Here’s the short list:
1. Pick a topic for your blog. Makes sense! You want visitors to know right away what they should expect when they start reading your blog. If one day it’s a personal commentary, then the next day it’s a how-to video blog it can get a little confusing. Keep it clear, and keep readers.

2. Encourage comments. This is how you show that you care. If you’re willing to listen to other’s opinion about your blog posts, then you’re open and honest. Keep it closed, and it seems like you just want a monologue – not a conversation. Don’t worry about negative comments – you can handle them. If you have issues with SPAM (like we all do) on your blog, use Akismet or math plugin to screen them.

3. Make it easy to subscribe. Feedburner - it’s a life saver.

4. About Page. For those that haven’t been following you all along, they’ll want to know about you, your interests, why you blog.

5. Be visual. Feel free to use graphs, charts, photos, videos and more – this visual simulation will help your visitors be more engaged.

6. Keep it short. People like to read online, but they like to read in short paragraphs, bullet points, and lists. Use them.

7. Subheadings for longer posts. Help break-up long posts into bite-sized, readable chunks.

8. Link. Use pingbacks (which allows your post to show-up on another blog), link to articles within your blog. Links help your readers to go deeper into the content and to explain a point without having to explain each time. Links are great for search engine optimization, too.

9. Headlines are descriptive. Let your readers know exactly why they should read your post up-front. If you’re vague then they’ll vaguely remember to read your blog. This is really important when people subscribe through RSS: some RSS readers will only show the title of the post, so if your title is descriptive, they can decide quickly whither or not to keep reading.

10. Archive by topic. It’s important to use Categories in your blog. It helps organize the blog for readers so that if they want to read more about a subject, they can easily click the coordinating category and read all your posts related to that topic. Date archives don’t help the reader.

To read the other 10, click HERE.

My favorite, though, is the last one:
20. Blog often. Technorati has a graph that shows that the most popular bloggers blog twice a day, the least popular posts a dozen times a month. If your readers like you, they want more from you – everyday! As a small business owner, I know it’s hard to blog on a regular basis – but knowing that if you blog often, your can get more readers – which translates into more business – perhaps you’ll change you’re mind! I know I did!

Friday is quickly approaching, and we are super excited to have our Blogging Success Forum! Below are the bios of our two panelists. I’m sure this will be a popular class, so please make sure to save the date: This Friday, May 15th, from 10-11am PST / 1-2pm EST.

Rick Burnes is Inbound Marketing Manager at HubSpot, a leader in marketing software for small- and medium-sized businesses. He is the editor of HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Blog, which is consistently featured on the AdAge Power 150 top media marketing blogs. In addition to his work on the blog, Rick develops videos, research, case studies and webinars on new approaches to online marketing. Prior to HubSpot, Rick was co-founder of Faneuil Media, a startup that provided inbound marketing solutions for local businesses. From 2001-2004 Rick worked at NYTimes.com, where he managed the launch of new sections, including search and theater. He started at The Times two months before 9/11 and spent his first year working on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Nation Challenged section. He has also worked at Google, The Moscow Times and The New Bedford Standard Times. Rick is active on Twitter and occasionally posts on his personal blog. He resides in Cambridge, MA.

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Roger Matus is a well-known commentator on the use of email, IM, and messaging technologies. He was CEO and founder of the email archiving company, InBoxer, which he recently sold to Safecore, Inc. At Safecore, Roger is now the Executive Vice President. He has been in the software business for about 25 years, and worked on the development of an email product back in 1983. Since February 2007, he has been the author of the blog Death By Email, which Roger says was essential to growth and successful sale of his company.

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Cindi Schmitzer is the married mother of four who lives in Sparta, New Jersey. She is the co-owner of LTDchix, a company who created a line of funny tees targeted specifically toward moms. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She eventually married and has moved around quite a bit with her husband’s job. In fact, they brought their four kids home to four different addresses. Her and her business partner founded LTDchix about three years ago. In the past few months, they have started a blog relating to their business. On the blog, they share funny tales about motherhood and news about their business. The blog web address for LTDchix is www.blog.ltdchix.com.
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1. Understanding what a blog is: an informative, opinionated, ‘human’ look at a company/business or person. As a coach, this will be the way that your potential clients will get to know the ‘real’ you – not just the one you show for your sales copy. Why do we want to show this human side of a life or business coach? Well, what is the first rule of sales: we buy from people that we know, like and trust – and a blog allows us to build that!

