Introduction. Blogging is a simple and easy way to publish information.

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2 Introduction Blogging is a simple and easy way to publish information. Blogging can allow you to share news and information with a large number of people at a very low cost. Blogging is now a simple process. If you have the ability to type a word document on a computer then you have the skills required to write a blog.

3 Introduction You might already have a blog but you aren t sure what to post on it. Alternatively you might be wondering why you would want a blog and what it can do for you. This guide aims to answer those questions. Working through this document will help you create a plan and give you a clear outline of what to post and when to post it so that it reaches the maximum number of people possible.

4 Benefits of blogging Brand awareness The more your customers and potential customers read about your organisation, the more chance they have of remembering it. So when they come to need your services or products, your name is already in the frame!

5 Benefits of blogging Gain influence - A successful blog gains a wide audience of people who trust and respect your organisation.

6 Benefits of blogging Establish yourself as an expert - over time, as you write more posts and share more of your expertise, your website will change from just another blog into a powerful demonstration of your knowledge in a field. When somebody visits your site and sees the insights you ve shared on a subject, along with the community of people who respect and seek that insight, it will be clear that you re genuinely an expert in the field.

7 Benefits of blogging Build your network - Starting a blog is a great way to expand your network. A blog is also a good platform for reaching out to others. All your valuable and interesting blog posts attract readers who will then comment on your site and potentially send you personal messages through your contact page.

8 Benefits of blogging Make your website more visible to search engines - Search engines want to deliver results that are helpful to their users. When you write a series of valuable articles around a topic, Google takes notice. Each high-quality blog post that you publish is another opportunity to get traffic from searches.

9 Benefits of blogging Gain insights into your audience allowing your customers and potential customers to comment on your blog will provide reactions which will be interesting to track. Comments will give you market research and information that you would not have had before.

10 What to write about? Whether blogging as an individual, business or community group a blog can be an opportunity to post entries on: (please turn over page)

11 What to write about? Up and coming events, news and announcements Reflections on past events Share your passion for innovation and your industry

12 What to write about? Share learning and knowledge of your industry or area of interest Commentary on trends / topics in your industry or area of interest Showcasing new products Posting on a regular basis is important to build up credibility. The content needs to be accurate, informative and written in a way that is going to engage with users.

13 Writing your blog post You will need to think about your organisation s tone of voice before you write your blog post. Tone of voice isn t about what you write but the writing style you use. Written tone of voice is simply the personality of your company as expressed through the written word. You can use the matrix below to help you think about and develop your online tone of voice.

14 Writing your blog post The easiest way to consider tone of voice is in terms of the personality of your brand or organisation. If it was a person, what would they be like? To keep things simple, three values is probably enough, more than that risks duplicating values. Three broad-brush statements of personality should be plenty to pin down the essence of an organisation. Here are some examples: Value 1 Value 2 Value 3 Bank Honest Warm Personal Youth TV Programme I.T. Support Company Examples of tone of voice guidelines Playful Fun Entertaining Proactive Knowledgeable Reliable Leeds University - British Council -

15 Writing your blog post Choosing a topic take a little extra time to define your topic and the post will flow better and you ll develop something that matters to readers. Crafting your post s title perhaps the most crucial part of actually getting readers to start reading your post is when they see it in an RSS reader or search engine results page. The opening line first impressions matter. Once you ve got someone past your post s title your opening line draws them deeper into your post. Your point/s (making your posts matter) - a post needs to have a point. If it s just an intriguing title and opening you ll get people to read it but if the post doesn t matter to them it ll never get traction. Call to action driving readers to do something cements a post in their mind, helps them to apply it and helps you to make a deeper connection with them.

16 Writing your blog post Adding depth before publishing your post ask yourself how you could add depth to it and make it even more useful and memorable to readers? Quality control and polishing of posts small mistakes can be barriers to engagement for some readers. Spending time fixing errors and making a post look good can take it to the next level. Timing of publishing your post timing can be everything strategic timing of posts can ensure the right people see it at the right time. Post promotion having hit publish don t just leave it to chance that your post will be read by people. Giving it a few strategic nudges can increase the exposure it gets exponentially. Conversation often the real action happens once your post is published and being interacted with by readers and other bloggers. Taking time to have a dialogue can be very fruitful.

17 Planning your content Before you even start your blog, you will want to plan the kind of content you are going to write about. Think about the following points on the next few pages

18 Planning your content What do you want to achieve with your blog? (reaching out to policy makers and other powerful people needs a different approach from practical advice pieces to local volunteers).

19 Planning your content Who are your audiences and what do your audiences want or need?

20 Planning your content Who will contribute? Community leaders, volunteers, organisers, board members

21 Planning your content What kind of content do you already have that you could reuse (videos or interviews from events, data or research etc.), stories and issues you are watching or involved with - political or social. Getting an idea about the kinds of things you could post and the people who will post it will help you create an editorial/content calendar.

22 Planning your content You are now ready to create a content calendar and post to a schedule. This will help you plan content ahead of time and help your readers understand what days and times to visit your website to get the content that is most relevant to them. Read more here -

23 Planning your content In the example below we have outlined a plan. In the next step this can be refined further. Items can be mapped onto a calendar for the coming months and with more detail. Week 1 A message from our C.E.O Week 2 What s currently driving our industry Week 3 Review of our latest product (Video) Week 4 News about up and coming events Week 5 A creative image from a past event Week 6 An opinion poll asking for readers feedback on an industry topic Week 7 A recap of weekly industry news

24 Publishing your blog post online Now you have decided on your schedule for posting and mapped all your posts onto a content calendar, and written some posts you are ready to use the blogging software/website. This guide is aimed at those using WordPress however the principles will remain the same across all blogging platforms, the content editor interface may vary across different blogging platforms.

25 Publishing your blog post online Log in to WordPress or your preferred blogging platform of choice

26 Publishing your blog post online The quickest way to get to the Add New Post page at any time is to click on the New Post link at the top of the page in the top bar (top menu).

27 Publishing your blog post online. Below is the Add New Post page: To quickly add a new post to your site, all you have to do is: Type a title into the text field under Add New Post Type the text of your post in the content box. Note that the default view is Visual, but you actually have a choice of the HTML view as well Click on the Publish button, which is at the far right. Note that you can choose to save a draft or view a preview of your post

28 Publishing your blog post online In the image below, the title field, the content box, and the Publish button are highlighted: Once you click on the Publish button, you have to wait while WordPress performs its magic. You'll see that you are still on the Edit Post page, but now the following message has appeared telling you that your post was published and giving you a link to View post.

29 Publishing your blog post online For those people using WordPress or people who want to get more familiar with how a blogging platform works this video on the WordPress website introduces the WordPress interface and will help you become familiar with writing, formatting and publishing a blog post.

30 You are now ready to start planning and creating engaging compelling content to publish on your blog See Social Media toolkit Part I for Twitter and Facebook guides See Social Media toolkit Part II for YouTube and LinkedIn guides If you are a third sector or voluntary organisation looking for social media consultancy services we can help you - contact us on or info@locality.org.uk