Blogging for Business panel - thanks to HTC!
Thanks so much to the Houston Technology Center, Marc Nathan, Kelsey Ruger and Steve Latham for a fun and well-attended 'Blogging for Business' Educational Series panel.
It was a great panel that covered everything from the sociological push for humans to grow their community (now online through Social Media, way back when through gangs in NYC <grin>), the business reasons behind why Social Media is a good move for businesses and how to get your strategies in place for business Blogging.
On a personal level, I was very excited to see, among many much-loved familiar faces, Kami (@kamichat on Twitter) and Cathy Stucker (@CathyStucker on Twitter) in person for the very first time.
As so often happens after a public speaking gig, there were a few other things that I wish I had shared during the panel -- hopefully some of you attendees are reading this now :) and I'll probably have a few more things to add by the end of the day:
- (This one was prompted by Mark Schmulen from NutShell Mail - thanks dude, can't wait for my cupcake!!) Blogging is just plain AWESOME for search engine love - not only are relevant Blog posts full of rich keywords that will help drive traffic to your blog (and subsequently to your site if you are linking strategically), but search engines are amazingly fast at picking up Blog posts.
This means that if you regularly write topical and timely posts on your Blog, you will show up incredibly well in Google - our Schipul 'The SEM Blog' has actually seen super Google listings in as short as 60 minutes. Now THAT is hot :) - When getting started in the Social Media and Blogging sphere, you first need to get your feet wet by reading Blogs, signing up for social networks and just getting your sea legs. After you've been reading for a while and have picked up some of the nuances of specific social networks' communication styles and etiquette, then you need to get to work on developing your Personal Brand.
Even if you're not starting your own Blog or plan on posting other content online, it's hugely important that you have a consistent way to brand yourself:- Find a photo of yourself that you like to use as an avatar (the little picture thingie that represents you on different sites)
- Come up with a name that is easy for people to remember to (for instance, I am 'happykatie' everywhere -- except MySpace b/c some British girl beat me to it not that I am bitter -- but everywhere else no one ever has to question how to find me)
- Have bio, professional and personal interest info ready to fill out as much of every site profile that you can -- the fuller your profile, the richer your experience will be on social networking sites.
