BLOGGING TO DRIVE BUSINESS   USE BLOGGING TO SUPERCHARGE SALES, CUSTOMER  LOYALTY, INNOVATION, AND PROFITS Blogging can help you deepen customer loyalty, reach new customers, gain indispensable feedback, and drive more sales. This no-nonsense guide shows how to craft a business blog that does all that, and more—building your business and increasing your profits. Top e-marketers and business bloggers Eric Butow and Rebecca Bollwitt help you define clear goals, generate the right content with the right tools, attract visitors, build communities, and avoid costly mistakes. They draw on their own extensive experience, as well as the work of innovators from companies such as Intel, Starbucks, ING Direct, Procter & Gamble, and Tumblr.     WHATEVER YOUR ROLE IN THE BUSINESS, YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO: Launch a blog that truly represents the best of your business Create a comprehensive, long-term blogging strategy to maximize the return on investment (ROI) from your blog Staff your blogging initiative Integrate blogs with other offline and online marketing programs, including social networking websites Use your blog to drive customers and prospects to the business Push up-to-the-minute information to customers via RSS Build a thriving online community—and learn from what it tells you Manage comments (and decide whether to have them) Operate successful contests and sweepstakes campaigns on your blog Utilize podcasts, vlogs, microblogging, and other new techniques Gain business value from hot new Web 3.0 technologies, including widgets, mashups, personal agents, and the Semantic Web Track your blog performance, spot and respond to trends, and translate and report data you receive from your blog      

Table of Contents:
Introduction ......................................................................1 How This Book Is Organized ........................................................2 Conventions Used in This Book ...................................................3     Web Pages ..................................................................................3     Special Elements ........................................................................4 There’s More Online .......................................................................4   1 Why Are Blogs So Important? Media Growth Is in One Area: Online ........................................6 Get the Message Out .......................................................................7     Blog Popularity ..........................................................................8     Hello, World! .............................................................................9 Promote Products and Services ..................................................11 Reach People ..................................................................................12     Keep Pushing Content ............................................................13     Drive People to the Blog .........................................................14 Crowdsourcing ..............................................................................14 Case Studies....................................................................................15     Intel Inside Scoop Blog ...........................................................15     My Starbucks Idea Blog ..........................................................17   2 Making the Most of Your Blog with Marketing Tools Online Marketing ..........................................................................22     Website .....................................................................................22     Email Marketing ......................................................................22     Social Networks .......................................................................23     Search Engine Optimization and Marketing ......................25     More Work... and Potential Solutions .................................27 Offline Marketing ..........................................................................31 Pushing Information via RSS ......................................................33     Getting Customers to Subscribe............................................34     Taking Care of Your Readers ................................................35 Case Studies....................................................................................36     Katrina Sawa, JumpStart Your Marketing ...........................36     Northern Voice Conference ..................................................38   3 Creating a Blogging Strategy Blogging Platforms ........................................................................42     WordPress.com........................................................................42     TypePad ....................................................................................45     Blogger ......................................................................................46     LiveJournal ...............................................................................46     Posterous Spaces ......................................................................47     Blog Software ...........................................................................48 Finding the Best Blog for Your Business ...................................51     Vlogs ..........................................................................................51     Photoblogs ................................................................................52     Podcast Blogs ...........................................................................52     Tumblelogs ...............................................................................53     Microblogs and Sideblogs ......................................................54     Moblogs ....................................................................................56 Combining Blogs with Other Networking Sites .......................57     Facebook ...................................................................................57     LinkedIn ....................................................................................58     Twitter .......................................................................................59     Google+ .....................................................................................60     YouTube ...................................................................................61     Vimeo ........................................................................................62     Instagram ..................................................................................62     Pinterest ....................................................................................63 Case Studies....................................................................................64     InsuranceMommy.com ..........................................................64     Vancouver Film School (VFS) ...............................................67   4 Blogging Responsibly Listen to Your Audience ..............................................................70     Two-Way Discussions ............................................................70     Listen by Sharing .....................................................................72     Tools to Help You Listen .......................................................74 Comments and Responses ...........................................................79     Comment Forms .....................................................................79     When to Moderate Comments .............................................80     Negative Feedback Can Help You Grow .............................82     Deal with Negative Feedback ................................................82 Avoid Slip-Ups ..............................................................................83     Form a Game Plan ..................................................................84     Think About Fixes Before Slip-Ups Happen ......................86     Implement Fixes Quickly .......................................................87 Case Studies....................................................................................87     Molson Coors Brewing Company ........................................88     ING Direct’s Direct Talk Blog ...............................................90   5 Choosing a Blog Topic Build Blog Posts .............................................................................94     Themed Topics ........................................................................94     Include Photos .........................................................................95 Write Blogs for the Wider World ...............................................97     Create an Industry Resource Blog ........................................97     Create an Online Community .............................................100 Create an Internal Blog (or Blogs) for Your Company .........102     Keep People Informed ..........................................................102     Internal Blogs for Project Management .............................103     Product Blog (External) ........................................................104 Case Study: Procter & Gamble’s Man of the House ..............106 Case Study: CafePress .................................................................107   6 Designing Your Blog Understanding the Function of Your Blog .............................110     Readability Is Functionality .................................................110     The Functions of Color and Text .......................................110 Designing for Your Blog Audience ..........................................112 