Looking for some ideas to simplify your content creation process?

What follows are 26 tips, from A-Z, to help you create optimal blog posts every time you sit down to write.

#1: Anatomically Correct

A blog post contains several areas that require our attention and care. Pamela Seiple refers to six parts of the anatomy of a lead-generating blog post:

• Eye-catching title
• In-text links to landing pages
• Sidebar/banner calls to action
• Social sharing buttons
• Call to action at the bottom
• Relevancy—making sure the post is relevant from top to bottom

Parts of the blog anatomy.

Example of more anatomical parts to include in your blog posts.

#2: Blogging Platform

By knowing the ins and outs of your blogging platform, you’ll ensure that your posts look as good as they can. Take the time to master the visual editor (or raw HTML, if you prefer) so that you know how to format a post, insert an image and embed a video or podcast.

Whether you’re working in platforms such as WordPress, Tumblr or Posterous, it’s good to stay up to date on the features and new versions.

If you’re not comfortable with the more technical aspects of blogging, try to find someone who can be a resource for you to answer questions as they arise.

WordPress' editor where you can toggle between visual and HTML editing functions.

#3: Categories

Whether your new blog post is a stand-alone article or part of a series you’re writing, it should fit into your blog categories as well as your overall corporate content strategy. Meaning that you want to stay on topic and have your posts fit into the categories you’ve established.

For example, HubSpot has nine categories on their blog. Posts are written to fit in with each of these categories. Writing about category topics such as analytics, blogging, email marketing, HubSpot TV, etc., allows both readers and writers to stay focused on what they can expect to see on HubSpot’s blog.

When you choose your categories, ask yourself, do they make sense, and do they fit into the objectives of my business? Having clearly defined blog categories will help you continue generating meaningful content and topics for your blog.

Write posts that fit into your categories.

#4: Description

Most search engines will use a maximum of 160 characters for your post description on their results pages. If you don’t create a meta-description (defined as a “…concise summary of your page’s content”), a search engine will often take the first 160 characters it finds on your page instead.

Note too, that when you create a meta-description that is fewer than 160 characters, you’ll see the full description in the search engine. Otherwise it will be cut off.

An example of a meta-description created within the All-In-One SEO Pack plugin in WordPress.

An example of how a post's description appears in Google search results with and without the meta-description.

#5: Editorial Calendar

Bloggers find editorial calendars helpful for scheduling and organizing topics for posts. Some people use their calendars to track more elaborate details.

Michele Linn suggests using specific tabs in a spreadsheet to track info for each post such as: post date, author, tentative title, keywords, categories, tags, call to action and status. She says “By tracking more than topic and date it will help to make sure the key elements you need for SEO, digital optimization and conversion are accounted for.”

Download a sample editorial calendar worksheet.

An example of a template for a master editorial calendar as shown by Michele Linn.

#6: Fine-Tune and Revise

Like other forms of writing, a blog post is rarely completed in one draft. Many writers find it helpful to take a post through several revisions and fine-tune the post as you go along. Check grammar, spelling and punctuation, and make certain that all of your links are working.

#7: Guidelines for Writing for Search Engines

By following a few tips and best practices, you can increase the chance that your blog post will be found by search engines—by Google in particular.

The State University of New York at Plattsburgh offers these helpful writing tips:

• Google likes text
• Google likes formatting
• Google likes freshness
• Google likes accessibility
• Google likes outbound hyperlinks
• Googlebot isn’t psychic, so remember to link your pages
• Google likes you to tell it where you are
• Google likes experts

#8: Headings

Joost de Valk offers some good suggestions regarding blog headings. He writes, “The heading structure of your pages is one of the very important aspects of on-page SEO. It defines which parts of your content are important, and how they’re interconnected. Because they have different goals, a single post needs another heading structure than your blog’s homepage or your category archives.”

He offers five basic principles about heading structure:

• The most important heading on the page should be the H1
• There is usually only one H1 on any page
• Subheadings should be H2s, sub-subheadings should be H3s, etc.
• Each heading should contain valuable keywords; if not, it’s a wasted heading
• For longer pieces of content, a heading is what helps a reader skip to the parts that he/she finds interesting

Headings should contain valuable keywords.

#9: Images

Blog posts are made up of more than words and headings.

Judy Dunn recommends five ways the right photo can increase readership and blog views:

• Convey the overall feeling or emotion of your post
• Illustrate a metaphor or analogy that is part of your main idea
• Evoke surprise or curiosity
• Complement your headline
• Make your reader smile

Judy points out too that readers are visual learners and images can help people take in and retain information better.

#10: Journalistic Approach

Bloggers can learn a lot from traditional journalists and the ways that they approach their news stories.

Mickie Kennedy offers five things that bloggers can learn from journalists:

• Get your facts straight
• Trust has to be earned
• Give credit to your sources
• The inverted pyramid works (basic overview in first paragraph and then delve into more details in subsequent paragraphs)
• Editing and proofreading are essential

As shown on Wikipedia.org

#11: Killer SEO and Blog Design

Cyrus Shepard makes an important case for having a beautiful blog. He says, “…the overall design of your site is the first thing visitors see and it significantly influences bounce rate, page views and conversions.”

Cyrus suggests that certain elements on the page will add to a blog’s success:

• Search box
• RSS feed
• Breadcrumbs (helping users navigate),
• Flat site architecture by minimizing the number of clicks it takes to reach your content
• Images
• Keep your best content above the fold
• Link to your best content
• Don’t overdo links
• Watch ad space
• Encourage comments
• Add sharing buttons
• Test the blog for speed
• Check your blog in different browsers
• Pick a powerhouse blogging platform (e.g., WordPress, Posterous, Tumblr)

For a resource that will help remind you of these killer SEO suggestions, check out Cyrus’ infographic, Blog Design for Killer Search Engine Optimization.

#12: Lists

Lists have become a very popular type of blog post.

Nate Riggs offers three types for bloggers to consider: brief, detailed and hybrid lists.

The brief list has little description but can entice readers to bookmark the post to use the list as a resource down the road or to share it across their own networks.

In a detailed list, each bullet is a complete thought and serves as a good way to communicate complex information.

