
business homepage design – wireframes
link on homepage
latest posts on homepage
blog homepage design
blog post design – wireframes

step 3 – KPI’s
setup KPI’s
test

=== TASK 3 – CONTENT STRATEGY ===

step 1 – content brainstorming.
isolate the market opportunity

1.1 – define competitors list
what the most read competitor blogs by your visitors?
what are the most used tools by your visitors ?
what complimentary and supplementary products do your users buy?
derive competition list
sort by most relevant to least

1.2 – popular content list
audit the competition’s popular content
what content is popular that you can make better? make a list
define recurring patterns
elements
infographics
images
videos
blog post characteristics
authority
audit – persona, purpose
length of post

1.3 – content gap / opportunity list
between reddit, quora etc Vs competitors
what content are they missing? can you fill a gap?

1.4 – keywords list & silos.
what do you want to rank for?
where to find keywords
google keyword planner
SEMrush – competitions rankings
silo out a massive list of keywords

1.5 derive content / blog post ideas
sort & prioritise
choose either
to make something better
or address a gap in the market
something that aligns strongly with a keyword silo
pick one

=== TASK 4 – WRITE ===

prelim
how is this post going to be different?
whats my angle or stance?

2.1 – write
actionable
insightful
back up everything with data & facts

2.2 – audit against
user objectives
who should read it
why should they read it? impact
analogies
company objectives
user persona
blog persona
writing style
recurring patterns in popular content pieces
included high traffic keywords

=== TASK 5 – DISTRIBUTION ===

email list

submit to curation sites

repurpose post content
social media
Take key quotes and takeaways

guest posting

distribution models
1. the fan
main hero piece of content on blog
guest posting / pr about related themed stuff everywhere else

=== TASK 5 – PROMOTION ===

influencer marketing
make a list of influencers
actively engage with their content
social media ads
native ads

==== other important things – ESTABLISHING READERSHIP ====

consistency & Scheduling
posting schedule

1.
muli post / part series / theme
individual blogs like groovehq
or income series like dan norris

2.
individual posts (most common)

=== other important things – BLOG MANAGEMENT ===

Roles and responsibilities for. who does this?:
Keyword research
Facts, stats and examples research
Copywriting
Editing
Strategy and editorial calendar governance
Creative
Promotion
Repurposing
Analysis

=== ELEMENT OF THIS POST ===

tick boxes that hide a show elements of a post
strategy for 1 person
“I am one person. it just me”
strategy for a team
“I have a content team”
strategy for
emphasis on content creation without blog design

resources

• http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-strategy-guide
• http://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/lifting-the-fog-of-the-blog/
• http://www.blogtyrant.com/blogging-strategy/
• http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/how-to-blog
• http://www.incomediary.com/advanced-blogging-strategy
• http://www.copyblogger.com/winning-content-strategy/