Finding Themes and Templates ................................................113     WordPress ..............................................................................113     Tumblr ....................................................................................114     Blogger ....................................................................................115     Other Blog Platforms ............................................................116     Tips for Editing Your Theme to Drive Business ..............116 Case Studies..................................................................................117     Tumblr Staff Blog ..................................................................118 Case Study: Ree Hammond, Pioneer Woman ........................119   7 Who Will Write the Blog? Writing from Within a Company.............................................122     Identifying Authors ...............................................................122     Client Services and Tech Support .......................................126     Authentic Content .................................................................127 Hiring a Blogger ..........................................................................128     Tips for Hiring a Blogger .....................................................129     Hiring a Blogger from Your Industry ................................130     Create a Blogging Position ...................................................131 Case Studies..................................................................................134     Linda Bustos: An Elastic Blog from Elastic Path ..............134     Rob Jones: BuildDirect Blog ................................................137   8 Getting Eyeballs to Your Blog Writing Effectively ......................................................................142     Editing for Word Count and Brevity .................................142     Sound Human ........................................................................144 Reading Blogs Helps You Write Blogs .....................................145     Commenting—More than Leaving a Calling Card ..........145     Blogger Outreach ...................................................................146     Linking Out to Get Incoming Links ...................................148     Search Engine Optimization ................................................148     Blogrolls ..................................................................................149     Linking to Other Blog Posts ................................................150 Write Interesting Content ..........................................................150     Highlight Industry Players ...................................................150     Company Profiles ..................................................................152 Being Searchable ..........................................................................153     Check Your Current Rank ...................................................154     Clean URLs .............................................................................154     Keywords and Tags ...............................................................154 Promotion ....................................................................................155     Social Media Networks .........................................................156     Announcing Your Blog Launch to Other Communities .156     Target Your Newsletter Members ......................................156     Press Releases .........................................................................157 Case Study: Vancouver Opera .............................................157 Case Study: Translink’s Buzzer Blog ........................................159   9 Getting Interactive with Multimedia Blogging Content for All .............................................................................164     Images .....................................................................................164     Videos......................................................................................168     Audio .......................................................................................169     Slideshows ..............................................................................171 Private or Members-Only Content...........................................172 Podcasting ....................................................................................172     Creating and Promoting Podcasts ......................................173     Show Notes .............................................................................174     Music .......................................................................................174     Editing and Publishing .........................................................174 Screencasts ....................................................................................176     Create and Promote Screencasts .........................................177 Contests on Blogs ........................................................................177     Prizing .....................................................................................178     Blog Contest Services ............................................................178     Legal Items for Consideration .............................................179     Select Winners .......................................................................180     How to Measure Success ......................................................181     Run a Contest with a Blogger ..............................................181 Case Study: Blendtec ...................................................................181   10 Taking Advantage of Web 3.0 Blogs An Overview of Web 3.0 Technologies ...................................186     Wikipedia ...............................................................................188     APIs and Widgets ..................................................................189 Mash It Up! ..................................................................................190     Integrate Semantic Technologies ........................................192     Make Agents Work for Your Blog ......................................193 Go Mobile .....................................................................................194     Understand Smartphone and Tablet Differences .............195     Smartphone Moblogs ............................................................197     Tablet Moblogs ......................................................................199 Case Studies..................................................................................202     UrbanSpoon.com ..................................................................202     HootSuite for the iPad ..........................................................205   11 Maximizing Your Blog’s ROI What’s Your Online Influence? ................................................210 Put Together Your Strategy .......................................................212     The Tools You Need .............................................................213     Tie Your Blog and Other Marketing         Strategies Together ..........................................................215     Present Your Recommendations ........................................218 Track Your Blog Performance ..................................................220     Set Up Tracking Tools ..........................................................220     Getting the Right Data ..........................................................225     Translate and Report Data ...................................................228 Trend Watching ..........................................................................229     Spotting One or More Trends .............................................229     What Does It Mean? .............................................................230 Case Studies..................................................................................231     6S Marketing ..........................................................................231     Autonomy ROI Blog Tracking ............................................235   A Important Blogging Sites Technorati ....................................................................................239 Icerocket .......................................................................................240 Google Blog Search .....................................................................240 News Aggregators .......................................................................241 Podcatchers ..................................................................................242 Ping Search Engines ....................................................................243 Want to Advertise on Blogs? .....................................................244 Getting More Blog Traffic ..........................................................245 Software as a Service Product ....................................................247   B Moblogging Apps Smartphones ................................................................................251     iPhone Apps ...........................................................................251     Android Apps ........................................................................254 Tablets ...........................................................................................257     iPad Apps ................................................................................257     Android Apps ........................................................................259   Index