The hybrid list combines the elements of short and detailed lists, often with descriptive narratives or explanations in paragraphs between the actual lists.

Nate’s post has a lot of useful information about lists as a powerful content marketing tactic and is a good example of a hybrid list.

#13: Metrics for Blogging

Magdalena Georgieva identifies five metrics to keep an eye on to know how your blogging is going: visitors, leads, subscribers, inbound links and social media shares.

As Magdalena says, “Measure the performance of your business blog regularly to identify weaknesses in the content you’re producing, what topics your audience truly cares about, and what blogging tactics work for you.”

When you find topics and approaches that work particularly well, try to replicate those efforts and be willing to let go of features that aren’t performing well. Magdalena recommends looking at your five most successful blog posts and asking, “What do they have in common?”

#14: Names, Titles and Bio

Not only are readers interested in the content in your blog post, they also want to know who wrote the post and their role at your organization.

Sometimes you’ll come across a thoroughly researched and well-written post only to find an attribution of “admin.” Even if the blog is only written by you and you’re the administrator of the blog, be sure to include your name, title and a way for readers to contact you.

#15: Original vs. Curated Content

The type of post you write can contain completely original content or can consist of content that you’ve curated.

Pamela Seiple addresses the issue of curated content and makes an important point when she says, “There’s a misconception among marketers that curated content is lazy and unoriginal, but we think it’s the complete opposite. It takes time and careful evaluation to create quality curated content and the result is oftentimes a very valuable piece of content that helps people seeking information on a given topic to cut through the clutter on the web and save time.”

The 26 tips series here on Social Media Examiner is an example of curated posts, pulling in the expertise of others who have written on the topic. As a curator of this kind of post, I love the journey of the research and find it especially rewarding to see the content pulled together in a way that hadn’t been previously available. Curated posts can be incredibly gratifying!

#16: Publish and Promote

Kristi Hines speaks about the publishing and promoting stages of creating a successful blog post. Kristi says that one thing you want to do during the publishing stage is to ensure that your post has some kind of call to action. “Think about what you want people to do once they’ve read the post….”

Promoting a blog post can involve a fair amount of thought and strategy, as you’ll see from Kristi’s approach. She has a different plan in place for “averagely awesome posts, awesome posts and killer awesome posts.”

What differs for the three types of posts is how many social networks she shares the posts with, whether she includes the post in her writing portfolio and whether it’s included in her custom RSS feed or utilizes blog commenting promotion and direct messaging partners in social media to see if they’ll help spread the word.

Kristi describes promotion as taking from a few minutes to a few hours, and recommends taking the time to build a good foundation before you expect to execute a successful blog promotion.

#17: Questions

What are you going to write about post after post, week after week, year after year? Sometimes thinking about content for your blog can seem daunting.

Lee Odden offers a great piece of advice: “One particularly effective way to get content ideas for blogging comes from reviewing web analytics for the kinds of questions people type into search engines like Google or Bing that deliver visitors.”

In one example, Lee said that he noticed that numerous visitors each month were typing in the question “What does a community manger do?” and search engines were sending them to one of his posts about that topic. He used it as an opportunity to explore other related questions about social community managers and providing content in the form of answers.

What questions are your web visitors asking before they arrive on your pages? How can you maximize your content to answer readers’ questions?

#18: Research

Well-researched blog posts can differentiate your content from your competitors’. Being known as a go-to source in your industry will help make your blog stand out. Where do you go to research posts?

I find that utilizing a variety of sources helps me gather the information I’m seeking.

For example, while I can often find a lot of useful content via web-based searches, sometimes there’s nothing like a visit to the library or a bookstore where I often will discover a helpful book on the shelf that I wouldn’t have known existed if I hadn’t been standing there physically eyeballing them.

Oli Gardner makes a good case for using social media research for your blog posts. He suggests ten social media research strategies:

• StumbleUpon
• Infographics
• Twitter real-time searches
• Facebook events
• Experts who are using LinkedIn
• Uncovering quotes with Delicious
• Letting users tell you within the comments section of your blog and others
• Creating roundup mega-lists with Delicious and StumbleUpon
• Apps on Facebook
• Delicious and Google Marketplace
• YouTube and the UrbanDictionary

#19: Stand Out

When you’ve been blogging in a competitive marketplace for a while, chances are good that you’ll see other bloggers writing on topics similar to yours. It doesn’t mean that you have to stay away from the topic completely; rather you can use it as an opportunity to see what worked and didn’t work in their post and write yours in a way that will help you to stand out in the topic area.

By reading the comments on similar blog posts, you will get a great view of what questions and thoughts people had after reading the post and you can take a slightly different angle by making sure you cover those areas in your article.

#20: Title

How important is the title of your blog post? Simply put, very important!

Brian Clark writes that the title is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader.

He says, “Without a headline or post title that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist.

But a headline can do more than simply grab attention. A great headline can also communicate a full message to its intended audience, and it absolutely must lure the reader into your body text.”

An example of an eye-catching title from copyblogger.com.

#21: User-Centered Content

Possibly one of the worst mistakes a blog post can make is missing the mark of its readers, forgetting who they are and their needs and interests.

Georgy Cohen goes as far as to say that content can serve as customer service and that to be helpful, content should be user-focused (asking what our users’ problems and priorities are), communicated clearly and presented in succinct language.

#22: Valuable Content

In the perfect blogging world, creating valuable content would be at the top of every blogger’s list for their post objectives.

While our definitions about valuable content may vary, Ahava Leibtag has created a very helpful step-by-step checklist that reminds us to ask five questions:

• Can the user find the content
• Can the user read the content
• Can the user understand the content
• Will the user want to take action
• Will the user share the content

She suggests:

• Findable content includes: an H1 tag; at least two H2 tags; metadata including title, descriptors and keywords; links to other related content; alt tags for images.
• Readable content includes: an inverted-pyramid writing style, chunking, bullets, numbered lists, following the style guide.
• Understandable content includes: an appropriate content type (text, video), indication that you considered the users’ persona, context, respect for the users’ reading level, articulating an old idea in a new way.
• Actionable content includes: a call to action, a place to comment, an invitation to share, links to related content, a direct summary of what to do.
• Shareable content includes: something to provoke an emotional response, a reason to share, a request to share, an easy way to share, personalization.

