Sutter Communications

We’re wild about words!

Want to learn to blog or grow your blogging audience?

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Blogging is a great way to express yourself.
Blogging is a great way to express yourself.

Just as my motto for Sutter Communications is “We’re Wild About Words,” I should also add that I’m wild about blogging. I started blogging in 2009 when I worked at the Democrat and Chronicle, and I think it’s a great way to express yourself and share your expertise.

In the last two years, I’ve developed two classes for Writers and Books. Blogging 101 is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8. Blogging 201 will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15.

 

In Blogging 101, we cover these five topics:

  • Mission statement for your blog
  • Elements of a good blog
  • Importance of a great headline
  • Spreading the word via social media
  • Determining if the blog is successful
  • Blogging software

This will be the fifth time I’ve taught this class for Writers and Books, and I’m limiting the class to 10 participants. That allows us to sit around a table and easily discuss blogging. I’ve had some classes of 15 or so people, which has necessitated moving into a small auditorium, and that seems to inhibit interaction.

Blogging 201 is a more advanced class. It’s meant for people who already have a blog or who have taken Blogging 101. In 201, we dive into these areas:

  • Being consistent is job No. 1
  • Following the footsteps of two successful ROC bloggers
  • Developing your tribe
  • Making the most of social media
  • Helping search engines find your blog
  • Making money from your blog

In both classes, I show examples of blogs done well. I find it’s great fun to talk to the people who take my classes to  find out what they are writing about or are interested in writing about — topics have ranged from parenting to spirituality to travel to mental health counseling.

These classes won’t be  offered again until at least March, so if you’re interested, please sign up soon. Just click on the links above.

5 must-read articles to grow your blogging audience

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Some of my Internet research on ways to grow your audience for your blog.
Some of my Internet research on ways to grow your audience for your blog.

Are you spending hours blogging but the response is crickets? I’m going to help Rochester area bloggers with that dilemma in my class Blogging 201 at Writers and Books on Nov. 1.

I’ve been looking for best practices and tips to share with my students, which has meant digging through the Internet (or the “black hole” as I’ve been calling it).

So I thought I’d share links to five articles I’ve found that I consider must-reads for bloggers.

Here they are:

How to write headlines that drive traffic shares and search results by Nathan Ellering. Ellering wrote this for the CoSchedule Blog. He writes about CoSchedule’s amazing headline analyzer, in which you can paste in your blog headline to see how it scores. The analyzer looks at word balance, length of headline and headline type and Ellerby explains what each part means and gives tips on writing better headlines. I am definitely going to start using this tool for all my blog headlines.

Blogging gone bad: 7 mistakes you don’t want to make by Michael Hyatt. Hyatt is my guru on so many topics related to business, blogging and leadership. In this post, he offers ways to fix common mistakes of bloggers including creating posts that aren’t scannable and being inconsistent in your blogging schedule. I always recommend Hyatt as resource to my Blogging 101 students.

3 free tools to help you understand your online audience by Larry Kim. In this blog post for Social Media Today, Kim writes about how so many businesses don’t understand their target audience. That goes for bloggers, too. He gives brief summaries of Google Analytics, Facebook Audience Manager, and Twitter Audience Insights.

How to market with email newsletters posted on the SCORE website. A great way to gather a following to your blog is to collect email addresses, and then send out an email newsletter on a regular basis, which includes links to your blog postings. This posting walks you through how to get started, including explaining how to comply with the the CAN-SPAM Act. The post also includes a link to download a guide. I’m a volunteer mentor with Greater Rochester Chapter of SCORE and the national website of SCORE is a treasure trove of helpful information and webinars.

Facebook Page or Group: The Definitive Answer by Andrea Vahl. I stumbled upon Vahl in one of my “black hole” searches on the Internet, and I’m glad I did. She works with small businesses on their social media. Her posting confirms what I’ve grown to realize: A Facebook Group can be a great way to interact with people of similar interests. Sounds perfect for bloggers, while a Facebook Page is better for branding your business.

If you’re interested in taking Blogging 201, call Writers and Books at (585)-473-2590. Only a few spots were available as of today but I’ll teach the course again in 2017.

6 reasons why blogging can grow your business

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Blogging regularly can grow your business.
Blogging regularly can grow your business.

Are you wanting to make it easier for potential clients to find your business on the Internet?

Then you should consider blogging regularly on your company’s website.

Why should a business owner have a blog? Here are my six key reasons.

Search Engine Optimization.

Every time you post a new blog entry, you create a new indexed page that search engines can display in their posts. So this helps your website rank in search engines and helps people to find your business when they are searching for a product or service.

Establish yourself as an expert.

This gives you credibility with your audience.

Offer “calls to action.”

A blog offers you a place to offer goods and services, whether you are selling them or offering a freebie. Bloggers often offer extremely short e-books or PDFs to people who sign up to follow the blog. This gives you more emails for your outreach.

These next statistics are from HubSpot.

Companies that blog have 55 percent more website visitors.

That’s SEO at work  for you.

B2C companies that blog get 88 percent more leads per month than those that don’t.

Your blog will create interaction with potential customers.

B2B companies that blog get 67 percent more leads per month than those that don’t.

Even other companies are turning to blogs to find expertise to help them with their business needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, I’m teaching Blogging 101 on Oct. 17 at Writers and Books. And on Nov. 1 and Writers and Books, I’m teaching a more advanced class, Blogging 201 for people who already have a blog and want to take it to the next level to grow traffic and interaction. Each of these classes is 2 hours. Click on the links for more details.

On Nov. 12, I’m teaching Blogging for Business through SCORE. This 3-hour class will combine those two, hitting the highlights of each class. Again, click on the link for more info.

If you’re blogging now, I’d love to hear about your successes and where you’d like to grow. And I hope to see you at one of these upcoming classes.