I had the honor and priviledge of speaking at wordcamp columbus on Saturday.  First of all, what a great event – props go out to the organizers for putting on such a wonderful event.

Second, I wanted to share the presentations that I gave.  I divided the session into two distinct areas – First, how to build a brand for your blog, and Second, how to market your blog.

Building a Strong Brand

This presentation from WordCamp Columbus #wccbus covers how to build a strong brand online.  Brand building is what makes people fall in love with brands – it is the inspirational aspect of marketing.

The presentation includes 5 steps to effective brand building:

1) Assess the blogosphere or the landscape. Who are your competitors?  What are people already doing? What works?  What doesn’t?
2) Determine your Audience – Who are you trying to reach?  What are they interested in?  Where can you find them?
3) Define your brand – Where do you fit in?  What is your unique positioning? How will you be different?  What does your brand stand for?
4) Bring your brand to life - Execute against the desired position/look/feel/character that you want to build for your brand.
5) Brand building Principles - Clear Positioning, Single-Mindedness (don’t be afraid to be niche), Consistency and Personality.

Marketing Your Blog

The second half focused on Marketing your Blog.  How to build an audience for your blog – the focus wasn’t on quick traffic – more about creating a sustainable audience and community.

The key concepts covered in this presentation included:

5 ways to market your blog:

1. Write Great Content – Write posts and headlines that travel.  Blog “readers” don’t read.  They scan.  amke your blog scannable.
2. Make your blog Talkable – Empower your audience to spread great content.
3. Make your blog Searchable – 20 – 50% of most blogger traffic comes from search.  Small adjustments can dramatically improve the amount and quality of your traffic.
4. Build Community – Encourage and interact with participants on your blog and leverage social media to build community.
5. Leverage Analytics and Stats – Analyze your current traffic to learn more about where to get traffic.