Blog RX: Prescriptions for advanced blogging techniquesJayne Navarre, Virtual Marketing Officer

Kristi Dosh, The SportsBizMiss

Jacqueline Madarang, Bradley

Deborah Dobson, Fisher Phillips

Featuring commentary by in-house marketers:

Learning Outcomes

■ Technical aspects of the blog■ Topic generation and writing tips■ Distribution strategies for building an audience■ Measuring Success and maintaining enthusiasm for blogging

Six Core Concepts

1) The bones of a blog are important—platform, placement, purpose, and

presentation

2) Topic generation is art, science, and passion

3) Articles are not blog posts

4) You can’t rely solely on SEO to build audience, but you need to use it

5) SEO is complemented by a content distribution strategy that includes

individual and firm social media involvement

6) Bloggers need attention—feedback, analytics, and rewards

#1 The Bones of a Blog■ What is the best URL?

▪ A subfolder— mylawfirm.com/HR-ninja-blog

▪ A subdomain— HRninja.mylawfirm.com

▪ A unique URL— HRninja.com

■ Is the blog a sub-brand or standalone brand?

■ Who is your audience?

■ How good are the bloggers?

■ What are your tech resources? HR-Ninja

#2 Topic Generation—Art, Science, PassionMind Your Audience• Why are you blogging?

• Who is the audience?

• What are you teaching them?

Where Topics Can Originate

• FAQs• News• Predictions (rulings,

legislation)• Resource sharing• Checklists• Answer reader questions• Roundup of previous posts

on same topic• Analytics-driven idea

generation

Check out this law blog:www.floridacondohoalawblog.com

Find tips for repurposing @ Yoast.com/republish-old-content

Where Topics Can Originate

■ Attorney calls marketing during a client visit and says the client wants more information on a certain issue.

Become the Go-To Through Blogging

Passion for the Topic

Passion for your topic

■ What comes easily to me?

■ What do I read about till 2:30 in the morning?

■ What willingly gets me up at 4:30 am?

■ What do I enjoy doing?

■ What kind of things do people compliment me on?

■ What activities give me my spirit energy?

#3 Blog Posts Are Not Articles

■ To keep readers on your post, it should be ▪ Helpful▪ Knowledgeable▪ Personal/Anecdotal▪ Define what is at stake

– It’s time to improve your workplace safety program.

Fed-OSHA just announced

the sweeping new

requirement that, beginning

in 2017, many employers

must …..

High bounce rateLow time on page

Bloggers Need To Know What Is Expected of Them■ Keys for strong copy:

▪ Clever title▪ Personal tone▪ Lead with story

— Anecdotes▪ Conflict and resolution

Writer’s Boot Camp at Bradley

Blogging Process

Draft Blog Post. Send to Marketing and Editors.

Send suggested edits to author

Contributor approves suggested edits.

Marketing publishes blog post.

Reinvigorating a Blog

#4 SEO Isn’t Perfect■ Easiest and fastest process to optimize post Content:

▪ Write down what you think is your thesis: “Making choices for data security.”

▪ Draft your content. Get your idea/issue/story in writing using inverted triangle—most to least important info.

▪ Now, look at what you wrote. What is it exactly that you want people to learn/know/think after reading this post? “Data security training programs for employees work to prevent loss and theft.”

▪ ‘Data security training’ are your natural key words.

▪ To do this most naturally…Go back to your narrative with this formula: Tell them what you are going tell them. Then, tell them. Then tell them what you told them. Salt the post with keywords throughout, including in title, hook, and alt image tags.

— Tip: Anecdotes and stories won’t necessarily be good for keywords. Make sure you start the post with an intro sentence that does.

SEO Minimum Requirements■ Optimize for unique keywords in every post (Data security is too

broad. Use employee data security training) ■ Always use categories and tags (they are indexed keywords)■ Keyword in post title at or near beginning–Employee Data Security

Training for Your Company▪ Title length between 40-70 characters

■ Include keyword in opening paragraph▪ Keep sentences short in first PP, using less difficult words

■ Keyword density in post at 3-5+ times per post■ Minimum word count per post is 300■ Use headings and subheadings (e.g., H1, H2, tags) ■ Outbound and internal links in copy

▪ Do not link text on keyword for outbound links.

#5 Content Distribution Strategy

■ Building an audience is the best way to ensure your content is read:▪ Create sharable content

▪ Email subscriptions

▪ 3rd party distribution/promotion (Paid and Earned)

▪ Sponsored posts (Paid)

▪ Social media networking isn’t optional for author/bloggers

– Individual, firm, 3rd party

Social Media Networking is Mandatory for Individuals

Social Sharing on Firm Channels

Measuring Success

Feedback and Rewards Can Drive ROI

Feedback from readers is scarce. Marketers must take on responsibility.■ Analytics

▪ Summaries with meaningful info■ Virtual High 5s■ Not an immediate return on

investment▪ Takes time to build

■ Reward good content with broad distribution

Contact Info

Jayne Navarre | jln@lawgravity.com | linkedin.com/in/jaynenavarre | @jaynenavarre

Kristi Dosh | kristi@guidemybrand.com | linkedin.com/in/sportsbizmiss | @sportsbizmiss

THANK YOU!