Download the checklist for future reference.

Ahava Leibtag's Valuable Content Checklist.

#23: Word Count

How many words should you have in your blog post? Some blogs have set parameters for optimal length and put a value on whether a post is short or long.

Corey Eridon has an interesting perspective on word count and suggests that focusing on blog word count might not be as important as you think it is. “Some topics take 100 words to explain, some take 1,000, and that’s okay.”

Corey suggests that writers focus instead on whether posts are optimized for mobile, use effective formatting, communicate in a clear manner and that outlining the points you want to cover may ultimately be a better use of your time and energy.

If you’re restricted to shorter posts by the parameters set up in advance for your blog, then you could also follow Corey’s advice to link to longer-form content you’ve developed around the topic.

Bottom line: Don’t let the quantity of words dictate the quality of your post.

#24: (E)xcerpt

On the heels of our discussion about blog word count, a shorter blog post can also be an excerpt or summary of what readers will find in your longer-form content—e.g., eBook or white paper—but it needn’t be restricted to words.

You can also use an excerpt of the transcript or a brief description to demonstrate what information the users will learn if they watch your video or listen to your podcast.

Mike Stelzner provides great excerpts from his expert interviews on Social Media Examiner.

#25: Your Story

Readers like to get to know how writers tick and often appreciate hearing a few personal details and insights from the person who has taken them on a journey through a post. While business blogs shouldn’t be thought of as personal journal entries, you can tell your readers a little bit about how you operate.

For example, I stated above that writing curated posts like the 26 tips series here on Social Media Examiner is one of my favorite types of posts to write. (Truth be told, curated posts are also some of my favorite types to read.)

In the description of “research” above, I also shared how research is one of my favorite parts of blogging and how I enjoy researching both online and offline by doing the footwork of visiting libraries and bookstores in search of materials.

What parts of yourself are you willing and able to share with your readers?

#26: Zone for Writing

Ideas for blog posts come at all times—when you’re driving in your car, sitting at your desk, and yes, even in the middle of the night!

Chances are good though that the actual writing of the post will happen in multiple drafts and revisions, and depending on how you work, it may take place over a period of days.

What can be helpful is to create a time and place where you can get into the zone for writing and allow yourself to go with it, with as few interruptions as possible.

What do you think? How do you keep your blog posts consistent and dynamic? What tips would you add? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

What’s New This Week?

Nearly Half of Small Businesses Use Social Media Marketing: Check out the results of this Zoomerang survey.

"Nearly half of the surveyed SMBs utilize social media to market to customers; of those, an overwhelming majority (86%) have Facebook accounts."

Klout Releases New Scoring Model: These changes are to “help you understand changes in your influence. This project represents the biggest step forward in accuracy, transparency and our technology in Klout’s history.” And most cases, people’s Klout scores have gone done. What do you think about this change?

"These changes are a significant milestone in the Klout Score’s evolution."

Google+ Integrates With Blogger: You now have the option to “replace your Blogger profile with your Google+ profile.”

Bloggers who switch will automatically get access to the Google+ integrations rolling out in the future.

StumbleUpon Shares Life Cycle of a Web Page on StumbleUpon: Discover how StumbleUpon can impact traffic to your website.

The average Stumble session lasts 69 minutes.

Here are a couple of social media tools worth noting:

Zooshia: The first social widget which enables websites and blog owners to mix feeds from across the social web from multiple platforms (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube).

With Zooshia, you can group your social feeds together and embed them onto your blog or website.

Vidcaster: This tool allows you to create your own branded video-based websites—so instead of publishing your video on YouTube, for example, you can publish it on your very own branded video site.

With Vidcaster, you are in full control of the viewing experience.

What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

What’s New This Week?

The New Delicious Is Here: Avos acquired Delicious from Yahoo! earlier this year and is now opening the new version. Check out the new Stack feature below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcgtFUN8bgE

Blogger Modernizes Blogging With Dynamic Views: With the latest in web technology (AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3), this latest improvement to Google’s Blogger platform creates a whole new blogging experience. Be sure to check out Dynamic Views in the video below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpDQF2lFnBU

Google+ Lets You Share Your Circles With Others: You can now share your Google+ Circles. People will not see the name you give your circle and they will not see any changes you make to your Circle after sharing it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiYSklcTk6w

SlideShare Slides Now Work on Mobile: Thanks to the new upgrade to HTML5 technology, your slides will display flawlessly on an iPhone, iPad, Android and any other mobile platform.  “All slides uploaded from today on will be converted to HTML5. As before, they will faithfully reproduce what is in the original Powerpoint, Keynote, PDF, document or any of the 28 formats we support.”

Groupon Creates a Loyalty Program for Businesses: With the new Groupon Rewards program, you can automatically reward customers based on how much your customers spend.

"Consumers earn rewards at participating merchants simply by paying with the credit or debit card they have on file at Groupon.com."

Here’s an interesting infographic to check out:

Here’s 60 Seconds of Social Media Sharing:

Check out how much information is shared on social media in one minute.

And don’t miss this:

Social Media Examiner presents Facebook Success Summit 2011! (online conference starts next week!)

Watch this video from Mike Stelzner (founder of Social Media Examiner).

Join 19 Facebook marketing experts at the web’s largest Facebook marketing conference. This is a special online conference designed to help you master Facebook marketing (brought to you by Social Media Examiner). Join Guy Kawasaki; Mari Smith; Dave Kerpen; Paul Dunay; Jesse Stay; Robert Scoble; Michael Stelzner; experts from Intuit, PETCO, Applebee’s and Intel; Jay Baer; Chris Treadaway; Amy Porterfield and Andrea Vahl—just to name a few. Go here to learn more.

What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

There are lots of blogs today, which means that people have many places where they can go to learn new things.

If you don’t make people feel welcome, they may read and dash without leaving a comment.

Here are 7 ways you can encourage your readers to leave comments.

Tip #1: Check your blog comments settings

Do you make it easy for someone to leave a comment?

