The document discusses best practices for bloggers to generate leads and revenue. It recommends focusing on clear calls to action, understanding customer conversion journeys, prioritizing SEO, distributing content strategically on social media, and gaining company-wide support for blogging. Case studies are presented showing how HubSpot, long-tail keywords, and social referrals can boost conversions. The overall message is that an effective blogging strategy incorporates both content quality and business objectives.

1. The Business of Blogging:
From Engagement to Leads
Jed Williams
VP, Strategic Consulting
Senior Analyst
BIA/Kelsey
The Business of Blogging:
From Engagement to Leads
March 3, 2014

2. Today’s Mission
 Examine the ROI gaps that exist for SMB bloggers
 Focus on lead-building and revenue-creating best practices:
 Drive clear calls to action
 Understand “conversion journeys “
 Keep SEO front & center
 Build focused social media distribution
 Create companywide buy-in

3. Source: BIA/Kelsey, LCM Wave 17, Q3/2013 (and prior waves, if relevant). Methodology: Online panels.
52.1%
39.4%
32.2% 31.7% 31.2%
28.0%
26.1%
24.6% 24.5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
▪ 5 of the top 9 channels are Digital
▪ All 5 Digital channels are “Owned Media”
▪ Blogs are 16th (19%)
Media Used for Advertising & Promotion:
Strong Digital Migration
Media Used for Advertising & Promotion:
Strong Digital Migration

4. Source: BIA/Kelsey, LCM Wave 17, Q3/2013 (and prior waves, if relevant). Methodology: Online panels.
Frequency of Updating Online Properties
31.2%
41.7%
29.7% 28.0% 29.9%
22.4% 26.2% 30.3%
47.1% 29.6%
39.5% 40.6% 36.0%
32.8% 28.2% 23.0%
78.3%
71.3% 69.2% 68.6%
65.9%
55.2% 54.4% 53.3%
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
Top 2 Daily
Frequency of Updating Online Properties

5. Source: BIA/Kelsey, LCM Wave 17, Q3/2013 (and prior waves, if relevant). Methodology: Online panels.
ROI Assessment of Media Used For
Advertising & Promotion
30.4% 29.5%
21.9%
26.0% 26.1%
19.1%
21.5% 20.5%
16.1%
26.0%
20.7% 22.2%
16.7% 17.2% 17.6% 19.2% 18.3% 18.8%
15.7% 17.1%
13.6% 12.5%
21.7%
20.5%
26.6%
22.0%
19.3%
25.5% 22.8% 23.1%
26.8%
15.1%
19.0% 16.7%
21.2% 20.3% 19.4% 16.8% 16.5% 15.8%
17.6% 15.8%
18.6%
15.2%
52.1%
50.0%
48.5% 48.0%
45.4% 44.6% 44.3% 43.6% 42.9%
41.1%
39.7% 38.9% 37.9% 37.5% 37.0% 36.0%
34.8% 34.6%
33.3% 32.9% 32.2%
27.7%
0%
20%
40%
60%
Top 2 Extraordinary Over 20x Spend
▪ Blogging ranks 15th in ROI
ROI Assessment of Media Used For
Advertising & Promotion

6. Common Traits of Successful Bloggers

7. Clear Call to Action (and only 1)
 Never sacrifice quality, but have a clear business objective
 This often varies by target “buyer persona” or product/service
 Lots of possible Conversion Actions:
 Calls, Forms, Downloads, Subscriptions, Registrations, Purchases

8. Case Study: HubSpot - Clear Call to Action

9. Understand “Conversion Journeys”
 For target customer groups, build “buyer personas”
 Map personas to content paths that influence conversion
(ex. Visitors vs. Leads vs. Customers) (ex. specific product/service)
 Requires deeper analytics & cross-channel attribution

10. Always Think SEO
 Content quantity and quality BOTH matter
 Keywords: Primary & long tail
 More content pages = more keywords
 Tie blog content to Google Authorship (reputation & CTRs)

11. Case Study Example: Long Tail Keywords
 Built a network of blogs connected to the brand
 Each serves a dedicated audience and ranks for niche keywords

12. Focused Social Distribution Is Critical
 Connect Blog & Social for streamlined Content Marketing strategy
 Social = WOM & Traffic…but also tie to Conversions
 Social Focus:
 The channels that match your customers
 Content to support your strategy

13. Case Study: Social Referral
The average visit time is substantially higher for
referrals on Facebook than those from search
engines

14. Companywide Buy-In
 Blogging should be “cultural”…everyone should contribute
 Showcase diversity of voices & expertise
 This starts at the TOP

15. Thank You!
Jed Williams
jwilliams@biakelsey.com
@williamsjed
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