From Blog to Brand, a talk at TBU Rotterdam travel bloggers conference by Caliber. http://www.caliberi.com/

1. From Blog to Brand
Ross Burns
Content Manager

2. O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

4. “O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion.”

5. Why is this so important
and what does it have to do
with travel blogging?

7. Every minute:
• 347 New WordPress blog posts are published
• 3,125 Flickr images are uploaded
• 48 hours’ worth of YouTube footage is uploaded

8. By the end of our hour together:
20,000+
new WordPress blog posts will have been published.
And that is just WordPress.

9. The good news is
 You already have your brand
 You already have your niche
You just need to emphasise
it at every opportunity so
that you stand out.

10. Authoritative
Informative
Fresh
Engaging (and engaged)
A successful blog is

11. Google+ is becoming important
and is your friend
Authoritative
• Use rel=“author” tags
• Fill out your profile in full
• Use a profile image consistent with your other
social channels that will show up on SERPs

12. Facebook Graph Search
is coming soon
Authoritative

13. Authoritative
• Complete your Facebook
profile with as much
information as possible
The more you have in there, the
more people will come across you

14. Make your brand voice consistent
Authoritative
• Tone of voice
• Spelling
• Pay particular
attention if
accepting guest
posts

15. Authoritative
Informative
Fresh
Engaging (and engaged)
A successful blog is


16. Solve people’s problems
Informative
• Know what
people are
searching your
site for
• Use your blog to
help answer
these common
queries and as
inspiration for
posts

17. Curate your
knowledge to
provide guidance
Informative
• If you’ve already done
something, compile the
resources
• “How to” posts are incredibly
popular
• Become an authority not just an
inspiration

18. If you help people, they will come
back, boosting your figures
Informative
Useful posts will be
• Bookmarked
• Re-visited
• Shared

19. Authoritative
Informative
Fresh
Engaging (and engaged)
A successful blog is



20. Fresh
Use an editorial calendar

21. Fresh
Stick to deadlines
• Deadlines keep
you disciplined
• Offline
publishing
governed by
deadlines –
online
publishing
should be no
different

22. Fresh
Automate on social channels
• Buffer
• Hootsuite

23. Fresh
Recycle/reuse/repackage
• You already
have a wealth of
information and
resources
(photos, etc)
• Don’t be afraid
to reuse this in a
different format
as an easy way
of keeping your
blog fresh

24. Fresh
Adopt the 80/20 rule
Doing what you
always do
Trying
something new

25. Fresh
• Before and After image sliders require little code and lend
themselves to travel photography

26. Fresh
• Interactive timelines offer a more interesting way of showing
details of a trip or a location – can also be used to repackage
existing content

27. Fresh
• Polls can be an interesting way of engaging your readers and the
results offer material you can build on and publicise

28. Fresh
• Building a Google map is quick, straightforward and a good resource

29. Fresh
• Video is easier than ever to shoot and upload
• YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet

30. Authoritative
Informative
Fresh
Engaging (and engaged)
A successful blog is




31. Engaging (and engaged)
Be socially active (offline & online)

32. Engaging (and engaged)
Know what’s going on in your sphere

33. Engaging (and engaged)
Know what people are looking for
• Google AdWords is quite addictive and strangely fun to play with

34. Authoritative
Informative
Fresh
Engaging
A successful blog is





35. How many hours of
YouTube video is
uploaded
every minute?
Have you been listening?
Yes, 48. Have a stag!

36. Introduction
• To A Louse (read by Robert
Caryle)
• That scary infographic
Authoritative
• How to use Google+
author tags
• Facebook Graph Search
Engaged (and engaging)
• Trendsmap
• Google AdWords
Fresh
• Buffer
• Hootsuite
• Simple image slider
• Interactive timelines
• Polling plugin
• Google Maps
• Vine (iOS app)
• Tout (iOS & Android app)
• YouTube (you probably know
where this one is!)
Essential
• The Caliber Blog
Those resources
Let me know how you get on: ross.burns@caliberi.com / @caliberi