If you missed last nite’s #Blogchat, here is the transcript.
I’ve been so excited about the lineup for October that I could barely wait till today to get this post up! We’ll have TWO amazing co-hosts plus #Blogchat will have its first sponsor! Here’s the lineup:
October 3rd – Brian Clark (@CopyBlogger) Co-Host on “How to Create Compelling Content For Your Blog”. Brian will teach us how to create content that is not only search engine-friendly, but that also engages our readers. And he will also show us how to improve our headline writing, including making them more interesting, but also consider SEO implications and making them more ‘shareable’ on social sites. Brian is an absolute genius at improving boring headlines, as well as creating more interesting content. I cannot wait to have him join us so we can learn from him!
October 10th – SPONSORED #Blogchat – Grant Griffiths (@GrantGriffiths) from Headway Themes will join us to discuss “How to Choose a Template For Your Blog”. This will be the first sponsored #Blogchat, and it will be broken into 2 parts. The first 30 mins will focus on discussing which elements you should consider when choosing a blog template. Then in the 2nd 30 mins, we’ll discuss if you should go with a free blog template, or if you should purchase a premium template such as the one Headway offers. This would be the perfect opportunity for #Blogchat participants to learn more about what premium blog templates offer, and to ask Grant any questions you have about Headway, such as its price, features, and support. Or if you’re undecided if you should stick with a free template or go with a premium, we’ll try to help you decide!
October 17th – Shannon Paul (@ShannonPaul) Co-Host on “How to Respond to Comments on Your Company Blog”. Shannon has one of the most extensive corporate social media backgrounds on the planet. Before taking on her current role as Social Media Manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, she helped shape the social media strategies for WeSeed and the Detroit Red Wings. She’ll be joining us to tackle a topic she’s been successfully dealing with for years, how companies should handle and respond to comments on their blog. She just wrote a fabulous post detailing how to handle this, with a bonus slideshare deck!
October 24th – TBA
October 31st – OPEN MIC ON HALLOWEEN! Holy crap this might be more awesomeness than I can stand. We’ll have to have some fun with this, maybe show up in our favorite monster avatars? Hmmmm….let me think on this.
Seriously, is that one incredible line-up, or what? Now I wanted to close with a word on sponsors and co-hosts. If your company is interested in sponsoring a future #Blogchat, then please check out this page for more information. The 2nd Sunday of every month is reserved for sponsorship, with November the 14th being the first available slot. All sponsorship slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want to reserve a slot, you’ll need to contact me at least 2 weeks before the slot you want, so we can get your payment processed, plus I want at least a week prior to properly promote your sponsored #Blogchat. The link above has more information on topic matter, but for the most part, I am looking for topics that will promote your company/offerings, but that also address topics that #Blogchat participants need help with. Check out the topic for this month’s sponsored #Blogchat above, as an example of what I am talking about. And also think about ways that your sponsorship could also benefit #Blogchat participants. Maybe a 10% off coupon, or a trial subscription to your site/service. If your sponsorship creates value for #Blogchat participants, then it will benefit you by creating goodwill with and positive reviews from #Blogchat participants.
Now, as for Co-Hosts. As #Blogchat has grown in popularity in the last few months, a lot of people have started asking me if they could co-host a #Blogchat. Moving forward, #Blogchat will have one co-host a month, on the 1st Sunday of every month. Currently, I have November’s co-host booked (And it’s another amazing co-host, I can’t wait to share who it is!), and am talking to a couple of people about co-hosting in December and January of next year. So if you are interested in co-hosting, please understand that we’ll need to come up with a blogging topic that you can teach on that makes sense for the #Blogchat audience, and also understand that the earliest you could join as co-host would probably be January of 2011.
That’s it! Once again, thank y’all SO much for coming every week to #Blogchat! The bar just keeps getting higher but I think we’ll have an awesome November in store for y’all as well 😉
Any reason why you’re limiting the co-hosts to one a month? I don’t mind the two, and I think they bring a nice focus to the chats (where even when there is a defined topic, can still seem more like open mic sometimes when there isn’t a “co-host”).
Hey Sue! The main reason why I am limiting co-hosts to 1 a month (unless there are 5 Sundays in the month like next month) is that I want to make sure we have at least 1 every month. I want to get on a schedule of having regular co-hosts, like earlier this year we went for about 4 weeks straight with co-hosts, then went 3 months without one. I want to even that out.
And two, I want to make sure that the co-hosts we do have can speak/teach on a blogging topic that is something that yall are interested in. I don’t want to bring in a co-host just to be bringing them in, I want them to be able to add something to the conversation, and because they will be covering a topic better than we could be ourselves.
Consistency is definitely important. 🙂
Wow! Awesome lineup. I’m clearing up Sunday nights in October.
Thanks Mike! I think I will too 😉