Personal Branding Telesummit: Debbie Weil's Presentation

We recently were honored to be a corporate sponsor of the Personal Branding Summit, a 12-hour telesummit with some of the top names in personal branding and marketing. You can subscribe to the podcast feed with the link in the graphic on the right.

Here's my notes, completely arbitrary in selection, from Debbie Weil's presentation: How to Write a Great Business Blog. Here's the MP3 file for you to listen, also.

Should everyone have a blog?

No. if you’re not a good writer, then use a camera or podcasts. Not everyone needs to be a blogger. If you don’t have the passion, don’t do it. There are other things to do.

What’s the difference between a personal and business blog? 

The similarity is the passion behind the blog. The differences are the topics and your audience. It has to be more than your mother. [Great line!] It’s the difference between conscious branding and chatting in public.

You have to have an informal conversational style. There's a little bit of subterfuge here. You have to walk the line and talk about important stuff and do it in a way that's informal. That's the hallmark of a blogging style.

What are the rules of business blogging? 

Blogging’s a creative endeavor so it’s hard to give exact rules. You want to reveal something of yourself. [Examples: Debbie’s daughter ran in the Boston Marathon and she posted a photo and people loved it. Pete Blackshaw wrote about his father’s illness and passing. I found that very touching and inspiring. I liked Pete and now I very much respect him.]

I usually throw out politics. Our personal lives may not coincide with the political views of our audience. Politics and religion are combustible topics.

To what extent do you use controversy to bring readers?

You have to say something worth listening to. But if you get into too controversial topics, things can get away from you. It’s the Howard Stern, shock-jock, approach.

What’s the difference between an enewsletter and a blog?

A good enewsletter is put together like an editorial product. A blog is a nugget. Nugget, nugget. It’s much easier to write and produce. Blogging is a LOT easier than publishing an enewsletter.

What about using video?

It’s incredibly easy to embed video in your blog. Upload your digital video to your desktop, then to YouTube. Then use their embed code to add it to your blog. It’s fun. [Here’s a recent example of Debbie’s use of video. ]

What’s the ROI?

Or the ROB, Return-on-Blog. Personal Branding requires you to be exceptional at something that matters. Blogging allows you to show you have enough of something to say on one particular topic. You’re an expert. Blogging is a way to tell them a LOT more than on a static website.

You want to control your brand identity. You want to see your blog come up high in search results when they type your name into Google. And they will. Is that a business result? You betcha. That’s the number one ROB.

What are some tips?

1) Think like a journalist when you’re writing your post, especially when you’re creating a title. A title of interview with the top dog is not the same as Exclusive Interview with Bill Gates!

2) Provide a synopsis in the first paragraph of your post’s full content.

3) Package what your write to make it easy for bloggers to link to you. A list of tips is the kind of post other bloggers will link to.

4) Always link. Links are the currency of the blogosphere. Without them it looks like you’re not part of the other conversations. Links make each entry a little resource worth reading and coming back to. Don’t worry about giving readers an easy way to leave. Everyone knows how to use the back-button. They will if you have good content.

5) Allow comments. Blogs aren’t blogs without comments. You can moderate comments. That gives you a chance to review the comments before they’re published. [Check with your blog software on how to moderate comments.]

6) Blog on a regular schedule. Once a week for a year is better than an erratic schedule. Think little tiny bites, short, a few paragraphs.

Parting Words?

Just do it. Just try it.

Debbie ended the conversation with a special offer: Buy her book, The Corporate Blogging Book. Then send her the receipt and your email and she’ll send you her one-hour audio presentation on how to write a corporate blog: a $47 value.

Thanks, Debbie. As usual, it was great.

Disclaimer: We’re friends. We’ve sponsored her newsletter in the past. She’s used our services. Regardless, Debbie’s an expert. You ought to listen to her.