It’s undeniable - blogs are a powerful way to generate content for your web site and social media campaigns, and to place you as an expert in your field. While most marketers understand its value, they procrastinate on contributing to a blog for a number of reasons, primarily because: 1. They’re not confident of their writing ability. 2. They don’t feel that their subject matter is interesting enough. 3. They don’t think they have the time. 4. They don’t see a direct correlation between their blog posts and increased sales. While these reasons may all be valid, none of them are insurmountable and none of them should prevent you from blogging to promote yourself as a thought leader. With this paper, we’ll look at each of these in depth, as well as provide some tips that will make your posts better optimized for search, more shareable, and more effective at building your business.

1. P U B L I S H E D B Y I M A G I N E • W A S H I N G T O N , D C • C H I C A G O , I L • S A N D I E G O , C A • W W W. I M A G I N E D C . N E T

2. P U B L I S H E D B Y I M A G I N E • W A S H I N G T O N , D C • C H I C A G O , I L • S A N D I E G O , C A • W W W. I M A G I N E D C . N E T
It’s undeniable - blogs are a powerful way to generate content for your web
site and social media campaigns, and to place you as an expert in your field.
While most marketers understand its value, they procrastinate on contribut-
ing to a blog for a number of reasons, primarily because:
1. They’re not confident of their writing ability.
2. They don’t feel that their subject matter is interesting enough.
3. They don’t think they have the time.
4. They don’t see a direct correlation between their blog posts
and increased sales.
While these reasons may all be valid, none of them are insurmountable and
none of them should prevent you from blogging to promote yourself as a
thought leader. With this paper, we’ll look at each of these in depth, as well
as provide some tips that will make your posts better optimized for search,
more shareable, and more effective at building your business.
To your success,
Patrick King
Founder + CEO, Imagine

3. P U B L I S H E D B Y I M A G I N E • W A S H I N G T O N , D C • C H I C A G O , I L • S A N D I E G O , C A • W W W. I M A G I N E D C . N E T
Content (and how you deliver it) is King.
You know you need to blog, but if your posts aren’t insightful or are hard to
read, you’ve just wasted your time. It is very important that the posts you
publish are informative and engaging, and aware that people don’t have a
ton of time to read your posts. Do right by your readers, and they’ll do right
by you by sharing your content.
Create Great Titles
A great title can cause a post to spread across the Internet like wildfire, or
fizzle out without notice. These few words are the first thing a reader sees
and tells them whether or not it’s worth reading, so it’s important to make it
catchy and intriguing, even provocative. Don’t be surprised if you spend just
as much time mulling over a good title as you do writing the entire post. It’s
typical, and worth your time.
Some good examples of blog post titles include ones that ask a question or
mention a list (“Top 10…”, “How to…” and “Five Ways to…” are big ones).
You’ll also need to put a strong keyword phrase in that title, but more on
SEO later.

4. P U B L I S H E D B Y I M A G I N E • W A S H I N G T O N , D C • C H I C A G O , I L • S A N D I E G O , C A • W W W. I M A G I N E D C . N E T
Levity, Brevity and Wit
These are three tips used for public speaking, and they’re just as relevant
in your posts. You’re not writing a technical paper. Keep the topic light and
easy to read. Dial back the jargon and use a more conversational tone. In
fact, starting out a post with a bit of humor is an awesome icebreaker – just
make sure it’s relevant, brief and not offensive.
In terms of length, less is definitely more. Find a way to condense your con-
tent, using fewer words to get your idea across. Your readers won’t have an
abundant amount of time to read your article, so keep it between 300-500
words (which may seem like a lot, but words add up quick). Any more than
that will probably be ignored.
One quick note that’s worth mentioning: Don’t just write a post because
you feel like you have to. If the content is mediocre, you’ll lose the traction
you’ve built in readership. If you’re low on content or are not in a good
place to post, put it off a day, but not indefinitely.
Check Your Spelling and Grammar
I know most of us (myself included) don’t have English degrees or the time
to become a concise writer, but it’s hard to come across as someone to be
taken seriously if you confuse “their”, “they’re” and “there”.
Fortunately, technology has our back. Start your posts as a Word document,
and as you’re writing, fix those colored underlines that pop up when you
misspell a word or use less-than-appropriate grammar.

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Make Social Sharing Easy
Just about every blog platform available has tools that can make “liking” or
sharing your post effortless. Our personal favorite here is WordPress, since
it has so many plugins that offer this type of functionality. A couple of our
favorites are AddThis (http://www.addthis.com) and Socialize (http://www.
jonbishop.com/downloads/wordpress-plugins/socialize).
Before you publish, read it out loud.
It’s the best way to spot errors in your post. Also, by reading aloud, you’re
able to get your personality and tone into the content. It can be easy to
sound “stiff” when you’re watching your grammar, so you’ll need some prac-
tice before you’re relaxed and can find the voice that works best for you.
Optimize Your Post for Search
Wouldn’t it be great if the visitors to your blog post read other articles
during their visit? Link topics of your posts to other related articles, to keep
them going, and build keyword phrases into your posts (2-3 word phrases
that you expect people to Google and find your post), bolding and inserting
into titles and header text wherever possible.
Finally, add alt tags (the mouse-over tooltips) to the images you place in the
post. This is important for your search engine visibility.

6. P U B L I S H E D B Y I M A G I N E • W A S H I N G T O N , D C • C H I C A G O , I L • S A N D I E G O , C A • W W W. I M A G I N E D C . N E T
Add Plenty of Pictures
Let’s face it: reading a post that’s nothing but words on a page can be mind-
numbing. We all know that people respond better to images (particularly
humorous ones), and it does a great job of breaking up the text. Just re-
member to tag those pictures properly!
End With A Question
For the readers that have remained engaged enough to get to the end of
your post, keep the conversation going. Adding a question at the end as a
call to action, you show your readers that their opinion is wanted. You’ll be
surprised by how much you learn from the responses!
Finally, you should bear in mind that practice makes perfect. The more you
post, the easier it will become, the less time it will take you, and the more
engagement you’ll see from your readers. Happy blogging!

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ABOUT IMAGINE
Founded in 2004 with $14 and a dream, Imagine is an integrated marketing, branding and
design firm that combines Northern Virginia’s flair for innovation with Chicago’s warm per-
sonality and West Coast creativity. We’re an industry-leading group of problem solvers that
believe that marketing can’t truly be effective unless it’s integrated, and handled by dedicat-
ed experts in each field.
Our primary responsibility is to be a part of your team – one that fits comfortably into your
overall strategic and organizational frameworks. Whether involved with advertising, creative
concepts, digital strategy and design, search engine marketing and display advertising,
SEO, site optimization testing or video production and social media, we understand the
necessary role we will need to play to deliver high-impact, cost-effective marketing.
PREPARED JUNE 2013

8. P U B L I S H E D B Y I M A G I N E • W A S H I N G T O N , D C • C H I C A G O , I L • S A N D I E G O , C A • W W W. I M A G I N E D C . N E T