Social Media and Blogging Challenge

ProBlogger: Guide to your First Week of Blogging ...Day 2 #SMBC

2011-09-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Publish and build presence

Task 1: Publish your launch Post. You can see that here.

Task 2: Create a "my story" post. You can see that here.

Task 3: Develop a publishing process. mmmmm...I'm not sure on this one. I do understand why ProBlogger is telling us to created a check list but I think that this is done after time. You need to figure out your style first and if your style is to be random then there is not need for a check list. My other blog http://onegirlideas.blogspot.com/ is just me ranting and raving about random topics. I do have a check list that I go threw in my head like, spell check, preview and read, label the posts, and then schedule.

Now for the business blogs that I write on, it would probably be a good idea to get this type of checklist in place. So lets try and create one now.

· The post has a keyword rich title. (good for SEO)

· The post has an image. If I did not create the image make sure that credit is given to its creator.

· I’ve spell checked the post.

· I’ve read and re-read the post.

· I’ve fact checked info in the post

· I’ve included title and meta tags

· I’ve used links when I could.

· I’ve gotten one other to read the post before I scheduled it to go out.

Task 4: Generate ideas for pillar content. I like this brainstorming idea, I come back to it allot when I need to come up with more topics to write about. Because this blog is just summarizing my reading my topics will be each chapter.

When doing this for a business blog it is a good idea to come back to generate more topics, as you do this you may want to include other employees, they will have other ideas then you do and it will generate more topics to write on.

Task 5: Establish your social presence. This is a must for any blog. Not only is this a great way to promote your blog but blogging is inherently community-focused. Social media is one of the best ways to attract and promote visitors to your blog. One visitor will tell others and soon you will have a huge following. I won’t get into all the details here will save that for my other blog.

I am torn if I create a separate Facebook page for this blog I think for now I will keep it a secret and just tell a few others what I am doing. If they choose to share that’s fine with me. I started this blog as a personal challenge to myself to read all the books that I have bought and document my process as I went along. I really have no other purpose intended for it.

A little about me...

2011-09-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

Ok Day two on the Pro Blogger First week of Blogging Challenge. I'm sorry I have not posted. Which is totally my deal, I start something and then never have time to get into it. I really have not been able to even look at this book for over a week. Let me tell you why and why I started this blog.

Well it is football season, and really I should have know that I would not have time for myself. These next few months are dedicated to my son and running around chasing him from one football game to another, driving him to and fro school for pep band and misc other activities. And when I am not doing that I am trying to work. I am a freelance Social Media/ Online Marketing Consultant. My clients consist of 3 Marketing Agencies, 1 Painters and a Coffee Shop. They keep me busy when I'm not trying to be a wife and a mom. Oh ya I have a wonderful husband that supports my career as long as i'm paying the bills and keeping him happy. Both my boys feel neglected most days.

Ok now you know why I have not posted,lets get to know why I started this blog. Well simply put I keep buying all these great books and never get time to read them. I figured if I could have a place to document all of my finding I would have a place to reference if I needed to remember something. Plus if I read and and then write about it I will remember it!

So I hope that you get as much out of this as I do. Until Later!

Carrey

ProBlogger: Guide to your First Week of Blogging ...Day 1 #SMBC

2011-09-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Set solid foundations.

Task 1:Set up a idea folder. Progblogger suggest to set up a folder to keep your ideas in. Over the last couple of years I have learned that I don't use my task folder or the notebook that I thought that I would revert to when I took the 31 Day Challenge with the SITS Girls. I find that the Blogger interface host a ton of topics that I think I will write on, it also includes post that I started and never finished. From time to time I got back and finish the posts or delete them if I feel they are not post-worthy. For the company blog posts that I composed I either start them in a word doc or in the CMS (Content Management System) that they use to post their blogs. Most business blogs use Wordpress. I think its a great platform and would suggest it to anyone. So that’s what I use, over time you will get your own system in place.
Task 2: Mindmap. I think that this is a good process if you are unsure of what you are going to talk about, even if you have a clear path and focus on what your blog topics are its still a great way to brainstorm. When I get a new client I use this process. It gives me ideas on how to create topics for the blog post that I will create for them later. It also allows me to learn more about my client.
Task 3: The blogging Calendar. * I am a firm believer of the blogging calendar. It saves allot of time and effort. For my personal blog I use Google Calendar to schedule my post. I cam up with topics that I wanted to post on each day of the week and that put them into the calendar to repeat every week. Now my idea behind that was that if I couldn't come up with a great topic to post about I could revert back to a theme. You will find blog themes all over the internet and on almost every blog out there. So coming up with themes should be easy. The most popular and worldwide is "Wordless Wednesday" its super easy and everyone joins in, even business bloggers. Now for the business that I blog for a Blog Posting calendar is a must. Especially if there are more than one of your creating the blog posts. I use a word calendar template from Office 2011 for Mac. I think there is one for PC too. Here is a link to the template gallery, I'm sure you will find the one that you like. If not let me know and I will email you the copy I use.
Task 4: Plan your first week of Content. Pretty easy to do as long as you give your self enough time to get the posts done. On my personal blog I have gone weeks without a single post then all of a sudden I have 10 posts that I came up with in one night. When that happens I write them and schedule them. Any good CMS has a feature to schedule future post. There is also usualy a way to get them to publish to your Facebook Fan Page and Twitter too…I’ll save that for an other post topic. On client blogs I try and set up a blog calendar and give everyone that is contributing a deadline, that way there is plenty of time to review and make changes and no need to panic that Joe did not turn in the post he promised you he would have yesterday that needed to go up today. Sticking to your blogging schedule is essential for success business and personal blogs.
Task 5: Create you launch post. Well I did that last night so you can take a look at it here. Also take a look at my first post on One Girl Ideas boy have I come a long way.

Welcome to my Social Media and Blogging Challenge

2011-09-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Social Media and Blogging Challenge!

If you don't already know me I have some really big hair brained ideas and this on has to top my list. I decided to make it a goal to read at least one chapter a night of all the Social Media and Blogging books/ebooks that I have bought. Not only because I am wasting my money with them just sitting on my computer or iPad but I need to read them so I can educate myself more on Social Media and Blogging. My goal for this blog is to document my reading and share it with the world and maybe in the process help others learn more about Social Media and Blogging along the way.

If you would like to join me me my challenge, the first ebook I will be reading is ProBlogger: Guide to your First Week of Blogging follow this link to buy the book and follow along.

I will post every night with what the assignment is and what I came up with for an answer.

Tomorrow night will be the first post.

Hope you can join me.

The Twitter hashtag for this blog will be #SMBC if you want to follow on twitter.