An interesting thing about learning is how circular it is—a flywheel-like experience—a never-ending motion. Just as the wheel hits top and center, it plunges you back down to scoop up more and the momentum sweeps you onward.
And, just when you feel like you’re high up there, it turns out there’s always more to find, to mine.
I’m so grateful and fortunate right now in mining all kinds of learning gems by working with an inspiring BETA group doing the blog bling thing with Ryan Biddulph and me! The first six-week session flew by swiftly. But, the learning process is eye-opening for us and for students.
But, neither the fun nor the learning is quite done yet. Ryan and I and our BETA student group are inviting you for a peek inside of How to Bling Your Blog & Feed That Hog. We are inviting you to join us for the next two Wednesdays for LIVE LUNCH & LEARN Zoom Meetings at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Join us FREE to learn a few things for feeding your hog of a blog to create a valuable content hub for your business.
These are opportunities to learn and to get a sneak peek of our brand new course offering—with real help for you to bling your business blog. We may mention the course’s next starting date, but these meetings are about learning and definitely NOT sales!!
>> Hope you can pop in on Wednesday, March 4th or March 11th (featuring Lisa Sicard on Facebook and Instagram) or on both dates to see what we’re up to.
The reviews of our LIVE Sessions are positive and inspiring so far. They make us want to make each new week’s Zoom even better than the last. Plus, the extra effort seems beneficial all the way around.
LIVE Course Notes Hit Facebook
After the January 29th LIVE Session, April wrote out a few notes on Facebook, take a look:
April M. Hamm 👀 What’s your core message? 📣
April M. Hamm What’s your brand story?
April M. Hamm What do customers say about you?
April M. Hamm What’s the specialty that people seek out from you?
April M. Hamm Which hat(s) do you want to wear and which should you delegate?
April M. Hamm Did you realize you were going to have to be a publisher when you started your business?
April M. Hamm Do you have an avatar for your ideal customer?
April M. Hamm Have you conducted an internal SWOT analysis to assess your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities?
April M. Hamm Who are your key competitors within your niche and how do you differentiate yourself within the niche?
April M. Hamm Get answers to these questions and more in the course How to Bling Your Blog and Feed That Hog! Contact Sue-Ann Bubacz at Write Mix for Business 🤓
Sue-Ann Bubacz to April M. Hamm Wow… we covered some GOOD stuff, huh!??! Thanks for your kind support. Today was fun!! 🐽
April M. Hamm Sue-Ann Bubacz yes, we covered A LOT in 45min! I always say time flies when learning is fun 🤩!
Cultivating the Learning Craft
There’s a high responsibility to craft a learning experience for students to not only consume but to take to a tactical level and build on, from their taking your course. Yes, a tall order, but a fun challenge as well. Here’s a look at the learning journey our BETA members have traveled so far:
This course is a 6-week interactive learning journey and quest to find out how to make your blog a successful business content hub that attracts new business for you.
Overlook Pointe…
Starting with a Hog’s eye view and a look at the bigger picture, we explore the following concepts:
- Discovering your “North Star,” your business Why.
- Identifying your business purpose: MVV (mission, vision values), Statement of Purpose, Manifesto, or overriding business reason to exist.
- Defining your core competencies and target audience: Market Analysis/Research, SWOT analysis how-to, Assessments/Products/Surveys/Customer Data, etc.
Anatomy of a Blog…
Taking a deeper dive helps you gain clarity so you can accurately define your blog goals:
- Analyzing Your Target Market: Personas, Avatars, Competitive Analysis, Demographics.
- Exploring your UVP (unique value proposition); points of differentiation in your space.
- Honing in on your ONE Core Message.
- Specializing by niching.
A Microscopic View…
Looking at your blog from a skeletal outlook, think about:
- Core structure: site and content bones to pick.
- Blog content: types and purposes for your blog to hog.
- Key ingredients: finding a unique formula for a fat, happy blog.