That might sound like a crazy question until you look closely at the comments settings available in the two most popular blogging platforms, WordPress and Blogger. Both platforms give you options for limiting who can post comments on your blog without really explaining the impact of your choices.

Every business has a unique situation, so you need to consider your business blog comments options carefully. In general, I recommend that you make it easy for people to comment and (nearly) impossible for spammers to comment.

So how do you do that?

On WordPress blogs:

• Make it easy for people to comment by only requiring commenters to provide their name and email address.

The WordPress comment settings appear on the Discussion Settings page.

This WordPress comment option makes it easy for people to comment on your blog.

• Make it difficult for spammers to comment by turning on comment moderation for first time commenters. This option requires the blog administrator to approve the first comment from everyone. WordPress automatically approves any other comments posted by the same person.

This WordPress comment option requires the blog administrator to approve the first comment from everyone.

On Blogger blogs:

• Make it easy for people to comment by selecting the option to let anyone comment.

This Blogger comments setting makes it easy for people to add comments to your blog posts.

• Make it difficult for spammers to comment by turning on the word verification setting. People must type a word displayed on the screen to successfully submit a comment. Because most comment spammers are computer programs, they can’t complete this typing test.

This Blogger comment option requires everyone to pass a simple typing test before posting a comment to greatly reduce comment spam.

Tip #2: Ask for comments

At the end of your blog post, always ask the reader to leave a comment. It’s like telling someone a story and then saying, “Well, what do you think?”

I recommend that you write a customized comment request statement at the end of each blog post. Rather than writing a generic statement (“Post your comments below”), be specific. Write a unique comment request based on the blog post content.

An example of a blog post asking for reader comments.

Tip #3: Write a blog comment policy

It’s your blog. You can set the rules for what makes a safe conversation zone for your community. What you choose depends on your business and your community, along with your own sensibilities.

For example, the blog for a pub might allow more colorful language than a blog for home schooling.

When defining your comment policy, think about these factors:

• Do you allow people to promote their own businesses?
• Do you allow negative comments? And where do you draw the line?
• Do you allow people to disagree with your opinions?
• Will you correct language and grammar mistakes?

Check out other people’s blog comment policies while you are writing your own conversation zone rules. See how they handle challenging situations to inspire your own solutions.

Tip #4: Provide comment instructions

Do you moderate comments from first-time commenters? Do you have a blog comment policy? Why not include this information right next to the Submit button for your comments?

This type of just-in-time information helps a new blog commenter to get the information she needs to feel confident before placing her first comment.

An example of comment instructions added to the blog post page template.

You may need to get technical support to get your instructions added to your blog post page template. However, once it is in place, it appears automatically on every post, even the ones you have already published.

Tip #5: Respond to comments

While building your blog community, you should respond to every blog comment. It shows people that you are paying attention and that you respect your community.

You want to reply to comments quickly after they post. Most blogging software allows you to set up email notifications when new comments appear. You don’t have to respond immediately, but you should respond within one business day.

Conversations build relationships. Your reply to a comment continues the conversation and builds the relationship further. The more you build relationships within your community, the more they care about you and your business. It’s human nature.

Tip #6: Make people feel good about their comments

What you say when you respond to a comment makes a huge difference in how that person feels about your online community. Your attitude and opinion of their comment leaks through in your word choices and the points you make.

An example of replying to a comment so the person feels good about her comment.

Welcome divergent opinions. To build a community around your blog, you need a thick skin to protect you from people who don’t agree with you. But it goes even deeper than that. You need to welcome divergent opinions. You need to appreciate that everyone has a unique life experience that leads him or her to different conclusions. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean that anyone is wrong or right. It just means you have different opinions.

The commenter criticized my decision to highlight a company in my blog and found fault with their Facebook page. I didn't argue over his points or defend my choice.

I’ve talked to bloggers who complain about “blog trolls,” these bloggers’ label for people who disagree with their opinions. There are real blog trolls out there—people who argue, make nasty comments about people rather than debating ideas and always want to prove you are wrong and they are right. But someone who merely expresses a different opinion isn’t a blog troll. It’s an important distinction for you to make.

Tip #7: Build community with your replies

Bring a sense of appreciation to your blog comments and to your commenters. They didn’t have to read your post. They didn’t have to leave a comment. In fact, they don’t have to be part of your community. They chose these things.

Always look for something smart in every blog comment, a great point that you can reply to even if you don’t agree with the commenter’s opinion. You’ve had your say in the post. Now, listen to their opinions and leave a reply that makes commenters feel good about you, your business and your online community. You do that by making them feel great about their comment.

Building community through blog post replies is a skill, and it’s something you can learn to do better. Read a lot of blogs and pay careful attention to the comments and replies. When you find bloggers who excel at making the commenters feel good, study what they say. Hang out on their blogs. Engage them through Twitter or email to ask them how they think about their blog comment replies. They might tell you something that changes the way you reply to everyone.

It’s Your Turn

What do you think? How do you encourage people to leave comments on your blog? Have you posted comments on a blog where you felt appreciated and welcome? Share your experience and insights in the comments box below.

What’s New This Week?

HootSuite Enhances Facebook Management: The popular scheduling tool HootSuite now supports Facebook Groups and Events, exclusive search streams, plus photo uploading directly to Facebook. Hootsuite has also enhanced refreshed the process for posting to Pages and Profiles.

Facebook Streamlines the Photo Viewer Tool:  Facebook has made a few changes to their photo viewer, including bigger photos (720 pixels to 960 pixels) that load faster.

In response to user feedback, the Facebook photo viewer is now set against a white background.

Facebook Ends Facebook Deals After 4 Months: Facebook Deals was launched in a few cities last April. This daily deal product (similar to Groupon) was only available in those cities and has now been discontinued. As Mari Smith notes, this is not the same as Facebook’s Check-In Deals which remain in service.

Blogger Gets a Fresh New Look: Google has refreshed their blogging platform.  Blogger has both a new design and improved functionality.

In the new “Overview” section of your dashboard, you’ll be able to quickly see how people are reacting to your blog.

Here are some social media tools worth noting:

Jig: A new site where you post your needs and get replies from others.

