This document provides guidelines for effective blogging. It discusses the value of blogging in establishing thought leadership, building brand awareness, and humanizing the brand. The objectives of blogging are outlined as establishing thought leadership, increasing brand visibility, driving SEO and building relationships. Content guidelines recommend post lengths of 400-500 words, including links, writing headlines as questions, and leveraging multimedia. Conversation guidelines suggest starting discussions, being authentic, avoiding controversy solely for attention, and commenting on current events. Conversion guidelines recommend evergreen topics, case studies, and writing with the reader in mind. Different blogging approaches are also presented.

1. BLOGGING 101
Lois Paul and Partners

2. WHAT’S THE VALUE OF BLOGGING?

Add personal voice to the brand

Establish thought leadership

Build an engaged community

Communicate with customers, partners, and prospects

Humanize the brand by adding a face to the company

Support business communications initiatives

3. OBJECTIVES
Establish thought leadership and
educate the market
Increase brand visibility and
awareness
Increase SEO via inbound and
outbound links
Build relationships with
influencers and customers
Lead the conversation and become
a trusted source of information
Humanize the brand by fostering
the “voice” of company
experts, customers and influencers
Drive demand and leads

4. CONTENT GUIDELINES

Suggested Blog Length. Posts are typically 400-500 words. While most
blog posts tend to be in a block-paragraph format, there are other
different approaches you can experiment with.

Linking. Include links in every post to provide context to your points
(especially when referencing and citing statistics or other content). Link to
other bloggers as this is a way to engage in dialogue.

Headlines are important. Attention spans are shrinking rapidly – write
your posts with this in mind, starting with the headline. Try writing
headlines as questions, using the words “How” and “Why.”

Leverage video and photos. This can include:
graphs, charts, screenshots, photos, etc. Remember to credit the source.

Writing a corporate blog? Practice professionalism and business
etiquette when commenting on something. Check spelling and grammar!

5. CONVERSATION GUIDELINES

Start a conversation. Avoid marketing-speak or sounding like a press
release. It is also important to pose questions to readers. Engage the
audience, don’t just present.

Be authentic. Authenticity is the foundation of trust. Your posts should
reflect genuine opinions based on personal and/or professional
experience, and language should flow naturally.

Controversial Posts. These topics attract attention but bloggers should
never disparage the competition or write for the sake of controversy.

Current Events. Comment on other industry blogs or share your
viewpoint around a current event or industry trend, providing added-value
commentary to engage readers in conversation.

Maintain a thick skin. Don’t write a blog post unless you can answer all
questions -- good and bad -- professionally, quickly, and nicely.

6. CONVERSION GUIDELINES

Evergreen Topics. In order to give your posts a longer shelf life, try
writing blog posts that readers can bookmark and turn to for guidance
and helpful references.

Case Studies. Consider writing blog posts about client projects, success
stories, award-winning work and other case studies in order to increase
brand visibility and lead generation.

Write for them, not for you. Readers are interested in hearing what you
have to say; especially in terms of the challenges they face and how you
are equipping/could equip them to overcome those challenges.

7. BLOGGING APPROACHES
Industry Insight.
Commentary on industry
topic “of the moment”
Technical Drill Downs.
Technology
features, “under the
covers”
How-To.
Step-by-step on how
to tackle specific
challenges
Personal to Industry.
Share personal
experience that can be
related an issue in the
industry/market
Guest Blogging.
Great way to build
relationships with
clients, prospects and
influencers
Detractor Blogging.
Take a viewpoint that
opposes another blogger
for a constructive online
debate
Link Blogging.
Share links to
articles/posts you’ve
found informative
List Blogging.
"11 Business Tactics You
Should Know“
Event Blogging.
Share highlights or
recap an industry event
Survey Blogging.
Ask question(s) related
to an issue for an
industry pulse
Video Blogging.
Use video in place of
text as primary content
Feature Blogging.
Develop an in-depth
feature around a topic
or person
Response Blogging.
Respond to influencer
posts with cross-linking
Blog Series.
Explore a topic by
dedicating a post to
each major aspect