Don’t just have a blog, have a good blog. This presentation is from the Communications FastTrack – NACBA (National Association of Church Business Administration), presented on 7.11.12. Download the notes in PDF format: Everybody has a blog Links to blog posts referenced in the presentation: Preston Trail Community Church blog – The new one, not the free one. :) singleroots.com – “Friends… with Benefits?” post rethinkgood.com – Tom’s versus Bob’s post 10 simple tips to make your blog better right now.
- Use an image: If a picture is worth 1,000 words, and a good word count for a blog is 500, adding a picture is a no-brainer. If written content is king, then images are the queen. 90% of people process visually.
- Organize: If they can’t find it, they can’t read it. Utilize categories, keywords and always have a search option available.
- Make it scannable: Paragraphs, bullet points, lists, quotes, bolded text… People like to choose what they want to read and go in-depth on topics, stories or pieces that interest them.
- Create compelling titles: Create intrigue, stating what it is. I was a guest writer for a single’s Christian blog and my post was titled “Friends… with Benefits?” My post was in the top 5 in traffic and number one in reader interaction.
- Add a question: This starts the conversation and encourages people to comment.
- Add subscriptions: Make sure people can easily subscribe to your blog via email and RSS feeds. This is an immediate action item. If they’re surfing, chances are they won’t remember to go back to your blog.
- Frequency: There are many theories on how often you should post. Too much can be as bad as not enough. Consistency is the key. Once or twice a week is a good place to start. People will get used to your blogging routine.
- Interact: Reply to comments. If you do a poll or ask people for info, make sure you give the results of it. People love to be part of the story, so let them. Make comment approvals necessary. Moderating comments allows you to read before approval, which is also a good time to respond.
- Create an idea list: Create a list of blog topics or post ideas. This not only makes maintaining it easier, but you can have posts pre-written and scheduled.
- Create a plan. Have a plan for your blog. What is it? What it’s not? Everyone in our church had a different view on what our blog content should be. The content should be original, conversational and support the strategy for your blog.
More resources: Blogs:
Websites:
Books:
- Platform by Michael Hyatt
- Who Let the Blogs Out? by Biz Stone
- amazon.com: Search “blog”