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Optimisation 101 for Blogs
Truth be told, most blogs aren't really optimized
for marketing effectiveness. Even more so, some blogs are absolute
marketing machines, but they at the same time fail to fully capitalize
on that fact by not being really optimized marketing-wise.
Blogs may be Web 2.0, but bloggers should not ignore some of the
good old internet direct marketing tactics that have been working
for marketers online almost for a decade or more.
Here are the absolute 101 basics you really shouldn't ignore
...
1. Don't Forget E-Mail Delivery
Bloggers are often abandoning or completely ignoring e-mail as a
tool to deliver their content to their readers. As an RSS evangelist
I certainly believe in using RSS to get your content to the world,
but only as a supplement to e-mail delivery.
While RSS provides us with many unique benefits,
it is yet to reach mainstream adoption. Until it does, marketers
and publishers should not even consider abandoning e-mail delivery,
or risk ignoring most of their potential readership.
If you're still wondering why you need e-mail, consider the potential
you might be wasting without it. Someone visits your blog, likes
the content and would like to be notified as new content of interest
becomes available, and he does not know what RSS is or even care.
If you fail to capture his e-mail address and consent at that exact
moment, he might never again return to your site, either because
he forgets about it or because dozens of other sites capture his
interest even before the next day.
2. E-Zine Publishing Is Still A Must
Publishing a blog is not a replacement for an e-zine. If nothing
else, publish a weekly or monthly e-zine of your top blog posts,
available in a single easy-to-consume format.
Some simply do not have the time to watch your blog regularly and
others will only want to receive a quick summary to get your best
and most crucial content. Publishing an e-mail e-zine will do that
for you, giving you the opportunity to communicate with the
widest possible long-term audience for your blog.
3. E-Mail And RSS Subscriptions
Providing e-mail (e-zine) and RSS subscriptions is important to
the success of any blog. But neither of these will do you much good
if your visitors don't actually see them and if you don't give them
enough incentive to subscribe.
Foremost, display your e-mail e-zine and RSS subscription information
at the top of your blog, instead of somewhere far down where no
one will see them.
And second, use enticing copy to get visitors to
subscribe. Briefly explain the benefits of subscribing, what kind
of content they can expect to receive, and also do not forget about
your privacy disclaimer, calming potential subscribers that you
will never abuse their personal information.
4. Explain RSS
Most internet users still do not know what RSS is or how to use
it, and consequently the RSS buttons on your blog mean absolutely
nothing to them.
To overcome this problem, create a special RSS presentation page
and link to it next to the RSS subscribe button. On that page explain:
- What RSS is
- How the visitor will benefit from using RSS
- Where they can get a free RSS aggregator (recommend one yourself!)
- How they can install it (provide step-by-step instructions)
- How they can subscribe to your RSS feeds
- Why they should subscribe to your own RSS feeds
- Then, on this same page, include the links to all of your RSS
feeds.
5. Top Content
If you update your blog frequently, your less recent top content
keeps being pushed down and down, where most of your blog readers
will never bother to look for it.
Overcome this frequent blog problem by creating a list of your top
posts, clearly displayed and available from each of your pages.
Depending on the topic you cover, you might want to place these
headlines as close to the top of your blog as possible, in order
to quickly entice your new visitors to start reading the best of
what you have to offer and then use this content to convert them
to loyal readers and subscribers.
6. The Headline
The site or blog headline will tell your visitors what to expect
from reading your blog and will answer their key question: "What's
in it for me?"
Make sure that your blog headline gives this reason and a story
inviting enough for your readers to keep reading.
7. Lead Your Visitors To Your MDA
MDA is the Most Desired Action you want your visitors to take on
your site, ranging from a subscription to your e-zine to requesting
more information about your services or ordering your product /
getting more information about it.
Your blog will be of great help in this area, but only if you actually
lead your visitors to this action. Putting this information in your
menu simply is not enough.
Experiment putting some copy for your MDA directly below each blog
post (on your permanent blog post archives pages) and also prominently
in your left- or right-hand columns.
If you're providing multiple services or products, promote each
of them next to the appropriate posts, based on post topics.
And yes, this is more important than having dozens of Google AdSense
ads on your blog ... if you want to use your blog as part of your
marketing mix.
8. Look Different
Blogs are usually not heavily designed and most of them look exactly
the same. While light design is one of the positive sides of blogs,
you should invest some effort in making your blog stand-out visually.
Don't cram it with design, but still make sure it's different than
every other blog in the market.
9. Use Your Own Domain
Having a subdomain.typepad.com type sub-domain might be the easiest
choice, but don't forget that your domain name is your permanent
online address and part of your online brand.
Consequently, invest a couple of dollars to get your own domain
name, to enforce your brand, as well as making it easier for your
readers to access your blog.
10. Don't Forget Your Keywords
What keywords do you want your content and blog to be found under
in the search engines?
Don't forget to implement these keywords in the titles and body
content of your blog posts. I'm not saying you should write your
posts to please the search engines, but at least keep them in mind
and use them when possible, without taking anything away from the
actual content.
11. Interact With Your Readers
If you're blogging for business, don't forget about business oriented
reader interaction.
Mainly, solicit questions from your readers, pertaining to
your field of expertise, and then respond to them via your blog.
Post interesting client case studies. When you get a review, post
it or link to it. And so on ...
12. Blog Specific Promotional Tactics 101
a] Intensively market your RSS feeds
b] Ping the search engines and directories after you update your
blog, using a free service such as http://www.pingomatic.com.
13. Don't Forget About The Content
And of course, none of the above won't make any difference at all
if you don't provide high-quality, interesting and frequent content.
These 13 points are of course only the most basic stuff, but enough
to help you get on the marketing Optimisation train.
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