This document provides tips on how to make a blog into an effective lead generation tool. It discusses measuring blog success, developing a content strategy and calendar, optimizing content for search engine rankings, promoting the blog, driving conversions, and analyzing blog analytics. The goal is to use blogging to achieve business goals by sharing valuable content that attracts and engages the target audience. Regular, optimized blogging can increase website traffic, lead generation, and sales.

1. Presented by Danielle M. Cyr,
Vice President of Integrated Marketing
HOW TO MAKE YOUR BLOG A
LEAD GENERATION TOOL

2. Blogging by the Numbers
 Companies with more than 200 blog articles
generate 5 times as many leads as companies with
10 articles or fewer (HubSpot)
 79% of marketers with a company blog reported
inbound ROI for 2013 (HubSpot)
 43% of companies have acquired a customer
through their blog (HubSpot)

3. Why Blog?
 Share thought leadership and enhance expert
positioning
 “Get found” by web-surfing target audiences
 Become a resource for media…and prospects
 Start a dialogue with key audiences
 Enhance organic search engine rankings (SEO)
 Expand your network through guest blogging

4. Start with the Strategy
 How will the blog help to achieve overall business
goals?
 What is the blog’s role in your marketing toolkit?
 Who is your target audience?
 Who will author posts?
 When will you blog? … About what?
 How will you measure success?

5. Aggregating Key Assets
 Author(s)
 Content Calendar
 Photos
 Video
 Infographics
 Premium Content
 Compelling calls-to-action

6. Where Does Good Content Come From?
 Understanding prospective clients’ pain points
 Understanding what motivates your audience
 Being plugged-in to timely events and trends that
impact your audience(s) and industry
 Keeping the format(s) reader-friendly

7. Content Your Readers Will Crave

8.  Keep your audience top-of-mind
 Establish recurring features
 Answer common questions
 Simplify complex concepts with visuals
 Invite guest authors
 Manage audience expectations
Creating a Compelling Content Calendar

9. Easing the Content Creation Burden
 Repurpose existing sales and marketing content
 Use existing meetings and events and content
generation opportunities
 Leverage guest bloggers

10. Blogs and Sales Funnels: Building Alignment
 Clearly define opportunities for readers to move from
awareness to consideration, and from consideration
to decision
 Hocus. Pocus. Focus.
 Be ‘perfectly clear’ about what readers can expect
from your posts…and the premium content you want
them to download
 Define an action pathway that is audience-centric
and highly relevant

11. Getting Found: Optimizing
Your Content For Success
 Include website keywords in blog posts…especially
the headline
 Keep your headlines short – 55 characters will do
the trick
 Add a keyword-rich meta description
 Focus on long-tail keywords
 Give Google what it wants…and readers what they
need
 Think “optimized”…not “unreadable”

12. Getting Found Part II:
The Benefits of an On-Site Blog
 One new blog post = one new page on your website.
Blog weekly for one year and that’s 52 pages of new
content for Google to crawl just from blogging!
 The more content – and indexed pages – on your
site, the more likely you are to “get found”
 Keeping people on your site…and giving them
opportunity to discover more relevant content
 Improved user experience

13.  Embed links to blog posts in e-blasts and e-
newsletters
 Add a blog link to your email signature
 Cross-promote blog posts on other personal and
professional social media channels, as appropriate
 Comment on other industry blogs
 Encourage the sales team to include blog links in
follow-up communications
Increasing Readership

14.  Lead nurturing emails
 Additional content-based incentives
 Experiences money can’t buy
 Free Consultations
Staying Top of Mind

15. Blog Post:
5 Reasons Your Business Should Blog
 Download Our Free Guide to Business Blogging
 Thanks for downloading! We thought you might also
enjoy our blog planning worksheet to ensure you are
creating a steady stream of content that your
readers are hungry for.
 Now that you've mastered the basics of blogging
and have a roadmap in place, it's time to turn your
blog into a lead generation hub that generates
tangible ROI. Our free guide to Integrating Blogs
with Your Business Development Strategy will help
you get started. Download today.
Staying Top of Mind

16.  Include compelling calls-to-action in each and every
post
 Align your calls-to-action with the sales funnel and
your buyer persona(s)
 Incentivize conversions, as appropriate
 Create content that people crave – solve problems,
offer added value
Driving Conversion

17.  Total blog visits
 Views per post
 Most popular topics
 Content that generates
the most engagement
(shares, comments)
Analyzing the Analytics
 Click-through rates
 Inbound links
 Conversions
 Premium content
downloads
 Leads generated

18.  Identify opportunities to replicate success(es)
 Hone your content calendar to capitalize on what’s
“in demand”
 Reallocate resources to optimize ROI
Using the Data to Inform Strategic Refinements

19. Let’s Connect:
Danielle Cyr
@DanielleCyr
860.676.4400
Danielle@cocommunications.com
Thank You!