Simply tell others what you need.

Zaarly: An innovative social networking platform.

.

TweetResponder: This tool allows you to send direct messages on Twitter to multiple followers at once.

You can also schedule up to 10 follow-up messages.

And don’t miss this:

Social Media Examiner presents Facebook Success Summit 2011! (online conference coming in October–save 50% until Sep. 15th!)

Watch this video from Mike Stelzner (founder of Social Media Examiner).

Join 19 Facebook marketing experts at the web’s largest Facebook marketing conference. This is a special online conference designed to help you master Facebook marketing (brought to you by Social Media Examiner).

Join Guy Kawasaki; Mari Smith; Dave Kerpen; Paul Dunay; Jesse Stay; Robert Scoble; Michael Stelzner; experts from Intuit, PETCO, Applebee’s and Intel; Jay Baer; Chris Treadaway; Amy Porterfield and Andrea Vahl—just to name a few. Go here to learn more.

What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

Chris shares the foundation pieces you need to build a successful business blog and explains how to create killer content to engage your audience and get the results you want from blogging.  Chris also talks about the role blogs play within a good social media ecosystem and how this helps you connect with your audience.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• Know why you want to blog, who you’re creating the content for and what you want to get out of it
• Target your customers when you write because if you simply write in general about your topic you’ll only attract your peers
• Take advantage of the popularity of list posts
• Use stories because they never go out of fashion
• Draw from real experience to show more emotions and engage readers as a person so they can connect with you on a human level
• Don’t give up too soon
• Grow a thick skin and learn how to deal with the personal attacks that come with blogging and putting yourself out there

Connect with Chris on Twitter @ChrisGarrett, on Facebook and check out Chris’s blog.

Do you blog? What tips do you have to share about blogging? Please leave them below.

It’s changed considerably from the early days of “dear diary” and “angry conspiracy theorist” blogs. Even Time Magazine has started honoring their “Best Blogs” of the year.

Here are eight questions to ask–keys if you will to blogging success.

#1: Are You Passionate?

In The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Meerman Scott urges would-be bloggers to “be passionate about and want the world to know about” their subject. If you need copy written for a corporate blog and you don’t have a fire in your belly for the subject matter, delegate to or hire someone who does.

Even if your business is extremely traditional, readers expect some degree of humanity. They want to know that these posts aren’t generated by a soulless office drone trapped in a cubicle who also writes for 12 other blogs, and gets confused.

#2: Are You Patient?

The saying “If you build it… they will come” only worked for the Field of Dreams movie. People don’t just migrate to interesting and well-designed blogs. Bloggers have to network, repurpose their content in as many places as possible and comment frequently elsewhere online, such as other people’s blogs and LinkedIn discussion groups. Give people a reason to want to know what you’re talking about.

"If you build it... they will come" doesn't work for blogs!

#3: Are You Clear?

What’s wrong with this?

It’s critical for your blog, as a value-added proposition, to go forward, push the envelope, and sociably grab the low-hanging fruit via a second-to-none, seamless integration. At the end of the day, bloggers must hit the ground running, think outside the box and bring a lot of value to the table for their readers.

Did that mean anything to you? Avoid “business-speak.” It’s a turn-off to potential readers because it’s so overused and vague. Seth Godin created a fun business cliché rating system that’s worth a look.

Some things are better left unsaid.

#4: Are You Brave?

Saying what you really think can be difficult, even when you’ve thoroughly researched your subject. Having an opinion and being able to share some of yourself as you defend it are crucial to building trust with your audience.

The other part of being brave is dealing with confrontational commenters. If you’re putting yourself out there with an opinion, odds are good that people who disagree will respond.

Responding to these people fairly and gracefully takes mettle and humility sometimes. They might have fascinating points that you didn’t consider.

This has to be done to foster honest and real thought development on a subject. We bounce thoughts and ideas off of one another, and while it’s usually invigorating, sometimes it can be scary!

Blogging isn't for chickens!

#5: Are You Seasoned?

Do you understand your subject matter well enough to discuss it in your own terms? Chefs learn the basics before they go on to create their own mind-blowing recipes. You should too. Beginner’s luck is highly overrated.

Read as much as possible and take classes from the very best resources in your business. As you build a better framework of understanding you’ll be able to offer your readers much more than warmed-up leftovers from somebody else’s blog.

This also builds trust with your audience when you have the integrity to voice your own thoughts instead of ripping off someone else’s. If you love what somebody else is saying on your beloved topic, then please do quote and link, give attribution, celebrate his or her savvy, but don’t quietly copy. Get seasoned and say something of your own.

#6: Are You Helpful?

Via the Third Tribe, Chris Brogan once told me that the heart of good blogging is addressing people’s pain. Most of us are familiar with the saying “People don’t Google aspirin; they Google headache.”

Are you the kind of person who really enjoys helping people? This will be hugely helpful in writing posts that more people want to read.

Social Media Examiner is a phenomenal success story because it reliably publishes detailed posts that help people navigate social media.

Are you eager to help people with the “brain itch” that afflicts them in your subject area? If you want to blog about organic gardening, are you excited about dealing with all the “brain itch” questions that will inevitably come if you’re popular? It’s necessary to WANT to explore these issues as they arise. It will inspire your content.

#7: Are You Organized?

Blogging doesn’t require a spotless desk or a rigid daily schedule, thanks to the ability to schedule posts. Some people write them in advance when they know they’re going to be out of town or busier than usual.

Every successful blogger is organized enough to put something of value out there on a periodic basis and to respond to every person who is gracious enough to comment, whether it’s confrontational or friendly. Decide how often you will write and stick to it so that you can develop trust with your readers.

Can you blog consistently?

#8: Are You Focused?

Are you able to stay focused on that one subject that keeps you up at night because you’re so eager to tell the world about it? Are you able to hold your course when people start asking about everything from technical reviews of the latest gadget to your opinion on experimental Asian cuisine?

It’s tempting to bunny trail off into whatever people are asking about but it’s a dead end because you probably have to generate excitement for those topics and it derails your blog’s purpose.

Stay true to yourself and to the desperate need to share what you know that started your blog. You’re going to need it to power you up to skip TV programs, get up early, stay up late, do what it takes to create and maintain a good blog.

After reading all of these questions, you’ve probably got a lot better sense of whether you’re going to be happy blogging or not.

What do you think about these? Leave your comments in the box below.

All photos from Shutterstock

To help you take your blog to an entirely new level, here are 7 tips from the best-of-the-best in the blogging and social media arena. Every expert below has created a thriving blog with tens of thousands of subscribers who engage with their posts on a regular basis. If you want to know how to create and grow a successful blog, make sure to take notes (and take action)!

#1: Measure Your Blogging Success

“If you’re blogging for business, rather than blogging about your cat, baby, fashion addiction, or crush on Taylor Swift, you need to set some success metrics,” says Jay Baer, founder of Convince and Convert.

Without a statistical measure of your blogging progress, adding content to your blog on a regular basis can be an incredibly lonely proposition. Is anyone out there? Does anyone care?

However, within the business blogging arena there are a wide variety of potential metrics to gauge your momentum. It’s imperative that you select the most relevant ones that match with your blog’s purpose.

The first step in that process of course is to know why you’re blogging. This sounds simple, but it’s shocking how many bloggers aren’t clear on the core business rationale behind their blog initiative.

As I see it, you have 3 options:

• Blogging for Content
  This is the scenario where you are writing a blog with considerable emphasis on search optimization, attempting to drive traffic to the blog via strategic content creation and keyword inclusion. Your metric is search traffic.

• Blogging for Commerce
  Related to the first, but commerce-oriented blogs are more interested in conversion events than in traffic generation. Funneling traffic from the blog to some other web destination (typically a corporate site or lead form) is the primary objective. Here, your metrics are leads and conversions.

• Blogging for Community
  These blogs seek to build a consistent readership that interacts with the blogger(s) and advocates on behalf of the content on other social outposts.

Determine the main reason why your business has a blog and pick success metrics to match.

#2: Pursue Guest Blogging Opportunities

One of the best ways to get exposure for your blog is to blog for other people. Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media, offers some great advice to start building relationships for potential guest blogging opportunities.

“Find the influential bloggers in your related industries,” says Brooks, “and read their blogs. As appropriate, leave intelligent, thoughtful comments that further the conversation. This can drive traffic to your blog and may open up opportunities for guest blogging at their blog as they become aware of you through your brilliant insights. However, this must be a win-win for it to work. If you leave comments for completely selfish reasons, you can expect limited results.”

#3: Reframe How You Look at Business Blogging

“I often hear people complain that they don’t have time to write on their business blog or they don’t know what to write about,” says Denise Wakeman, founder of The Blog Squad. “Yet a blog is one of the best tools you can use to distribute your message across the web.”

One way to move away from this mode of thinking is to reframe how you look at blogging. It’s not about writing on a blog; it’s about taking advantage of a powerful marketing tool that works for you 24/7/365. Then, schedule writing time so it doesn’t slip through the cracks in the course of a busy day or week.

Here’s a 4-step process to get you started:

1.     Block out your writing time on a calendar.

2.     Plan your content in advance. Create an editorial calendar and plug in your topics 1 to 3 months in advance.

3.     For each of your blog categories, list a minimum of 5 topics you can cover related to your company, products and the solutions you provide.

4.     Pop them into your editorial calendar as prompts so you’re never at a loss for ideas when it’s time to create content.

#4: Add Keywords to Your Blog Titles and Posts

Rob Birgfeld of SmartBrief says keywords are the secret sauce to a successful business blog.

“It’s easy,” Birgfeld says, “to write blog posts on whatever topic springs to mind. But chances are your blog was created to help achieve business goals. In order to reach those goals, take data from your search engine marketing efforts and develop an editorial plan around your top-producing keywords.”

Gather your top 10-15 keywords or phrases and write blog posts specific to each one. Keep the content compelling, but be sure to sprinkle the selected keyword (and synonyms) throughout the post.

Most importantly, be sure to include those all-important keywords in the blog title and in the tags that you select. Not only will a keyword-driven blogging strategy help you build and plan out your editorial calendar, it will help you reach company goals via proven search engine marketing data. Thus providing you with something that’s hard to come by in social media: An easier sell to your CFO.

#5: Interview the Best in Your Industry

Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner, suggests, “Hire a videographer and go to the biggest trade show in your industry. Interview all the leading book authors and thought leaders.”

When you do this, you’ll end up with tons of content you can release on your blog over months. And chances are, when the big names see your video, they’ll share it with their fan base, driving new traffic to your site.

Here’s Mike Stelzner interviewing Scott Monty of Ford at Blog World 2010. This is a great example of attending the best events in the industry and connecting with the influencers.

#6: Create Persuasive Calls to Action

“You’ve got anecdotes, case studies, top-ten lists, provocative insights and more on your business blog. Hats off to you. That’s a huge achievement, particularly if you’ve been publishing a blog for a year or less. But what’s your call to action? And by that I mean, what step is a visitor prompted to take after landing on your blog?” says Debbie Weil, expert blogger and author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

What obvious callouts do you have to attract a visitor’s eye after he or she reads your latest blog post? Think about it. Your blog reader, if a first-time visitor, has most likely typed in a keyword phrase and ended up on your blog through search results.

Readers may not even know that it’s a blog. So you’ve got their attention, at least for a few seconds. This is your real-time moment to prompt your visitor to take the next step. If I sound all salesy here I don’t mean to. This is permission marketing 101. It’s offering something unanticipated but relevant at the exact moment your visitor is looking for it.

Here are a few ideas for persuasive calls to action from Debbie Weil’s Social Media Insights Blog:

• Download our white paper
• Join us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
• Ask us a question
• Download our e-book
• Sign up for our free webinar
• Request our toolkit
• Sign up for our e-newsletter
• Request a demo

#7: When it Comes to Video Blogging, Forget Acting

“I remember the first time I was on camera,” says David Garland, founder of The Rise to the Top and author of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper. “I was trying to be someone I wasn’t… with an awkward spray tan. (Stop laughing.)”

For some reason, our personalities can sometimes change when on camera (something about that scary lens). What the audience craves is to see the real you. All the good stuff, quirks and everything else.

