I Blog to Differ Chelle Honiker Yarbrough, CTC TravelWebMarketing.com
A Little Web History & Future Web 1.0 Compuserve, AOL Web 1.5 Websites, Search Engines Web 2.0 Social Networking, Blogs, Microblogging Beyond?
What is a Blog? Duh. Short for Web-Log. Diary Announcement Insight Human Connection/Face to Business Interaction OPPORTUNITY
How a Blog Can Help Business Absolutely the most reliable way to get your information into the search engines, period. Blogs are the key to the home page of Google and others via RSS RSS=Really Simple Syndication
RSS Subscriptions
Adding a Feed to Google
Google ’ s Home Page
Options for Your Own Blog Web Service (Developer Hosted) Wordpress.com Blogger (Google) Typepad Moveable Type Benefits: Quicker roll-out of new features, support
My Suggestion: DIY Wordpress Good Web Hosts Offer 1-Click Installation & Upgrades Shameless Plug: (gemtravelsites.com) Hosted together with website or as separate URL Point and Click Design & Configuration
Deciding on Designs Branding Colors, logo & layout same as website Differentiation Niche-based blog to market to certain segment Free Wordpress Design Themes Premium Wordpress Design Themes Wordpress Design Customization/Creation
Wordpress Advantages Open Source – Free & Innovative Thousands of Themes Thousands of Plug-Ins Small programs designed to perform specific task within Wordpress like: SEO, Pinging, SiteMapping, Spam Filtering, Post by , Google Analytics, Flickr (Photos) Integration, Adsense, tags, Bulletin Boards …
Setting It Up Right Posts vs. Pages Pages are “ permanent ” – about the author, contact forms, etc. Posts are “ date sensitive ” – offers, new information and can be dated in past or future Decide how often to post. Don ’ t be a copycat. Tag Everything
Content is King – Keywords are Queen. Smoosh Them. Don ’ t write for search engines – write for people, but look for opportunities. Collaborate with everyone in office Outsource to professional writers Guest Bloggers DSM ’ s?
Under the Hood 4SpaInfo.com Separately managed Niche Based HollandAmerica.net Integrated with Site Design Highly Successful
Q & A Chelle Honiker Yarbrough, CTC TravelWebMarketing.com GemTravelSites.com – Toll-Free Twitter:chelleyarbrough Blog: