Welcome to the second in our series of blogs on blogs – think “Fun with Flags,” from the “Big Bang Theory,” but a lot less geeky. If you haven’t read our first entry, click here to catch up on some mind-blowing stats which prove without a shadow of a doubt that blogging ought to be an essential part of your marketing plan.

Today, we look at five essential elements that need to be a part of the plan. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be continuing our series including how to find and follow blogs that are related to your ventures and awesome ways to kick-start your creative juices to create compelling posts.

Let’s begin…

Crisp, Relevant Images

Oh, where to find some eye-catching images that don’t scream cheese-o-rama! There are plenty of free sites (who really wants to pay?), but there are some reasonable paid options like Adobe Stock and Shutterstock that are $30 a month for a basic plan and iStockPhoto for $40. By using a paid site, you can avoid worries of copyright issues.

When using free sites or internet gallery searches, you should be cautious. Most are free from copyright restrictions, but some are not. There are some terrific free websites that make bloggers and marketers lives easier.  In no particular endorsement order, some of the most popular are  Negative Space, Death to the Stock Photo, Picjumbo, Pixabay, New Old Stock and Unsplash.

As a public service announcement, there are three types of copyright categories to be aware of:

• Public Domain–Images in the public domain have copyrights that have expired or the creators have relinquished all rights. These are free for personal or commercial use.
• Royalty Free—The model used by paid stock photo sites, where the purchaser pays for the right to use the image without paying additional royalties or licensing fees. No attribution is necessary.
• Creative Commons – These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators. As long as you abide by the specified conditions in the license you should be protected under copyright law.

The Meat & Potatoes – Content with a Purpose

What’s a blog worth without a compelling message and content?  Jack sh*t!  That’s what. You’ve grabbed your readers’ attention with your flashy, intriguing pic and a catchy headline, but now that you’ve lured them in, don’t be a tease – you have to deliver the full monty.  Begin with an end in mind, setting up the content to drive it home into a conversion.  What interesting brain droppings do you have to offer the audience to do so?

A Clear Call-to-Action

So what’s the point of your blog anyway?  It should be to drive or convert a sale, add or retain a client or at least start the build to lead up to more business.  You’ve crept into their consciousness and have a captive audience; now let’s get them to make the leap right into your pocketbook.  Is your call to action to get them to register for your upcoming seminar, to purchase a product or service, or to sign up for a monthly email?  Whatever it is, this is your chance to close the deal.  One of the biggest mistakes in sales is not actually asking for the sale. Don’t fall into that dubious territory.

A Relaxed Tone

This medium is the perfect place to let your guard down while still building your brand. Take this opportunity to “speak” on a more personal level.  The blog is an awesome way to build that “know-like-trust” factor in a subtle, unobtrusive manner. Make people like you, just don’t try too hardJ – it’ll come off as desperate and have the opposite effect.

SEO Friendly Keywords

To make your blog searchable by the internet gods, start with a list of five to ten keywords that are most relevant to your post.  Imagine you were searching for the topic you are pontificating on in a blind search. Include those words in the title and copy, and include key phrases that are searchable. Think about what the average surfer girl would type in looking for content of your sort.

Still need some help getting started? We’re hosting a two-day blog writing retreat in September 2017 for eight individuals to research and plan a whole years’ worth of blog posts and then write their first month’s posts. https://ripcordcomm.lpages.co/blogretreat/