Try this. Invite someone over with whom you are VERY comfortable. Have him or her ask you a question and simply answer it. Then, have the person hold a camera and try it again. Rinse, wash and repeat until you feel comfortable. When you talk into the lens, picture that person. It will make all the difference.

Here's David Garland interviewing Mike Stelzner about the success of SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Want to Learn More About Blogging for Business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of blogging, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Most businesses are just now getting started with blogs.

There’s one easy way to take your blogging efforts to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online blogging conference, Blogging Success Summit 2011 you’ll become empowered to use blogs to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 23 blogging experts. Join Technorati’s CEO, Scott Monty, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Michael Stelzner and experts from McDonalds, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Sony and Procter & Gamble as they reveal proven blogging tactics at Blogging Success Summit 2011.

It’s the web’s largest online blogging conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more.

Now it’s your turn! Have you used any of these great blogging tips already? Do you plan to implement any into your blogging strategy right away? Share your thoughts and comments with us in the box below.

All photos from Shutterstock

Depending on your niche or industry, you may find that channeling all of your energy into broad social bookmarking networks that cover almost every topic imaginable may not benefit you.

Instead of targeting networks that only have a percentage of users interested in your topic, why not find a network whose members and visitors are 100% interested in your niche?

The following are popular niche social bookmarking networks for bloggers, business professionals, developers and designers.

#1: BizSugar

BizSugar is a social bookmarking network dedicated to news and tips for small businesses. It covers marketing, finance, franchises, global, legal, management, technology and startups. Home page stories receive an average of 20 to 30 votes, or “sugars.” You can easily retweet the original source from the BizSugar home page, as well as share it on StumbleUpon, Delicious, Facebook, Google Buzz and email.

You can also create detailed profiles including links to your website, main social profiles and even a link to your latest blog post via RSS feed. You can become friends with other users, send them direct private messages and comment on stories.

If you’re looking to make friends with the most active users, you can view them in the top users list based on various network activity (story submissions, votes and comments).

BizSugar Stats & Tools

• BizSugar receives an average of 40,000 unique visitors per month and has over 200 members.
• The most popular story in the last year is How Can I Look “Amazing” on LinkedIn with 107 sugars.
• BizSugar has an active blog covering social media and network news.
• Tools for website owners include voting buttons, badges and a top stories widget for your website as well as a WordPress plugin.
• Tools for users include a bookmarklet and toolbars for Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.
• You can follow BizSugar on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

BizSugar is a social bookmarking network for small business news.

#2: Blog Engage

Blog Engage is a social bookmarking network and community specifically for bloggers who write about any topic from blogging to technology and anything in between. Home page stories receive an average of 10 to 20 votes. You can easily share items from the Blog Engage home page to a variety of networks using the Share This link under each story.

On Blog Engage, you’re able to create your own profile and you can add other members as friends. Interaction between users can happen in a variety of places through commenting on stories, participating on the Blog Engage forums and sharing stories within groups.

If you’re looking to make friends with the most active users, Blog Engage also offers a list of top users based on network activity.

Blog Engage Stats & Tools

• Blog Engage receives an average of 19,000 unique visitors per month and has over 400 members.
• The most popular story in the last year is Google PageRank Score Too Low? with 96 votes.
• Blog Engage has an active blog covering social media and blogging. They also have regular guest blogging contests.
• Tools for website owners include voting buttons, badges and a WordPress plugin.
• Tools for users include a bookmarklet, which you can find in your user dashboard when logged into the network.
• You can follow Blog Engage on Twitter and Facebook.

Blog Engage is a social bookmarking network for bloggers.

#3: Design Bump

Design Bump is a social bookmarking network for designers looking to share stories and tutorials for web design, graphic design and even niche design topics such as architecture and industrial design. Items on the home page receive an average of 10 to 20 votes.

Although interaction on Design Bump is limited to comments on stories, you’re able to create a basic profile and include up to 12 images that will link to your portfolio. Top users are listed based on network activity.

Design Bump Stats & Tools

• Design Bump receives an average of 30,000 unique visitors per month and has over 8,000 members.
• The most popular recent story is 50 Free High Quality Icon Sets with 27 votes.
• Tools for website owners include embeddable buttons and an official top stories widget.

Design Bump is a social bookmarking network for designers.

#4: Design Float

Design Float is another popular social bookmarking community for designers, covering topics similar to Design Bump. Home page stories receive 10 to 20 votes and can be shared on Twitter.

On Design Float, you can create a basic profile, and although you can add each other as friends, interaction is again limited to story comments. Top users are also recognized by network activity.

Design Float Stats & Tools

• Design Float receives an average of 108,000 unique visitors per month, has over 65,000 members, and has over 7,000 RSS subscribers.
• The most popular story in the last year is 33 Awesomely Cool Science Fiction Wallpapers with 55 votes.
• Design Float has an active blog with roundup posts of artwork, design, tutorials and resources.
• Tools for website owners include voting buttons, top stories widgets and a WordPress plugin.
• Tools for users include a bookmarklet for easy story submission.
• You can follow Design Float on Twitter.

Design Float is a social bookmarking network for designers.

#5: DZone

DZone is a social bookmarking network for website developers and programmers. Home page stories receive 5 to 15 votes and can be shared via Twitter. You can create a very basic profile and interaction is limited to story comments and forum participation.

DZone Stats & Tools

• DZone receives an average of 194,000 unique visitors per month and has over 25,000 RSS subscribers.
• The most popular story in the last year is the Amazing HTML5 Paint App with 114 votes.
• Tools for website owners include a voting button.
• Tools for users include a Firefox voting plugin.
• You can follow DZone on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

DZone is a social bookmarking network for developers.

#6: SERPd

SERPd is a social bookmarking network for Internet and search engine marketers. Home page stories receive 15 to 25 votes, anywhere from 50 to 150 views and can be shared via Twitter and StumbleUpon.

You can create a profile, follow other members, send private messages and interact in the comments on stories. Top users are listed at the bottom of the site in the footer.

