Tracy Needham of Compelling Communications

Tracy Needham gave a seminar in the beginning bloggers user track entitled, “It’s Easy to Create Killer Content for your Blog.” Tracy is a copywriter and marketing coach with Compelling Communications.

Tracy started her talk with the following statistic: 68% of people said they were more likely to trust a company if the message is coming from a person like me. People want to interact and purchase from people they trust, not big companies without a face.

Tracy reminded the audience that you need to set yourself apart from the pack. Bring to the forefront what you do that makes you different. Communicate the full value of what you do. People buy from people, so its important to show your personality in your blogging.

In building business content you can blog about:

Questions prospects and clients frequently ask

Problems you resolved for someone

Favorites and resources

Quick book review or summary

Recap a meeting or workshop you attended (like I’m doing here)

People love to see what others are doing wrong and then tell them how to do it right

General concepts others want to know

60 second book review

You can continue to build your blog and content areas by:

Commenting on other blogs and in forum posts

Taking a new slant on pieces of content you’ve already created

Your thoughts on a Twitter trending topic

Thoughts of other people in your industry on a Twitter trending topic and then give your thoughts on it

Audio recordings

Borrow a YouTube video

Remember that personality counts. People want to get to know you. They want to hear your opinions, stories, experiences, videos, etc. But you have to be real. Your personality will set you apart. Even if you piss a few people off, you need to be yourself and speak your mind.

For bloggers who hate to write, Needham suggested using a transcription service like Audacity, Odesk, or Google Voice where you can record yourself and get a transcription emailed to you.

Don’t forget your blog should have an about me page, a services/products page, links to your website, free report for subscribing, contact information (including a phone number, real address, and email address), and links in the blogroll on the right hand side.

Needham’s 3 Key Tips from Copywriting:

Have Them At Hello – You have 10 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention. You need a compelling title. You can ask a question. Make it problem-oriented. Address a
specific audience. Imply there’s a specific solution to pique their curiosity (example:
“these 5 ways..”)

Speak Their Language – Use words your visitors would use. Keep in mind what’s
most important to them. Stories. Familiar metaphors and references. Look at
your analytics to see what has been the most popular. Don’t use geek speak or professional jargon.

Add Emotion – Emotions may play a bigger role than you think. 16 Dominant emotions to trigger powerful copy – anger, betrayal, revenge, fear, frustration,
greed, happiness, hope, love/caring, passion, relaxation, sadness, security, shame, powerlessness, and urgency.

You should definitely, definitely post at least once a week. 2 to 3 times a week is better. Needham told us that Twitter drives a lot of traffic for her. Tweets need to be more than links to your blog. You need to give other tips that don’t require going to your blog. It needs to be conversations.

All in all, a great session on ideas and methods for creating content for your blog by Tracy Needham at WordCamp Raleigh 2010.

Individual Session Blogs:

Wayne Sutton – “Using WordPress to Build Your Brand”