Blogging Gold

Yesterday afternoon I needed a brain break. The day was just kind of dragging on, and I was stuck in haze, not feeling particularly motivated to do much of anything.  I logged into Twitter and scanned my timeline to see if I'd find anything inspiring... and then I spotted this tweet:

*PERK!* I was immediately intrigued.  I'd consider myself an amateur blogger at best, and lately I've been feeling a little lack of direction.  What do I want my blog to do, what purpose does it serve, how can I be more... wait for it... effective? 

I'd never "attended" a Twitter chat before, so i wasn't sure what I was in for.  Now having participated, I highly recommend it.  Here's how it works: everyone participates by tagging their tweets with a certain phrase, in this case "#startupchat". Then you enter that term in the Search bar at the top of the page. The results will show all tweets with that phrase in sequential order, so it reads like a chat room.  The cool part is that once that chat is over, if you want to revisit it, all you need to do is search for that term.

@startupprincess was the host/moderator, and would ask certain questions, then the other paricipants would chime in with their thoughts on the matter.  I had a few questions of my own, and since I tagged them with #startupchat, they came up in the discussion as well.  I was absolutley floored at the immediate responses I received; everyone was so friendly and willing to share.  Each tweet was so informative that I found it hard to keep up, as I sat there with my little notepad & pen, scribbling away.

The topics were focused on business and blogging.  I can honestly say I learned a lot!  The great thing is that most of the tips are pretty universal and can be applied to whatever industry you are in.  Here are some of the things I jotted down (some are paraphrased).

@LawLogix Look at current news and magazine headlines and mold them to your industry.

@prforsmallbiz Ask clients what their biggest concerns are, and that becomes your blog content.

@mmonsen7 Best tip: Don't assume you know what people are searching for. Use tools. Research high-traffic phrases.

@dotjenna Write blogs that invite responses.

@prweb Catchy headlines: rhyme, alliteration, oh, and keep it short! Infuse keywords = good for the search engines and readers.

@PhyllisNichols (for blog topics) What are customers dealing with? What are customers working on? What are they looking for?

@RtMixMktg Provide valuable resources to target customers; what will they print & post to the fridge?

@RtMixMktg Follow blogging best practices: post types, skimmable, good ehadings, pics, share buttons.

Some more great tips (unfortunately I didn't write down who said them)
- Write what you know! Everyone is an expert at something.
- Know your audience.
- Be relevant.
- Add value - blog with a purpose.
- What are your audience's "pain points"?

Twitter chats are also a great way to network and meet new people with a common interest.  @startupprincess's next chat is Wednesday, October 12th at 2pm EST, "Being More Creative in Business and Life".  Will I see you there?

xoxo,
  Kim

aka @KCbakes