Seven skills to you must master before setting up a blog
- 1. Seven online skills you must master BEFORE you start a blog John Welsh, UBM Live, United Business Media Photo credit: crosathorian
- 2. One: community Have you identified it? Can you refine it even further?
- 3. You don’t need a blog to cultivate community. Go and join a Facebook or a Linkedin group, anywhere you have noticed your key customers.
- 4. Two: commenting Have you ever commented on another website? Why would someone comment on yours if you have not done so? Photo credit: anonymous account
- 5. You don’t need a blog to comment Go and leave your company website address or your Linkedin profile which shows your professional expertise.
- 6. Three: links Do you use navigation on a website? Or do you click on links to take you to the next page?
- 7. You don’t need blog to learn to link Don’t put ugly web addresses in emails any more. Learn how to insert a neat URL. Photo credit: clairity
- 8. 4: content Does your content help the user? What is useful for your user?
- 9. You don’t need a blog to learn how to be useful Why not go and add some lists to a website – five things ou thought about a movie. Photo credit: House of Sims
- 10. 5: RSS feeds Your users are more likely to be early adopters. Photo credit: HiMY SYeD / photopia
- 11. You don’t need a blog to become familiar with RSS Sign up to Google Reader. Sign up to RSS subscriptions. Learn to manage your daily reading through RSS feeds. Photo credit: Ian Sane
- 12. 6: Optimise Think about that headline. Will it help people to find it?
- 13. Have you got a Twitter account? Use the discipline of 140 character Tweets to get better at writing to the point headlines.
- 14. 7: Analyse Can you asses how well you blog is doing the number and the quality of its visitors? Photo credit: Dan Taylor
- 15. Visit a site like Alexa Find out how the traffic to your competitors’ sites compare to your own.