2. Blog styles: we discussed Blogger, Typepad, WordPress.com and WordPress.org

3. Get involved: before you start your blog, however, you should read and participate in some that are interesting to you, or are in your industry. Make sure to choose ones that are active and popular. In order to find a few blogs that you like, search Technorati. Oh – and the answer between Authority and Ranking is that they’re basically the same: to build authority or ranking within Technorati you need to build links from other blogs to yours. Be aware that links will ‘clear out’ from Technorati if they’re older than 6 months.

4. Have a plan and get started! Your blog should be part of your over-all marketing plan – so before you get started with designing or adding content to your blog, it’s a good idea to have a clear idea of where it’s going.

This week, we’ll be reviewing how to update your blog – design wise and adding multi-media. If you would like to learn how-to customize your WordPress.com website / blog, click here to be sure to sign-up for our May 1st class!

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Ken Davenport: Recently hailed as the “P.T. Barnum of Off-Broadway” by the New York Times for his unique 21st century marketing strategies, Ken Davenport is becoming widely recognized as one of the most innovative theatre producers today. Ken’s visionary tech-savvy was also recently featured on a national commercial for Apple’s iPhone and he was named one of Crain’s “Forty Under 40” in 2008 as a result of his fresh ideas and unprecedented success. Ken’s impressive Broadway and Off-Broadway production slate includes Speed the Plow, Will Ferrell’s You’re Welcome America, Blithe Spirit, Altar Boyz, The Awesome 80s Prom and My First Time. He is also the creator of broadwayspace.com, a new social networking site for the Broadway community and TheProducersPerspective.com, his popular blog where he gives his opinion on everything relating to Broadway and beyond.
Website: http://www.davenporttheatrical.com/
Ning website: http://www.broadwayspace.com/
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/kendavenport

Sarah Benner is a Sr. Marketing Manager at VerticalResponse heading up the Retention Marketing team. She manages a team responsible for all customer communications (including social media and community), customer retention, product education/training and other customer programs. She has over 8 years of marketing communications and product marketing experience working at companies like Siebel Systems and CNET Networks.

Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree from University of Washington and a Master’s degree from Emerson College.
VerticalResponse: www.verticalresponse.com
Ning website: http://vrlounge.ning.com/forum
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/VR4SmallBiz

Andrea Anderson and business partner, Barbara Hemphill, author of the Taming the Paper Tiger book series, believe a Productive Environment is a Profitable Environment. They share this vision with their 100+ Productivity Trainer Authorized Consultants around the world through online training and mentorship programs. These programs emphasize Barbara Hemphill’s proprietary processes and methodology for helping clients create and sustain a Productive Environment–”an intentional setting in which everything around you supports who you are and the goals you’re striving to achieve”. Their newest project, the iProductive Environment Platform (iPEP) is the only program that helps clients find their physical files (in filing cabinets and bookshelves) and their electronic files, in one search. Andrea and Barbara enjoy living in NC while serving clients around the world.
Paper Tiger Productivity Institute
Website: www.PaperTigerInstitute.com
Ning website: www.OrganizersPowerUp.ning.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/andrea_ptpi
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I’ve included a free download of my personal notes to help you remember what icon on the ‘Manage’ page let’s you do what. Click HERE to download my notes!

This week we’ll have a 3-panel of successful Ning network creators – be sure to be on that call!

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Amy Martin:
Most recently, Amy spent three seasons with the Phoenix Suns developing their Digital Media platform and integrating new and existing marketing partner brands within all Suns digital channels. Such digital touch points include, mobile marketing programs, official social networking forums, virtual websites and official team property sites.

Amy’s area of expertise involves layering social media strategies to create one cohesive digital brand universe. She has developed a proprietary formula to mix traditional digital measurement with social media metrics. Her most recent example of social media success is the growth of Shaquille O’Neal’s digital brand via Twitter implementing strategies such as “Random Acts of Shaqness” and “ShaqDay”.

Digital Royalty, Amy’s new business venture, focuses on digital integration and social media strategies to help brands and athletes build their digital universe through the following methods:

·      Creating a digital roadmap which guides brands to establish an integrated network of traditional digital and social media touch points – all working together in digital symphony.

·      Exposing and evolving brand personalities, digitally. Educating brands on the balancing act of being social with human qualities while wearing the ever-necessary brand management hat.

·      Converging traditional and digital media to leverage the brand’s Return on Influence (ROI) and maintain one comprehensive marketing strategy.

