We recently talked about your tone of voice online and if your blog is attracting the right audience. Both are very key points for blogging but there are more key factors/tips that you need to consider when you are working on your blog. Below are our top 10 tips for blogging and we hope you find them helpful!

1. Stay on topic
This is similar to what we talked about in a previous post in making sure you are posting the correct content to reach your target audience. Don’t lose your audience by going off topic and writing about something completely random and unrelated.

2. Create a schedule
A big part of blogging is actually finding the time to sit down and write your posts. Creating an editorial calendar of all your upcoming posts helps you stay organized and better manage writing your posts

3. Blog regularly
You definitely don’t have to write a post a day and if you do you most likely will get really burnt out. Instead, figure out the time when your followers are the most engaged and schedule your posts for then. You may blog only on Tuesdays and Thursdays but just make sure you are consistent with your days so that your readers will know when to expect new content.

4. Quality over quantity
It is better to write two quality posts a week instead of five posts that you quickly throw together. Your readers won’t come back to your site because you post every day; they will come back because you have great content.

5. Write with keywords in mind
We have mentioned before how keywords are important in your website’s SEO and ways to find your perfect keywords. The same is true for your blog posts. Think about how people will find your post and choose keywords to use throughout your post that will help increase your visibility.

6. Spell check
You want to always portray a professional appearance no matter what business you are in. Always make sure to check your spelling and grammar for every post.

7. Keep content current
Make sure you are keeping your blog relevant by talking about current trends and news. It will make your blog seem outdated if you are talking about news six months after it happened.

8. Promote your posts
It’s not enough to just write a post and then move on to the next. Make sure you are promoting it on your social media channels and also pitching it to other bloggers who may be interested. Your goal is not only to write good content but also for it to be read by as many people as possible.

9. Interact with your comments
Blogging builds a community so make sure you don’t neglect your community by not engaging with them in your comments section. You want people to come back and continually read your articles so engaging with them makes them feel more involved and connected with you and your blog.

10. Check your facts
Your reputation is on the line so make sure when you are talking about news, statistics or any other facts in your post that they are correct. It is also a best practice to cite your source and link back to the original article from where you got your facts.

We recently talked about what brand identity means. Many times though, people confuse brand identity and logo design and think that they are the same thing.

A logo is a very simplified visual element that identifies the business. A designer creates a logo, which then identifies the business or product to consumers. Some of the most iconic images for companies have been simplified to a basic icon.

That logo is then used to form the brand’s identity, which includes items such as business cards, letterhead, marketing collateral, packaging, apparel, signage, etc.  All of these items make up the company’s identity and help support the brand as a whole.

As we mentioned in our last post about brand identity, your company’s brand is the way the public perceives your company. A designer creates the foundation of the brand­– the logo­– and then it is up to the company as a whole to create a good image and brand identity for itself through its actions and involvement.

In our last post about video production we talked about why a video is good on your website. Now I want to talk about exactly what makes up a good video. Of course anyone can record a video on their phone or use a point-and-shoot camera but there are specific qualities that differentiate between a professional video for your website and a fun video for personal use only.

Below are the top 5 qualities that add a lot of production value to your video and increase your brand’s perception. Remember that just like your printed materials and website your video’s quality says a lot about your brand.

1. Using a Script
No matter how much someone knows about your product or service, a script is always the best. It makes it a lot harder to edit later on if your main person in the video is rambling on for a few minutes. A script helps you organize all your thoughts and talking points so that you can hit all your important subjects in the least amount of time possible.

2. Music
You don’t realize how important music is in a video until its completely silent and your video feels empty. Music helps fill in the spaces and makes your video feel more complete. Be careful when picking out your music though; just because it’s a good song doesn’t mean it’s a good song for your company’s video! Also make sure to check all copyright laws for your music to make sure you avoid any future legal problems.

3. Voice-over
Not only does a voice-over help better explain your video and what you do, but it also makes your video more professional. Background noises can really overpower if you are shooting outside so consider using a microphone or doing a voice-over so that your audience can clearly hear everything in your video.

4. Length
Keep your audience in mind when determining the length of your video. Your goal is for people to watch your whole video and have a better understanding of your business. You don’t want them to leave your site after only watching the first 3 minutes of your 20-minute video. If its an internal or corporate video that you are shooting, it’s ok for it to be a little longer but if it is for sales purposes I would recommend keeping it under 2-3 minutes.

5. Lighting
This is the most obvious quality because you need good lighting so the viewer can see your product or person talking. Bad lighting is never good and will always lower the production value of your video.

For each video you create you should always think beforehand about what you would like to achieve in this video and what action you want your viewers to take. A video doesn’t have to cost $100,000 to make but with good production value qualities it will seem like it cost that much.

You may be surprised to know that some businesses re-use their photography each season and for many different catalogs. With clothing catalogs or other types that have constantly changing products, of course this is not an option. For businesses that have a product that stays the same for a while though it may seem like a good idea. While re-using photos can save you some money it can also hurt the image you are trying to portray.

Think about your target audience. While your product may not have changed in three years, your audience has gotten older and their desires may have changed. Make sure you are constantly connecting with your audience as they grow and evolve.

We have talked before about choosing the right model for your ad and that is the same for catalogs too. Your models, photography style and voice may be changing so always make sure your target audience is being correctly represented.

With social media sites constantly changing every day, it may seem overwhelming and expensive to advertise on them all. It really doesn’t have to get expensive though if you market correctly to your target audience. Online marketing works best when you are advertising where your target audience is and you have refined your ads enough to reach that audience.

The three main sites for advertising are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We will talk about them more in-depth below so think about your audience when deciding where to advertise.

Twitter

Advertising on Twitter is basically just your sponsored Twitter activity. They have Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets.

• Promoted Accounts promotes your account to users on Twitter who have similar interests. You are charged only when someone follows your account, which can keep the costs lower. Promoted Accounts are a great way to grow your account’s following.
• Promoted Tweets promotes certain tweets to get them in front of the right people. This is a great option if you want to promote a specific product or promotion. You are also charged only if someone interacts with your Promoted Tweet.

Below is a great video from Twitter that explains their advertising options with some fun visuals. If you are interested in advertising on Twitter you can set it up here.

Facebook

Facebook also has two main types of advertising options: Ads and Sponsored Stories.

• Facebook Ads can be created by a business to promote the business and upcoming promotions and deals. This option is great to increase awareness and get more traffic and fans to your page.
• Sponsored Stories are different from ads because it is promoting a post you already created on your page. This option is great if you have great content and want to increase the chances of it getting noticed.

To learn more about Facebook advertising, how to set it up and a promotional video, click here.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals from all industries and is a great place to advertise for business-to-business (B2B) marketing.

• Direct Ads is LinkedIn’s form of advertising and it is similar to Facebook’s ads in that you promote your business or special promotion. You can target your ads by industry sector, job title and location to best find your target audience.

I would also like to mention that Pinterest, which burst onto the social media scene in early 2012. Pinterest is great for retail brands since its main audience is women 18-35. They have recently added business profiles to better benefit brands and I am guessing that an advertising addition will come out soon.

Whatever platform is best for your online marketing efforts, make sure you are also involved on that social media channel and that you aren’t just posting ads.