By Bob Varettoni

Want to establish yourself as a blogger on business communications topics? You’ve come to the right place. We’re looking for a few good posts.

Welcome to the IABC New Jersey Chapter’s new Guest Blogger Program! If you’re a member, student member, speaker, sponsor or program lead, we’re inviting you to write guest posts for the IABC-NJ blog.

What’s in it for you?

• You want to be published or are looking for online exposure.
• You want to try your hand at blogging, or want to increase your Googlability.
• You want to showcase your professional expertise or interact with other professionals about a topic you feel strongly about.

What’s in it for us?

• We’re looking for diverse ideas, opinions and perspectives that would be of interest to our members.
• We want to help drive engagement on our newly designed website.
• Our board can’t write everything.

We introduced the Guest Blogger Program at our latest professional development program, “Blogging 101, Tips and Tools to Start a Blog and Keep It Going,” held in mid-April at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Madison campus.

• If you’re looking to get started in blogging – or if you’re an experienced blogger looking to hone your skills – look no further than the Blogging 101 insights presented that night by Susan Willett and Lauren Cook. Susan is owner of Quoia corporate communications consulting and runs the award-winning Life With Cats and Dogs site. Lauren is the co-owner of MC2: Moldave & Cook Strategic Communications.
• IABC-NJ live-tweeted some highlights of that program. Notice we didn’t ask you to “click here” to view those because – as Susan and Lauren’s “Anatomy of a good blog post” slide makes clear… and as Susan made us raise our hands and swear under oath… you should never use “click here” as a link.
• Susan also gave advice about how to come up with blogging ideas and “T-zing out content” (as in, “Tug at their heartstrings, Tell them something they didn’t know, Tickle their funny bone”). She made the point that a blog can be about anything you feel passionate about – even something as seemingly ordinary as celery.
• Someone commented, “Even celery?” Like a great improv artist or jazz musician, Susan spent the next 20 minutes highlighting her presentation with a variety of creative examples showing how that advice would apply to a theoretical celery blog.
• Lauren then provided tips that gave insight into one of the most important questions in all of blogging: “If you post it, will they come?”
• Lauren’s deep-dive into the importance and inner-workings of search engine optimization was a terrific primer about a subject that’s constantly evolving. She noted that SEO had two audiences: humans (what would someone type into a search?) and spiders (what is this blog telling me is important?).
• If, like me, you recognize the value of blogging but have always been afraid of spiders, that’s all the more reason to participate in the new IABC-NJ Guest Blogger Program. It’s a way to get hands-on support and insight from local communications pros like Susan and Lauren.

See further details in the “Here’s How” slide. Or send an email to [email protected], and Susan will send you a Guest Blogger Program information sheet, with all the details you need, including how to pitch ideas.

I pitched her on this one, and her response was encouraging and supportive. “Be my guest!” she said.  

Bob Varettoni is finance vice president for IABC-NJ.