Writing a Blog!
A blog post is different from traditional writing and it is designed to be a portal for more informal and conversational content, rather than company collateral, such as a white paper or press release. Readers appreciate a blog that has a distinctive voice. They also look for entertainment value, and the opportunity to be educated.
Length of Post:
The standard online reader has an extremely short attention span and studies have shown that the average user will stay a max of 96 seconds reading a blog. With that in mind, short and frequent blog posts are seen as the best strategy, with an optimum length between 250 and 450 words.
Frequency of Posts:
The basics rules with writing still apply here – only post good, quality content and do not post for the sake of posting. However, for SEO reasons frequency does help. Short, efficient and frequent blog posts are ideal, which can then provide a backdrop to the longer, more in-depth blog posts which require more research. As a best practice, post blogs no less than once a week.
Make your blog Scannable:
The online reader is different than the traditional reader as they tend to scan through online blogs more often. Therefore, the test of a good blog is to have someone unfamiliar with the topic scan through it in 20 seconds, and if they can tell you what it is about, it is appropriate. It is best not to use overly technical content so as to not lose their patience with jargon.
Blog Post SEO Tactics
What is Good “Useful” Content?
What Makes a Good Twitter Pitch?
When pitching the media through Twitter, you do not have much space to make a detailed case for the company you are pitching. Therefore, you should always link to more information and have a direct call to action such as:
With a new or unknown company, getting across their messaging in a tweet can be almost impossible, so often the best case scenario is that you can use a Twitter pitch more as a reminder to the journalist to check out your email, rather than sell them on the idea then and there. With larger, well-known clients who the person you are pitching is already familiar with, you can often get them interested in a briefing through Twitter and elevate your head above the crowd that is their inbox.
Often with Twitter pitches, the media may not respond, but they will check out where you are directing them. Keep in mind that responding directly to a tweet is a public engagement, so often the media will not feel comfortable responding to you about a pitch, when it will be displayed to all of their followers too.
In some cases, the media may want to respond through a direct message through Twitter, so it is imperative that you follow any journalist you are pitching, as they cannot DM (direct message) you if you are not already following them.
After you take into account the space used to mention (i.e. @Benparr), direct them to a link and include the link, you will only have about 80-100 characters to play with for your actual pitch, so use every character and if you can abbreviate, do so as Twitter is not a place for perfect grammar.
Length of Post:
The standard online reader has an extremely short attention span and studies have shown that the average user will stay a max of 96 seconds reading a blog. With that in mind, short and frequent blog posts are seen as the best strategy, with an optimum length between 250 and 450 words.
Frequency of Posts:
The basics rules with writing still apply here – only post good, quality content and do not post for the sake of posting. However, for SEO reasons frequency does help. Short, efficient and frequent blog posts are ideal, which can then provide a backdrop to the longer, more in-depth blog posts which require more research. As a best practice, post blogs no less than once a week.
Make your blog Scannable:
The online reader is different than the traditional reader as they tend to scan through online blogs more often. Therefore, the test of a good blog is to have someone unfamiliar with the topic scan through it in 20 seconds, and if they can tell you what it is about, it is appropriate. It is best not to use overly technical content so as to not lose their patience with jargon.
- Headings and Sub Headings
- Pictures
- Don’t Bury your Points
- Don’t Introduce too many New Ideas in one Post
Blog Post SEO Tactics
- Always Include Search Terms in Your Post’s Title
- The headline or title of your blog post is among the first things Google sees, and Google generally assumes the words that appear earliest are the most important.
- Think about your ideal audience when writing a title, and what keywords your audience would be searching through Google to find PR and Marketing related content.
- Link Important Words to Earlier Blog Posts
What is Good “Useful” Content?
- Entertainment – increasingly blogs are being used as entertainment. People read them for laughs, gossip and fun conversation.
- Education – some blog readers are primarily interested in learning something about a given topic.
- Information – many successful blogs are built on the thirst that some have to be informed on an issue, product or topic.
- Debate – some blog readers want a place that they can have a good old fashioned dialogue, debate or even a fight over an issue.
- Top 10s: Top 5/10 lists are easy to share and are often the most read. Users know exactly what they are getting and as they are easily digestible, they often make for a great blog post.
- News – many blog readers just want to be kept up to date in a field.
- Community – Like a PR community, where people can feel part of a learning community and blogs tie into that.
What Makes a Good Twitter Pitch?
When pitching the media through Twitter, you do not have much space to make a detailed case for the company you are pitching. Therefore, you should always link to more information and have a direct call to action such as:
- Look for my email in your inbox
- Check out the Direct Message (DM) I sent you
- Interested in a briefing?
- Sign-up here
With a new or unknown company, getting across their messaging in a tweet can be almost impossible, so often the best case scenario is that you can use a Twitter pitch more as a reminder to the journalist to check out your email, rather than sell them on the idea then and there. With larger, well-known clients who the person you are pitching is already familiar with, you can often get them interested in a briefing through Twitter and elevate your head above the crowd that is their inbox.
Often with Twitter pitches, the media may not respond, but they will check out where you are directing them. Keep in mind that responding directly to a tweet is a public engagement, so often the media will not feel comfortable responding to you about a pitch, when it will be displayed to all of their followers too.
In some cases, the media may want to respond through a direct message through Twitter, so it is imperative that you follow any journalist you are pitching, as they cannot DM (direct message) you if you are not already following them.
After you take into account the space used to mention (i.e. @Benparr), direct them to a link and include the link, you will only have about 80-100 characters to play with for your actual pitch, so use every character and if you can abbreviate, do so as Twitter is not a place for perfect grammar.