Sunday, October 30, 2011

IBE Blog Panel Notes



  • Content is king (write what you know)
    • A good blog provides something to its readers
    • A good blog provides content that can’t be found anywhere else
    • Keyword dense, NOT keyword rich, NOT keyword ridiculous
      • I do freelance Web content, so I know: there’s a right way and a wrong way.
      • Ideally your keywords will also be links; i.e. if I mention Aaron Patterson in my blog post, I’ll make that text link to his blog.
      • My blog posts (articles) are 500 - 1000 words and have no more than about 10 links in them. I also try to mention my brand name at least once per blog. This helps with Google rankings and SEO stuff.
    • Design should be clean and conservative
      • The eye naturally starts top left and then sweeps right and down. Bear this in mind when you are choosing your layout.
    • Be honest
      • Honesty = truth, and that’s what makes a writer’s work approachable.
  • Be yourself—Some ideas? For me, this means:
    • Writerly stuff
      • Reviews of dictionaries
      • Reviews of literary fiction and occasional classics
    • Editing insights
      • How to be a Good Writer series
      • What not to do
    • Eclectic editorials
      • Heavy thinking
      • Random thoughts
  • Posting
    • Do it on a consistent schedule
    • You can spread the workload around by inviting other bloggers to guest post on your blog
    • Keep those pageviews up.
      • Blogger has a really nice tool to monitor this
  • I use Blogger because Wordpress is not fun for me and Google products rule
    • The tech trifecta: Google, Apple, Amazon
      • Each one has its strengths and weaknesses
    • Blogger basic features walk through
      • Stats
      • New post
      • Adding images
      • Adding links