Want to start a blog? Awesome! Blogs are not just a way to win new readers, customers, and supporters for your organization. But make no mistake, while blogs are easy and fun to start, they are tough to maintain. How do you get started, and more importantly, how do you keep your blog's content engaging and effective? Key takeaways: Choosing the right blog platform for you Developing a basic content strategy Feeding the content beast: coming up with new post ideas.

1. How make a blog that doesn’t suck

2. I’ve been blogging for 16 years.

3. A lot of those blogs sucked.

4. Why do so many (content
marketing) blogs suck?
1. They offer no value
2. They have no purpose
3. They are ugly

5. Three Tips To Keep Your Blog
From Sucking
1. Think of your audience before yourself
(Who are they? Where are they? What do
they like to read?)
2. Plan ahead – Do a content calendar
3. Make it look good – always keep design
and images as part of your strategy

6. THINKING OF YOUR AUDIENCE

7. •Focus: Consider potential blog topics that you’re interested
in and keep track of associated topics (also helpful
calendar) What don’t you want write about?
•Tone and Voice: Serious, Funny, Candid, Snarky,
Academic?
•Demographics: (Men, Women, 20-somethings? Where do
they live? What do they like? What else do they read?)
Think about your audience

8. Different Platforms, Different Needs
• Are you not super tech-savvy? (Wordpress.com,
Medium, Tumblr)
• Hosting it yourself? (Wordpress.org,
Squarespace)
• Big into social sharing?: (Medium, LinkedIn,
Tumblr)
• Interested in brand building more than
pageviews? (Medium)
• Big into multimedia? (Tumblr)

9. https://blog.bufferapp.com – A
good blog!

10. http://nprinterns.tumblr.com/-
A good blog!

11. https://medium.com/@dhh/
A good blog!

12. PLANNING AHEAD

13. • To generate post ideas and topics
• Assign writing tasks to team
• Helps you maintain a consistent presence online
• Allow you to quick changes with ease
• Visualize your strategy in an easy
• A single point of access for your team
Why Do An Editorial Calendar?

14. • Google Docs
• Google Calendar
• WordPress Editorial Calendar
(https://wordpress.org/plugins/editorial-calendar/)
• Hubspot (http://offers.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-
calendar)
• CoSchedule (http://coschedule.com/editorial-
calendar-template)
Editorial Calendar Resources

16. Writing Tips
• Blogging is about building a community of
readers
• Give your audience context, not just opinion
and show your context with images, links
• Give an old idea a new take
• "Perfect is the enemy of done.” Don’t be
afraid to be “in-progress”
• Focus on specifics

17. • Open Letters
• Lists (Favorite/Least Favorite)
• Looking back onto key time periods of your life
• Photo Prompt/Song Prompt
• Tool/Strategy Roundups
• What The Staff is Reading Now
• Lessons Learned From Big Mistakes
• Detailed “how to”
Blog Post Prompts

21. MAKING IT LOOK GOOD

22. Photo/Image Resources
• Creative Commons Search
• FreeRangeStock.com
• GettyImages.com
• PhotoPin.com
• StockPhotoRights.com
• BigStockPhoto

27. What’s Your Blog Strategy?
•Focus:
•Tone and Voice:
•Target Audience:
•Competition/Affiliates:
•Endgame/Goal:

29. A Blog Strategy – The Learned
Fangirl (2007- Present)
•Focus: A woman-focused blog about pop culture and geek
culture. Not newsy, more essay driven.
•Tone and Voice: Smart but irreverent. A “slightly academic
tone, “slow-read” and not newsy.
•Target Audience: “Gen X/Gen Y Women who went to grad
school in film studies and never use their degree.”
•Competition/Affiliates: Bitch Magazine, Bust Magazine,
The Mary Sue
•Endgame/Goal: Build a platform for women writers doing
smart pop culture criticism. Build a large enough audience
to get ads/sponsorship to pay people.

30. Questions?

31. Thanks!
@kdc
keidrachaney.com