the Portal

Like many people before me, I began blogging with a lot of vim and vigor . . .  and no earthly clue how much I still didn’t know. The blog went dormant and I’ve spent the last year studying, interviewing, watching some of the giants at the craft. I’m even “accredited” now — having just attended the first-ever WordCamp Houston. I hope these lessons, painfully learned, will help my blog [and yours] have more of an impact.

1) Your blog [or web site] IS your brand.

If you’ve followed any of the flukey or capricious changes in Facebook over the past year, it’s clear someone other than us is calling the shots. Facebook is an important branding channel for many small businesses and individuals. But we can’t be sure it (or LinkedIn or Twitter) will always be there, or be what we need them to be. You need your own place, where clients, family, friends can always find you. It needn’t be elaborate, or “glitzy.” But you DO need to stake out your own turf, your own introduction to Brand You.

Happily, blogs are also a great way for small businesses to build visibility beyond their size and reach. Compared to a static web site that doesn’t change so often, a blog is a great way to get noticed and build buzz.

2) Get Your Ducks In a Row

Give some thought to your image and marketing strategy before you begin. Have you chosen a theme you can live with? Have you at least uploaded photos and graphics to brand it as yours? Have you worked out your keywords and search engine optimization (SEO) strategy? If you’re using WordPress, a great tool for that is All in One SEO. Google Keywords is a great place to research words and phrases that describe your niche. And one of the best places to learn how to put it all together is Daily Blog Tips. The home page index will lead you to whatever you’re trying to do and provide lots of ideas where to go next.

3) Content is King

Don’t over think all this. If you’re anything like me, you can spend forever tweaking the theme, playing with plug-ins, trying to find just the right “long tail” keywords to get your blog noticed. All of which buys you time to avoid putting the rubber on the road. Get on with it. Tell us who you are, what kind of work you do, and why we should spend time together. What people really notice, and the point of it all, is to put out good content that expresses your best self.

In your spare time, however, spend some time visiting other blogs. You’ll see links to them all over Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Take note of what you like, the people you find there, and what features you might like to incorporate into your own. Strike up a conversation with the author and ask them how they did it. Just by doing so, you’ll most likely increase your own blog’s visibility. (See Lesson 4.)

4) Comments Matter

Comments are a powerful and overlooked buzz builder. As a blogger, you want to encourage comments, and answer them, as a way of further planting and reinforcing keywords the search engines will notice. The reason to comment on others’ blogs is to make friends, support good work and, again, get noticed by the search engines. You may attract some followers. Or, at a minimum, by providing a URL address when you log in, you’re further raising your own blog’s profile. Sign in with your real name also, to reinforce your identity.

Make sure your comment really says something. A lot of blog readers read comments as well as posts. Don’t squander the air time with an empty compliment. Instead, offer a different take on the thoughts expressed, or add to them. If you take issue with something, do it respectfully and diplomatically. Especially if leaving comments on a blog with high readership. Otherwise, when someone Googles your name, they may find your snarky remarks ahead of your own carefully-crafted (but lower ranking) content.

5) Take It Seriously

Wait to promote your blog and tweak your SEO until after you’ve gotten into a steady posting rhythm. Have three or four posts published and another two or three in rough draft before you start calling attention to yourself. Biggest mistake I made last time was to promote too soon, before I had my sea legs under me.

Treat your blog like any other publication or marketing program (and it’s really both of those). Set up an editorial calendar. Then stick to it. It’s okay to insert a new, fast-breaking story into the mix and move other things down. Not okay to let the whole thing slide for a few days. They say it takes a good 21 days to firmly establish a new habit. My own experience tells me you can fall out of that habit in a heartbeat.

6) Follow Smart People

Whether we’re talking Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn or blogs, if you’re lucky they’ll follow you back. Even if they don’t, you’ll learn something and meet other cool people along the way. You’ll notice some of my favorite smart people in the blogroll at right, mostly people I’ve actually met. Some others I hope to meet, who put out consistently strong content are these:

• chrisbrogan.com — “how human business works, beyond social media” from one of the brightest people in business today
• Daily SEO Tip — a wealth of accessible, usable info from two veteran search engine marketers
• Personal Branding Blog, by Dan Schawbel — an assortment of consistently great content to help small businesses grow their brand

7) Know When to Stop

I still wrestle with this one. The point to having a sustainable blogging plan is for it to be … sustainable. Don’t waste all your ammo on the first post (or the first twenty). Parcel out your ideas and wisdom in digestible doses. This ain’t easy. It takes more effort to say less, and say it well, than it does to ramble on. For today, this particular effort, I think we’re done here.

Good luck with your own project! And let me hear from you — especially if you’re willing to share some of your own hard-earned blogging lessons.