How do you get others within the company to become committed, engaged, and passionate about blogging?

Photo Credit: Victor1558 via Compfight cc
This is a question that all of our clients face when they start using Innoblogs. We make collaborative blogging easy with great tools built into Innoblogs, such as, editorial calendars, topic reminders, staleness notifications, ect. However, no tool, not even Innoblogs will build passion into your employees to blog. Here is how we approach it

Let employees participate in selecting and owning their topic focus - You will have a very disengaged employee if you approach the situation by instructing them to just write on this topic. Now I am assuming this isn’t an employee whom has the sole purpose of writing for the company. I’m under the assumption that … Read More »

Blogging for business is not a new subject. In fact, you can find thousands of articles discussing the benefits, downfalls, and process to blogging for business. In this post we’re simply going to discuss one issue…

Can you build an audience while writing for SEO?

Yes! You just need to understand how to inject quality SEO into a post that is helpful and relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach!

1. Identify a problem/issue your audience is facing.

2. If you have domain knowledge and can speak to this, then move to step 3. If not, do your research to find a solution or come to a conclusion you believe.

3. Write an article as if speaking to an individual in which you’re invested enough to share your true thoughts and feelings. How would … Read More »

Did you know that teachers are the ultimate content marketers? It’s true! They generate squillions of activities, assignments, and assessments in order to move their students toward that noble but slightly nebulous goal of “learning.” Their payoff is not in dollars but the very tangible benefits of an educated populace.

More than once in my teaching career, I had the arduous task of designing an entire course from scratch with nothing but the Ohio Academic Standards to guide me. I had a flashback to that past life this week as we sat down to plan Innogage’s content strategy for the coming year.

If you feel like your online content marketing is a bit haphazard when it comes to form and/or function, maybe it’s time to sit down and plan a little. As a teacher (and, further back, a student), I found that the keys … Read More »

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) today released a whitepaper / presentation on 8 amazing content workflow technologies which greatly enhance your content production efforts. We are very proud that the Innogage collaborative blogging tool, Innoblogs, was included in that list of eight. In fact, Innoblogs was THE ONLY CONTENT TOOL recommended under the category of Blogging Workflow Tools!!

The other categories covered were Content workflow tools (4 recommendations) and Content workflow tools combined with writer networks (3 recommendations).

This report covers information about Innoblogs, what it is and what kind of customer stands to benefit the most from the powerful blogging workflow tools inside our technology. It also gets in under the hood to tell you exactly what you get in the areas of workflow, search engine optimization, and customer conversion. It even covers cost and who some of our … Read More »

Organizing a blog that has a number of contributors is not an easy task. There are a few keys you need to have in place before you can be truly successful.

When I first was assigned the task of organizing employees to write content for a blog it reminded me a lot of coaching. As with coaching, you must be organized, have a plan, and bring energy to the task at hand. It isn’t easy writing each week for your employer, and one tip is to really align your team with their passions. It will be so much easier  for you to do your job around creating content if you employees are excited to write. Here is a list of organizational “must-haves”!

List of Topics - I have seen the most success when the blog team meets and builds this together at … Read More »

Comments are a conversation I have with every client when they start a blog. There are always two states of mind.

What if they say something bad or inappropriate… I’m not in control!
What if they discredit me… I’m not in control!

Ok, really most of the blogging clients I have worked with have worries that stem from the lack of control when it comes to all the possibilities that people could say. However, my response is always “it is NO different then having a conversation with a group of people”

Think about it…

In a group of people, an individual could object and make a point against you
In a group of people, an individual could say something bad or inappropriate

It is no different!

Here are three things you can do to create an environment that fosters good conversation. Having a dialog … Read More »

I heard a great debate today at a client site between to executive team members about their blog.

What is better… an RSS subscriber or an email subscriber?

The battle between the team members was one I have heard before. It reminded me of something I read from Michael Hyatt. A subscriber is a subscriber, right? Wrong…

Email subscriptions in the blogging world are the creme de le creme. It is your list, your asset, your gold that you should place into Fort Knox. With an email subscription list you have total control over the messages sent to your readers.

Here is a quick email benefit list:

You can send a message to readers whenever you would like… with RSS you must write a post!
Email in-boxes gain you a higher level of trust with your readers
Email lists can be … Read More »

In my last post I discussed keeping your blog consistent against all the pressures of work we already face.

This week I want to share 3 content creators that should always be in your mind as you go through your day. They might be a form of “zen motivation”… or just quick way you can get your thoughts out to a world that can benefit from them.

News and current public events – This is a “no-brainer”… Grab a newspaper in the morning, turn on the today show while you eat breakfast, or scan your favorite blogs through an RSS feed to find and connect what is currently effecting the world to your blog and business. I have seen great jumps in google activity when you hit on something that is … Read More »

Writers block happens even if you know how to blog. All to often though it can be the dagger that slowly cuts you away from your consistency. Google and other search engines love fresh content on any blog, but most importantly your readers will return more often if you can produce good consistent content! I’m going to highlight some great tips I’ve gathered through my time writing. If you’re looking for a book to dig into more I would recommend Michael Hyatt’s book Platform. It’s perfect for a how to blog guide.

I have started a number of blogs. I have only had one that was very successful, but it was also tied to a project that was only set to happen for 3 months. However, in this 3 months I was the most consistent I had … Read More »

Last week I put together what I feel are the first two steps to building trust when it comes to business blogging. “Purpose” gives us direction, and its connotation to me

portrays a reason why others would want to trust you. They believe in your purpose, and they are either striving to go in the direction you are creating too or would like to see you succeed in your purpose. A purpose in a business plan is something people can connect to emotionally and believe in at a deeper level.

Here is the next step…

Appear “polished” when people are looking.

How does “polish” build trust you may ask… Have you ever been to a site where you can tell they shot the images themselves? How about their headshots? Or do they not have a … Read More »