Blog - Basics

Whatever point you’re at blogging wise, whether you’ve just started blogging or you’ve been at it awhile, one popular post can generate a traffic boost to your site and help you land unique leads for your brand. Ideally, a popular post will trigger visitors to explore more content on your site and blog. 

A Headline News Related Topic
If your brand has an angle on something popular going on in the news, write a blog around it. This topic is in the news and already instant web traffic. If you choose a headline with the right keywords, you increase the chances your blog will land in front of unique visitors to your brand. Don’t just reprint the news tho. Fuse your professional opinions and insight into the news of the day and you’ll give readers a spin they’ll be interested in. 

Title
Give your title a lot of thought because it’s key to your article being found and viewed. As I mentioned before, using the right keywords help your blog land in front of people researching the topic. Once you’ve decided on a topic, you’ve got to imagine what phrasings a person might use to find this topic on a search engine and implement those keywords into your blog’s headline. Also, the title is influential because it convinces people to click on your blog. You can’t just fill the title with keywords and wait for the blog hits to appear. The keywords have to appropriately fit into an attractive and intriguing title. 

Imagery
We live in a fast, visual world. Posts that are attractive to the eye and well formatted will influence a reader completing the post or sharing it. Placing applicable images or even a slideshow into the blog will help make your post a visual feast for the reader. 

Post Structure
It’s important your posts are readable. Separate your points so they’re easily readable. If your blog post is one long chunk, readers will often take one look and leave the blog. Utilize bold and italics. Make your points as quickly as possible and try to end the post with a call to action. Give readers a reason to interact with the post, either by telling them what to do next or by encouraging comments or sharing it for you on social media.

A Unique Perspective
Hundreds of millions of blogs exist. You’ve got some steep competition, but the good news is there’s only one you. Try to be authentic to yourself in your writing and set yourself apart from similar blogs. Have fun with your posts. The trick is to get your message across and remain relatable. Special views, facts or quotes invites people to share your blog.. 

Perhaps you don't consider yourself a "techie."  Maybe you've never been and never will be interested in learning programming or web development.  That's ok, but there are some really basic technical skills that you can and should know, in order to function in the 21st century business world.  Here are some of the basics.

E-Mail:  You should have at least one e-mail account that you use mostly for "junk," (this is the one you'll use when you're required to provide an e-mail address but you know you're going to get a lot of spam when you do), one that you use for business (either web-based or through your internet service provider) and one web-based e-mail address that you can use for the social networks.  You should be able to forward your e-mail, and set up auto-responders and filters.  You also need to be able to attach files and photos. Your e-mail provider's "help" functions should be able to provide you with all of the information necessary to learn these basic skills.

Search:  You need to know how to find the information you need on internet search engines.  Here's a great tutorial for learning to do that, or improving your search techniques. 

Reboot and clear your cache:  It's amazing how many minor problems can be "magically" cleared up by re-booting (that's shutting down your computer, and turning it back on), or deleting browser cookies / clearing the browser cache (accessible from the "Tools" tab of your browser toolbar).  It's a good idea to do this before calling any help desk.

Adjust your privacy settings: This is also done from the "tools" tab of your browser.  For some web pages, you'll need to be able to adjust your privacy filter, allow cookies, or allow pop-ups to a lower level for better functionality.  Only lower your privacy filter for sites you trust.

Save, copy and move files:  This is usually done from the "File" menu of your browser.  If you have the file open, you'll click "save" to save your work to the same file, or "save as" to save your work to a new file.  If the file is not open, you can go to "my computer," and either copy or move the files (by clicking and dragging) them to where you want them.

Those are some of the basics.  Can you think of others that you would recommend adding to this list?

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.