Top 5 Actions to Achieve Blogging Success

By Laura Powers

Many professionals today are blogging on their own blogs or on a company blog in support of a team marketing effort. There are many things that contribute to making a blog successful with its target audiences. The essential factors of topic relevancy, good writing, timely content and a point of view are a given, but what about other factors like length and frequency of posts?

A recent annual survey of 1055 bloggers shows interesting trends from 2016. There are 5 actions taken by bloggers who report successful results:

1. Write posts with 1,000 words or more


In general, blog posts are getting longer. Posts with 500-1,000 words are still relevant and acceptable, especially if you’re a working professional who includes blogging as just one marketing and public relations tactics you employ. Although the average word count should be something that is comfortable for the author, there is often good reason to dedicate more words to a topic if it will benefit your audience.

2. Include video, lists or multiple images


As the amount of content grows across the Internet, competition for readership increases. Rich media such as video and images, as well as lists (like this one you're reading) that provide specific directions or tips, have become fundamentally more important to call attention to online content.

3. Frequent blogging is best


Most bloggers surveyed are posting every week, however, the bloggers that report the best success are also the ones that post the most often. This makes sense as their main marketing efforts are probably centralized around blog content and promotion. Most bloggers publish when it works within their schedule, but should consider increasing frequency if possible.

4. Use paid promotional services and leverage influencer audiences


When bloggers in the study reported strong results from their efforts, the promotional channels that they used most were paid and influencer. Paid promotion are tactics like LinkedIn Sponsored Content campaigns – the amount you can invest will vary with the scope of a campaign and the platform. Influencer marketing involves reaching out to credible individuals who maintain a high level of celebrity status within their industry to promote your blog post through their own extensive networks and profiles. This process involves dedicating time to grow your understanding of why they would want to share your content (what’s in it for them?) and building trust through developing a relationship.

5. Measure through analytics 


You won’t know if you’re successful if you aren’t looking at the analytics. Monitoring key data points of each post such as overall traffic, blog comments, and amount of social media sharing and engagement will show long-term success and set future content strategy.

While we can’t always access multiple, relevant images for a post, or invest in creating a professional video, or even find time to write more than 1,500 words, attempting to achieve some of these benchmarks throughout 2017 may significantly affect your blog. Take action to write posts of quality content of 1,500 words or more that include rich media and are posted on a frequent basis for maximum audience engagement and blogging success.

How Do You Set Up a Free WordPress Blog?

By Laura Powers and Heather Truitt

Do you have the urge to write and publish but don’t want to invest time and resources in establishing a full-blown website? A WordPress option allows users to set up a blogging website, for FREE. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be on your way to blogging in no time.

Step 1: Visit Wordpress.com

Click “Create a Website” or “Start a Blog” (both have similar results).

NEXT PAGE: Type in the name you have determined for your blog; this is the web address people will use to find your blog. The name will be appended by .wordpress.com, so your site name will be yoursitename.wordpress.com. WordPress will let you know if that address is already taken.

Choose a username and a password and type in the email address you want associated with the WordPress account. This should be an email that is monitored frequently. Click “Create blog.”

NEXT PAGE: Check your email to complete your registration. Your account is now active.

Log in to your blog account with your username and password. In the black menu bar at the top of the page, click on “Dashboard.” Select a blog title and tagline that will display at the top of the blog. These should be search-engine optimized to reflect the topics and subject matter of the blog. These can be edited at any time during the life of the blog.

Step 2: Activate Your Theme

Navigate to the “Themes” menu on the left column. Click “Customize.”

There are free themes to select from if you navigate to the right-hand side and click the bar that says “all” and select “free.” After selecting a theme, click “try and customize.” Using the left hand side menu, you can change colors, backgrounds, fonts, the header image, menus, and add widgets (see Step 3).

Step 3: Add Widgets

Navigate to the “Widgets” menu on the left column. Click “Widgets.”

Widgets enhance the design and functionality of your blog. On this page, you will choose what functional options you want the blog to show readers. The most common widgets are an Email Subscription form (a widget called “Follow Blog”), Categories, Archives, and a Facebook like box. It is recommended that you also add a Meta box so you can easily log in to your site.

Once you’ve decided which widgets to use, select them to add them to the list. Drag and drop widgets to move them around your blog layout. Feel free to experiment here.

When you’re satisfied with the layout, click on the “save and activate” button.

Step 4: Publish your first post!

Have you set up a free WordPress website or blog? How was your experience?

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.