Prior to founding Digital Royalty and working for the Phoenix Suns, Amy was an account supervisor at a full service ad agency working with clients such as the Arizona Cardinal, Phoenix Coyotes and Super Bowl XLII. She is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Marketing and Business.

www.TheDigitalRoyalty.com

www.Twitter.com/The_Real_Shaq

www.Twitter.com/PhoenixSunsGirl

Marc A. Pitman
Marc A. Pitman is the author of Ask Without Fear! and founder of FundraisingCoach.com, a website dedicated to practical ideas for fundraising more effectively. Internationally recognized by such organizations as Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the American Marketing Association as a thought leader, Marc helps individuals and organizations raise more money than they ever thought possible! His lively presentations at conferences and fundraising seminars get him invited to various organizations including Blackbaud’s Conferences for Nonprofits, Habitat for Humanity International, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
http://fundraisingcoach.com/
http://twitter.com/marcapitman

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Kate Nasser
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, celebrates her 20th year in business inspiring and teaching customer service and teamwork to diverse audiences. She is feisty, smart, down-to-earth, funny, and just wild and different enough to inspire growth and change in all who hear her people-skills messages.  She has a natural GPS about people and has used it for 20 years to spring them to greatness. As a professional speaker, Kate activates audiences with wisdom, energy, humor, caring and realism. She has BS in Mathematics, Phi Beta Kappa and Masters in Organizational Psychology.
http://katenasser.com
http://twitter.com/katenasser

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Alan Stevens
Alan Stevens is a Professional Speaker, Media Coach and Author. Based in London UK, he speaks internationally, and has spoken in over 25 countries in the past three years. He specialises in PR and media matters and is in great demand as a conference host and keynote speaker. In 2010, he will become president of the International Federation for Professional Speakers.
http://www.mediacoach.co.uk/
http://twitter.com/mediacoach

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Donna Amos
Donna has over 20 years experience working with solopreneurs to develop their marketing and sales strategies in order to build their businesses. Her experiences as an entrepreneur, sales trainer, management in the corporate world, as well as her formal coach training make her uniquely qualified to support others as they create and grow their business.
http://www.solopreneurs.org
http://www.donnaamos.com
www.twitter.com/donnaamos

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Monikah Ogando
Known as The Business Explosion Coach, Monikah Ogando is impactful, dynamic and charismatic. Monikah received two undergraduate degrees from the University of Miami, where she put herself through college with her independent spirit and entrepreneurial motivation and graduated by the age of 20. Her first job out of college as a financial planner, Monikah soon discovered that the majority of her clients were business owners, and the best way to help them was to assist in MAKING money, not just investing the money they already made. By learning from her clients, Monikah created an entrepreneurial program for other financial planners to reach their clients as she had. When she made $124,000 in three months of teaching the program, she knew she was onto something big. Today, small business owners and entrepreneurs seek Monikah’s advice to help them turn their businesses into profit-producing powerhouses, and more importantly, live their lives with purpose and freedom. Monikah’s coaching and consulting challenge people to marry their humanity to their businesses, and their profits to their purpose.
www.fanaticalfocus40.com
http://twitter.com/MonikahOgando

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Crystal Williamson
Crystal new to Twitter, but has already found it helpful in gaining new clients! She is a certified small business coach/consultant who loves to help holistic and helping professionals with their technology presence and computer applications. She started as a computer trainer in 1990. After being downsized, she transitioned from the corporate world to coaching and became certified in 2007. She has her own coaching and computer consulting business called Coaching with Crystal. She has a Blog Talk radio show on Wednesdays at 8 pm (ET) where she talks about computer/learning trends and concepts for the beginning and already established entrepreneur. She’s facilitating a technology coaching teleseminar in April 2009 to give guidance for newer small business owners.
www.coachingwithcrystal.com
http://twitter.com/coachcrystal

Some of the websites that were mentioned in today’s class:

www.Ping.fm

www.tweetscan.com

Twitter Search

www.PopularTweets.com

Just Tweet It search

www.FreeTwitterDesigner.com

www.TwitBacks.com

www.SnipURL.com

www.BudURL.com

Recommended Blog posts regarding Twitter and RSS feeds:

RSS Feeds video

Twitter for Coaches

Last week’s call was a discussion on LinkedIn - creating Buzz through article marketing, creating and promoting events, creating business pages and the new applications available on LinkedIn. Although there are currently 9 applications, during the call I went over the top 5 that would be applicable to life, business, executive coaches and professional speakers.