On a side note, social interaction was actually the reason SERPd was created, as a reaction to the popular search news site Sphinn changing from Digg-style user voting to moderator-approved stories only. I’ll give Sphinn the honorable mention, as they still allow members to “suggest” stories and the ones selected are usually top-notch.

SERPd Stats & Tools

• SERPd receives an average of 19,000 unique visitors per month – quite impressive considering they only started in September 2010.
• The most popular story since the network started is 7 SEO Experts to Avoid with 44 votes and 1,600+ views.
• Tools for website owners include a social voting button and banner.
• You can follow SERPd on their blog, Twitter and Facebook.

SERPd is a social bookmarking network for Internet marketers.

#7: Tip’d

Tip’d is a social bookmarking network for those interested in finance and business topics including real estate, currencies, entrepreneurship, career and economy. Home page stories receive 15 to 20 “tips,” or votes, and can be shared on other social networks using the Save and Share widget.

You’re able to create a profile and add other users as friends to interact via private messaging as well as story comments. Top users are listed based on network activity. You can even see what domains have the most votes on Tip’d by visiting the top domains page.

Tip’d Stats & Tools

• Tip’d receives an average of 48,000 unique visitors a month, and has over 61,000 members and 4,000 RSS subscribers.
• The most popular story in the last year is 6 ways to find free money with 59 votes.
• Tools for website owners include voting buttons, a WordPress plugin, and a Feedflare for Feedburner command to ensure an “Add to Tip’d” link appears along with your blog’s feed items so subscribers can submit your story to Tip’d from their feed reader.
• Tools for users include a bookmarklet for easy story submission.
• Follow Tip’d on Twitter and Facebook.

Tip'd is a social bookmarking network for financial news, ideas and tips.

What are your favorite niche social bookmarking networks?

Have you used any of these sites? I know this can’t be all of them, so please share your favorite niche social bookmarking networks, as well as any advice you would give others on how to be successful in getting their stories to the top of these networks. Leave your comments in the box below.

In the short run, an increase from 1,000 to 10,000 fans might look great to your boss or client, but when the fans start dropping off at a rate of 100 or 200 per week, and nobody answers the questions you put on your wall, you may not look like quite the hero anymore.

This article will reveal some effective tactics to gain quality Facebook fans and introduce the concept of engaging influencers.

While the actual worth of a single Facebook fan may be in debate, there’s no question that some fans are worth more than others. In addition, when quantity becomes a priority, there is a risk of driving low-quality fans by using general tactics that attract the masses.

However, there are ways to modify fan-getting marketing tactics to drive a more relevant consumer base and as a result increase the quality (and worth) of your fans over time.

One Key Strategy: Targeted Outreach

In my experience, new fans obtained will be at least 3 times as likely to stick around and participate over time if they’re secured through a targeted outreach.

For an example of how this strategy might work in practice, look at two fan-getting tactics: giveaways and limited availability offers.

Giveaways and limited availability offers are both great ways to quickly gain Facebook followers. I have seen Facebook Fan Pages jump tens of thousands of fans overnight from a simple giveaway campaign.

In January 2010, for instance, Einstein Bros. did a free bagel giveaway on Facebook that the company claims increased their Facebook fan base from under 5,000 fans to nearly 400,000 in less than one week.

From 5,000 to 400,000 in one week. Einstein Bros. Bagels takes off on Facebook.

However, there is a catch. General fan-getting giveaway tactics do not inherently attract the right people to your page. In fact, they may attract the complete opposite of whom you want to reach.

You Need a Filter Between Your Brand Message and Your Ideal Audience

The goal of a fan-getting Facebook promotion should be to use up as few resources as possible, while reaching the highest amount of relevant consumers along the way. The outcome, if executed properly, is more fans, longer stay times, and a higher level of quality participation and sharing over a longer period of time.

Without a filter, a promotion will inevitably reach the unfiltered masses of the web. Online giveaways that are not targeted properly nor protected with the correct barriers to entry will lead to a rush of people just out looking for something free. And, while some genuine consumers may be found in this group, the likelihood of your promotion capturing a high percentage of relevant consumers will be low.

Use Influencers

Influencers will vary based on your business. But, in short, influencers include relevant bloggers, popular individuals on Twitter, moderators of groups, and anyone else who has an extended and attentive online audience that fits within your target consumer group.

Influencers can also include those who are already in your direct fan network. I recommend looking at your existing fan base on Facebook and Twitter as an outlet for potential influencers. Active participants on your Facebook wall who have a large social network can be great influencers for your brand.

Tip: Look at the comments on your wall over the past month or two. Are there any individuals who continuously pop into the conversation and give positive feedback? If so, start with this group of fans. They are more likely to get excited by a direct offer and turn around and share your message with their social network.

Create an Exclusive Promotion For Influencers

In order to reach the largest percentage of relevant consumers through promotional efforts, create a mechanism by which an offer can be seeded to relevant influencers and not to the general public. Furthermore, implement a barrier that will prevent the general public from gaining access to the offer, at least for a certain amount of time.

One example of a mechanism is a digital gift card with an exclusive code.  Each influencer is presented a card with limited usage that they can seed out to their network and readership. The code is then redeemable on your Facebook page until it has expired.

CLEAN Perfume sent these cards out to beauty bloggers for their "Influencer Giveaway"

Tip: Create a digital gift card that an influencer can embed right on their blog, profile page or website. Encourage the influencer to link the card directly to your Facebook fan page so that readers can easily get to your giveaway page. The easier you make it for an influencer to participate, the better chance you will have of getting them onboard.

Make it easy for influencers to spread the message!

Not only do you get the public filter by using this method, but people are more likely to act on the offer when it has been presented by a trusted influencer source and not the brand directly. By the time the code does find its way out to the freebie hunters, it has already expired, or is close to expiring, and you’ve succeeded in reaching a larger percentage of relevant consumers.

Of course, this is just one example of integrating influencers and barriers to entry into your Facebook promotion. The proper method, in the end, will be determined by your brand, target audience and target influencers.

In the constant quest to increase return and decrease spend, don’t underestimate the power of influencers in your Facebook promotional efforts.

Have you used other mechanisms to reach influencers as a conduit for sharing a giveaway or limited availability offer? Please share it in the comments box below.