If you’ve read Hinge’s latest book, Online  Marketing for Professional Services, then you likely understand the importance of blogging for professional services firms.  But you may be wondering, “How do I get started?”

Blogging Made Simple Book CoverFortunately, there's a new book that makes it easy. Michael Fleischner, author of SEO Made Simple, has recently released a follow-up book titled Blogging Made Simple.  This easy-to-understand guide is full of practical tips and advice that will help your firm get up and running in the blogging world.  Topics include:

  • Choosing a blogging platform (WordPress vs. Tumblr vs. Blogger)
  • Navigating each of these tools
  • Titling your blog and blog posts
  • Writing content that is engaging and easily shareable

After reading Michael’s handy new book, I walked away with several great insights.  Here are three favorites:

1. Choose a Niche – Michael suggests that you first define what broad category your blog falls into. Will you be covering technology? News and media? Personal development? After determining this high-level focus, work to narrow down your niche even further.  The more specific your content is, the more appealing it will be to readers.

Next, define your target readers.  In Michael’s case, his blog caters to Internet marketing professionals trying to do business online. At Hinge, our blog targets professional services firm executives and marketing managers.  Once you have a specific niche, you can choose an appropriate title and design layout that appeals to your target readers. 

2. Leverage Keywords – Keyword research is under-appreciated by most bloggers. However, it’s important that you understand the words and phrases your target readers are searching for.  This data will allow you to write about topics that interest your readers, and when you incorporate relevant, competitive keywords your posts have a greater chance of driving search engine traffic. 

According to the book, Google’s Adwords Tool is one of the easiest ways to get started with keyword research.  Simply type in the phrases that you suspect are relevant to your readers, and note how many people are searching for each term.  The best keyword phrases have a high search volume without being overly competitive.  If you can find the right keywords for your business and weave them into your posts, it will increase the quality of your content and improve search engine performance.

3. Don’t be Afraid to Outsource – To some people, outsourcing blog content is a grey area.  However, most experts agree that, if done properly, using outside writers to help you create fresh content can give your firm a substantial boost.  The book suggests several options for getting that help, including partners, guest posts, freelancers, and “spinning” content. 

Offering your readers educational content is incredibly important to the success of professional services online marketing. But many organizations don’t have the manpower to write blog posts every week.  If you can hook up with a quality writer that understands your clients’ key issues, you may be better off outsourcing this task.

For more from Michael Fleischner, visit The Marketing Blog.

 

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