11 Ways to Be a Better Blogger

11 Ways to Be a Better Blogger

I speak at conferences and do some teaching, and the questions I’m asked the most about are about social media and blogging. At a recent conference, someone in the audience suggested I put a blogging tips article online that I could link to for writers’ reference. Great idea. I’ve been writing for the Internet for a decade, so these are some tips I’ve picked up along the way.

14 Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts After You Publish

14 Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts After You Publish

When you are working on a blog post and your hard work is finished, you click on "publish" and let your masterpiece go live, BUT you are not done yet! There are many steps you need to take to promote that post! All of the traffic coming to your blog will arrive by what you are doing to that post afterwards. The more you promote it, the more traffic and views you will get. Here are some steps you should be doing to every blog post to get maximum exposure!

Case study: How to define an online communications strategy

Case study:

Defining an online communications strategy

Step 1: Define your general comms strategy

                                                                         Click on image to enlarge

This case study for the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water

Case study: How to define an online communications strategy

Case study: How to define an online communications strategy

Click on image to enlarge

How to convert “social media reach” to “impact” – Part 2

How to convert “social media reach” to “impact” – Part 2

In part 1 of this series, we made the case that a high “reach” – the amount of people you reach via your social media efforts, does not mean a high “impact”, unless your audience is your actual target audience.

So how can we do better? Well, follow four steps:

The Layout for a Perfect Facebook Post

The Layout for a Perfect Facebook Post

In short:

Keep your copy text short, making it easier to read on a mobile
Ensure your copy text is enticing and easy to read
Include a “call-to-some-kind-of-action”: ask a question, opinion, comment
Include a link, preferably shortened with bitly.
Upload an image to make your post attractive. Best size for mobile viewing: 300 x 300 px
Engage through comment moderation

A blog competition shows the power of social media

A blog competition shows the power of social media

In the run-up to the World Congress on Agroforestry (#WCA2014), we ran a blog competition. The purpose was to provide agroforestry researchers, practitioners, students and farmers a platform to showcase their projects on our blog. We also used this opportunity to encourage people to discover the power of blogging -and social media as a whole- as powerful online publishing and discussion tools. In the process, we also guided people into “the art of blogging”.