- Mixing media, blogs, hogs, and your business to align a biz blog strategy.
Muddling in the Muck and Ways to Get Unstuck…
It’s okay if occasionally you need to regroup, just don’t get too mired in the muck, but do these things to make blogging progress instead:
- Strategize your blog content strategy within the framework of your bigger business objectives and goals.
- Hone in on key topics and core categories to reflect the intersection of your business and audience needs.
- Elaborate on a content plan by using site structure and menu design optimizing usability.
- Understand cornerstone and evergreen content for the pillars of your content structure; consider silo structure, content clusters/hubs, pyramid content structures for ideation and organization.
- Explore content types to identify your core media and most comfortable approach to produce consistent content.
3 Little Pigs…
A solid blog foundation makes a meaningful blog, organized to help people, and attract new business via a resource-rich, asset-filled, valuable blog content hub. Design with powerful intention and purpose to move further, faster. Turn blog hog mud into a solid brick core by:
- Incorporating a powerful brand identity onto your website and blog.
- Establishing your brand voice, not to be confused with writing voice or tone; but the central voice wrapped around the personality, passion, and style of your bigger brand. {resource: https://conversationalcopywriting.com/conversational-voice-ann-handley/}
- Setting up a style guide, if needed. (See Uberflip for example.)
- Turning writing and ideas hangups into content creation mode; techniques and tactics.
- Keeping quality over quantity in mind; shallow content loses:(
- Finding your flow is what you’re looking for, as in *User flow *Nurture flow *Onboarding flow *Workflow (Match both sides in every transaction for the feeling you want to exude… ongoing interaction and interest often depend on your content flow and relevancy. Create an experience by sharing pathways to help your audience (ultimately) know you. And most importantly, to trust you—enough to give you their business!)
Paige’s PitStop…
Looking at your website and blog as an extension of your business and the key to creating a digital impact means integrating business and marketing objectives into your content strategy. Dissecting your main site pages for purpose and best practices allows you to connect with clarity and a meaningful editorial plan.
There were so many good points and related topics, we decided to do BONUS LIVE Sessions after this one to cover even more! But here’s some of what came up in the last formal LIVE.
First, a reminder to you that your digital properties are a big part of your business marketing machine so optimizing for clarity and usability are criteria to strive for. Creating and maintaining that clarity is a key part of the digital design process. Some ways to do so include:
- creating clear communication from your digital spaces starting with a consistent core message
- selecting main site pages, labeling (menu tabs), and key topic categories with clarity
- initiating site and content structure techniques (clusters, silos, and pyramids) to strengthen your core purpose while creating a clear understanding of what your site (i.e. business) is all about
- crafting powerful web copy and designing user-friendly pathways to enhance engagement
Zoom From Strategy to Action
But, moving this bigger framework of business and marketing objectives to your website and blog content hub depends on turning strategies into tactical plans and actions. So, we dove into ideas, tactics, tips, and tools to help you make it all happen and move into action for feeding your blog hog. We touched on:
- A documented (written) blog content strategy and editorial calendar…why or why not?
- Organizing your blog content for a meaningful experience that aligns business objectives with customer needs sounds easy enough, but how do you go about putting it all together? Why organizing helps you take action, especially if you’re newer to blogging.
- What are simple methods for creating a content strategy and blog editorial plan, easily?
- Why are creating “action stacks,” checklists, and “batching” for productivity useful hacks to help you move your blog forward? A repeatable and sustainable workflow gives you greater ROI.
- From Stephanie Liu, we chatted about a sneak peek from a LIGHTS/CAMERA/LIVE show, with a few notes especially for service-oriented businesses online. Stephanie uses a framework with the idea of 3 cores of concentration for you to gain trust, an audience, and sales over time. Plus, her unusual take (I absolutely LOVE) of the 80/20 rule which aligns with content creation, blogging, and digital work, perfectly.
