One of the tools of the active networker is the blog. Used as a part of complete social media marketing strategy, a well-written and informative blog helps position the writer/poster as a though leader and someone who shares valuable information.
Our colleague, Chris Howay of Valiant Media (www.valiantmedia.com), shared the following attributes of an effective blog with us recently:
- Value / Quality. Simply put, if the blog is not compelling and well written, then no one will read, follow or share it.
- Brevity. No more than 250-300 words for most posts (I’ve found 150 to 200 is about ideal for reading and creation).
- Frequency. Add a new post at least 2-3X per week.
- Compelling headline. This is often the only part people will see or read, so make it count. Think like a newspaper writer—what would you read?
- Share and Subscribe Links. This allows for viral exposure and exponential traffic.
- Comments and discussion. While you definitely want to moderate all comments, allowing comments–and inviting discussion- will greatly increase exposure and overall SEO value.
- Image. Having an image (a photo or artwork) for each post helps for scanning and visual identification. It provides a visual thumbnail cue as people share it on Facebook and the other social media sites. Even an abstract/conceptual image or stock photo is better than nothing.
Thanks, Chris, for this useful information.
Relentless
