Recently, social media consultant Deborah Smith returned to First Financial with another blogging seminar –Advanced Blogging. The in-depth seminar tuned the audience into what a blog is, why blogging is important, various types of blogs, tips for developing a successful blog, writing titles for the search engines, and much more. In case you missed the seminar, here are a few key points you missed.

Smith said that great content plus other people minus marketing messages equals growth. (A little piece of advice she picked up from SocialMediaExaminer.com’s founder Michael Stelzner in his new book Launch.)

She then offered her tips for developing a successful blog and explained each:

Capture subscribers – If there is a way you could offer something valuable in exchange for a name and email address, do it.

Register your blog on blog directories such as Technorati.

Utilize an RSS feed for syndication.

You’ll need a blogging platform. Smith recommends WordPress and discussed the pros and cons for both WordPress.com and WordPress.org. “It’s free and easy to set up,” she said of WordPress.

Add plugins! Plugins such as WPtouch Pro and Share This can improve the blog’s functionality.

She concluded with showing the audience how to use WordPress and telling them the mistakes they should not make.

Avoid making ‘newbie’ mistakes – Deborah’s ‘newbie’ mistakes include: having auto-loading music, using dark backgrounds with light text, having side bar clutter, and more.

To learn more about Deborah Smith, visit her website at www.DeborahLSmith.com.

We have three simple ways for you to stay informed on our upcoming seminars with Deborah:

Text FFSEMINAR to 69302 to get updates on First Financial’s seminars straight on your mobile phone. (Standard text messaging rates may apply).

Visit the event calendar on First Financial’s website each month.

*First Financial is not responsible for content listed on outside websites.