- Showcasing Dorien Morin-Van Dam from a recent Agorapulse event, I shared a ton of ideas and examples for gathering, grouping, and organizing both inspiration AND content assets to make blog content easier to deal with forevermore!
More to Come: Be There March 4, 11
Although there have been a few glitches, tech ticks, and a hiccup or two, the journey is sooo wonderful overall. There’s a tiny sense of pride in the tiny ripple the course manages to send out to the world.
SPECIAL NOTE: There are so many important people who are so special and significant to this happening. Thank you!!
Anyway, I feel as though all the writing projects done online, all the online courses taken, webinars consumed, and all the research and learning as I continue to do online work, brings me here. Perfect timing to start a vision long held about creating an awesome experiential digital learning journey.
Our central philosophy emphasizes the DOING part of learning so it has to be more than a discussion. But, everyone is unique and our discussions are geared to offer suggestions, options, and best practices. Then you work it from there, depending on your particular business needs. Your blog’s bling belongs distinctly to you, an original of your making.
Like the circular flywheel of learning, we want How to Bling Your Blog & Feed That Hog to give you momentum and the steps you need to elevate your business content hub, your blog!
Not haphazardly, mind you, but with a clearer understanding of your blog’s business power and a set strategy to succeed.
The Next Agenda: Please Join Us!!
On Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00 p.m., EDT, you are cordially invited to join Ryan and me for How to Bling Your Blog, BONUS LIVE #1 Zoom Meeting. Here’s the link: JOIN US LIVE at 1PM EDT TODAY HERE!!!
For this bonus session, get ready to take notes because we’re planning topics to fuel your blog hog like:
✔️connecting a business spin to your blogging strategy to get better results
✔️adopting engagement/UX features in your blog content and media mix by specific design
✔️enhancing your blog’s marketing muscle using meaningful systems and clear communications
✔️finding tactical and practical steps to move your blog forward systematically, then sustainably
✔️discovering what moves the blog content needle to optimize your digital print
✔️leaning into lead magnets 🧲 and why they matter to your business blog; latest best tactics
Wednesday, March 11, 2020, 1:00 p.m., EDT: Amplify and Distribute Your Blog Content
For our 2nd bonus LIVE Session #2, take a look inside plus some end-of-course catchup material, tune in here:
Content unseen gets your business nowhere. Amplification and distribution are part of the content marketing process. Your blog content reaches more people and attracts more attention by putting it out there and sharing it around. The spirit of the internet is about sharing, helping, and learning so jump on the web. Think “connect.”
But, well, there’s a lot more to it to get it right. As always, intentional social is the best route. Social Media Marketer, Lisa Sicard, is on the schedule for this one to offer some special guest insights on a couple of social channels for this LIVE date! Don’t miss it. We’ll look at:
✔ Amplification and distribution channel decisions.
✔ Social Media Marketing (SMM) Strategy: Attraction | Awareness | Audience
✔ Three C’s of SMM: Creation, Curation, Conversation…the key to every social channel.
✔ Platforms overview and finding the right ones for your business:
- Lisa Sicard: FB (Facebook) & Instagram
- Ryan Biddulph: FB, YouTube, Twitter
- Sue-Ann Bubacz: Flipboard, LinkedIn
- Pinterest, Podcasting, SlideShare, oh my!
✔ A Multi-media mindset at the content creation onset to optimize reach with custom iterations helps amplify top content, consistently.
✔ Stretch content value and visibility with promotional sharing or distribution tool options. (Automation, syndication, content sharing systems like ViralContentBee or triberr, using repurposing venues, or by contributing to writing platforms like Medium or LinkedIn Publishing, etc.)
Next Moves
Whether you can make it to either of these FREE LIVE Sessions with Ryan and the rest of the fine folks who make it or not, it’s still a great time to improve your blog! Why not signup for the waiting list and take the next 6-week LIVE journey for blog bling right along with us?
Interested in more info? Cool! Check this out for the concept info, or get more about the LIVE Course opening again SOON here. A discount will be offered for those on this list!
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