Wednesday, February 04, 2015

5 Ways to Take Advantage of Blogging Opportunities on Snow Days

By Megan Quinn

At Furia Rubel, we have learned to adjust to all kinds of wacky Northeastern weather. Our most recent snowstorm got me thinking...how can professionals make the most of their workday while snowed in at home?

One project that is custom-made for a snow day is working on a company or firm blog.

We recommend to many clients that they establish a company blog. Blogging helps you and your business to:
  • Gain exposure
  • Demonstrate expertise
  • Establish thought leadership
  • Support search engine optimization (SEO) 
  • Reinforce the company’s brand 
  • Manage your reputation 
  • Raise awareness of your company's services
  • Drive traffic to your company's website
But we also know that for many of our clients, blogging is just one more thing they have to do in a day that is already jam-packed with work.

While blogging efforts can and should be sustained through daily or weekly effort, the cancellation of day-to-day business by bad weather can offer a brief reprieve from daily pressures. Here are five productive ways to put that bad weather to good use.
  • Take photos to use for future blog posts. Today's content is highly visual; blog posts get more attention and more shares when they are illustrated with photos. But you can't just grab any old photo from a Google Images search. If you're a decent photographer, use your down time to take generic photos - a stack of law books, a close-up of the dictionary definition of your major practice area, etc. - that you can use as visual content on your company's blog.
  • Brainstorm topics for your next blog post. Millions of blog topics are waiting to be explored. Do a quick search of trending topics online at Google Trends to see what the world is talking about. Tie the issue in to your own industry or niche and provide your own unique perspective on current events.
  • Research potential industry blogs to which you can contribute. If you haven't already, identify the leading blogs and influencers in your industry. Email the editor to see if they accept guest blog posts and find out what kind of content they want most. Guest blogging in your niche industry is an opportunity to promote your company and showcase how well-versed you are in the subject area.
  • Reach out to your contacts and ask them to collaborate. Networking is vital at every stage of business development, but established companies especially sometimes let relationship building fall to the wayside. Getting back in touch with contacts and asking them to work with you on a blog post is a great way to enhance your relationships with professionals in your industry. By collaborating on a blog post, you can learn more from one another about your niche industry area and can showcase your work to more people.
  • Review existing material to see if it can be re-purposed. We encourage clients to maximize their time by re-purposing information whenever they can. Did you recently write a legal brief? Turn some of that information into a blog post. Did you recently speak at an industry event? Use some of the information from your talk for a blog post. 

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