Small Business Blog: Barbara Krai Interior Design

I often use the analogy of house-building and blue prints when explaining the web-planning process. Little did I know I’d eventually get to put that analogy to the test with an interior designer!

When I first met Barbara Krai, she already had a blog as part of her business website. She had a few posts but recognized that she needed to get serious about creating content and showcasing her expertise.

“Before I got too immersed in social media, I needed a ‘home base’ that greeted online contacts, fans, industry experts and prospects with fresh content every week.” – Barbara Krai

Although blog planning and strategy ideally take place before launch, those steps are not always possible. The good news is, most existing blogs can be brought up to speed quickly!

I soon saw that Barbara’s business was a terrific fit for blogging. She has heavy-duty expertise, incredible passion and great focus—all the ingredients for unique content and, ultimately, a successful business blog! To top it off, Barbara’s house is a living portfolio. Her office is exquisite and she has an amazing waterfront view! Talk about the ideal spot for brainstorming and inspiration!

Over the next few weeks, we jump-started Barbara’s business blog with a plan that included:

• Goal Setting and Target Definition – Barbara saw an opportunity to expand her reach not only locally, but regionally and beyond. We developed a plan tailored to that goal and to took aim on her target market.
• Keyword Research and Opportunities – Interior design has some very specific pockets of keyword opportunities! We discovered some highly searched phrases that weren’t overly competitive. Some were quite surprising! From there, we recommended new blog series and posts based on those keywords and brainstormed ways to integrate other phrases to drive more visitors (including Google) to her blog. Although there is still opportunity to optimize her site as a whole, Barbara’s blog is gradually targeting phrases and topics that readers are searching for!
• Editorial Calendar – The hardest task for any new business blogger is to create and publish consistent content. If you simply wait for the blog bug to bite, you won’t be doing yourself any favors. After reviewing her work schedule, keyword opportunities and recent projects, we delved into the editorial calendar planning process. Before long, we had a schedule of blog posts and indentified a series that was ready to roll!
• Blog Coaching – Blogging is not an instantly acquired skill. Luckily, Barbara is a terrific writer. Coaching, in this case, revolved around blogging best-practices and editing for web “scannability.” The quality of Barbara’s content was spot on. Again, passion, focus and knowledge are three essential qualities of any successful business blogger. Barbara’s got them all!
• Technical Support and Training – Barbara’s blog was previously built using DasBlog—a viable but less-common blogging platform. Because documentation and support for DasBlog is limited, we researched and tested the administrative area to work out some kinks and ensure that the tool would meet Barbara’s needs. Although we prefer the WordPress.org platform, we were determined to work with what Barbara had already purchased and integrated into her site. We also worked with her development firm to modify her blog’s sidebar to include some standard blogging elements.

So how is Barbara’s blog faring? Typically, it takes many months to see results from a blog. However, BarbaraKrai.com has already had significant boost in Google rankings for some key phrases. We look forward to measuring results and moving toward continued blogging and social media success in 2010!

Will 2010 be the year you kick-start your business blog? Let’s talk about your blogging goals and develop a plan to get make your business part of the online conversation!

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