THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLDS SEO BLOGGING STRATEGIES FOR LAW FIRMSwww.wedowebcontent.com

What is a blog? "Blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog,"

which is a term used to describe websites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information.

1998 marks the first known instance of a blog on a traditional news site, when Jonathan Dube blogged Hurricane Bonnie for The Charlotte Observer. “Weblog” was shortened to “blog” in 1999 by

programmer Peter Merholz. It’s not until five years later that Merriam-Webster declares the word their word of the year. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/03/a-brief-history-of-blogging/

Why Should We Blog? Blogging is

good for SEO, The user experience and can be therapeutic if you like to write.

The Numbers don’t lie.

What is the SEO Value of Content?

Content is king. You’ll hear that phrase over and over again when it comes SEO success. Indeed, that’s why the Periodic Table Of SEO Success Factors begins with the content “elements,” with the very first element being about content quality. http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search-engine-

ranking

Before you begin to create content (blog)

Audit Your Website: Before you begin writing your new plan, researching your content, researching competitors and keywords STOP and have an SEO Consultant run a Technical Audit for your website.

Pinpoint your reason for creating content: Who are you writing to? Who is coming to your website? What type of content will you create for the different stages of the buying cycle? (See Yvette’s presentation about this). Create a persona for your clients.

Evaluate your website content and navigation: What content is on your site? Who is it targeting? Are you answering all the questions a user may be asking? Go beyond your main pages and create a silo for each practice area. If you’re writing about work injuries, write a page about each injury in detail and include images and video if they are available. This is good for optimization.

Centralize your content: Create a database for your content. You can do that with a spreadsheet that will help you organize topics, tags, dates, where you shared the content, and more. We write 1,000s of pages monthly, so we had to build a more comprehensive database internally. But you can easily start with Excel. This can be helpful for jotting down ideas for topics as well.

Before you begin to create content (blog)

Research: What are your competitors doing? What posts are people sharing and liking on social media? You can use BuzzSumo for help or your social media analytics (insights) for data about preferred content and demographics.

Research some more: What keywords are you targeting? I like to use SEMrush.com for research or sometimes just a Google search because the tools can show a low return depending on the amount of traffic the term or topic is getting.

Create a calendar: Again – content (and social media posts) should have purpose. Creating a calendar will help you organize it all. When you create a content calendar, it helps you prepare for future content like holidays and special offers. Start with a 60 day content calendar.

Blogging Types The News-Jacking blog The Practice Area Supporter The Curate blog The Influencer blog The Video blog The Interview blog The Stats blog The “How to” and “List blog” The Slide-deck blog

The News |News-Jacking BlogNews-Jacking- The art of adding your opinion and ideas into a

current news piece. How: sign up for local news alerts and then cite and give your opinion

on a news piece that would interest your readers. Make sure you are using a credible news source and link back to the original article. This is a great strategy as it keeps your clients up-to-date and shows that you are too. You might not be able to get a post up that day, but do it as quickly as possible and make sure you explain how it might affect your readers. This content needs to go up quickly as the news life cycle is short.

Benefits Good for SEO Linking to reputable source Could be snagged by a journalist Affordable and quick

The Practice Area Support Blog

Practice Area Blog- Create content categories and blogs that will support your practice area pages.

How: After your main practice area pages and sub-topic pages are created we encourage you to support your practice areas with relevant blog posts. Sample Posts:

5 things to do after an accident Proving the Legitimacy of Your Marriage When Applying for a Green Card Civil vs. Criminal Contempt in (Your State)

Benefits Good for SEO and the user Linking to reputable source

The Curation Blog Content Curation Blog- Content curation is the process of collecting,

organizing and displaying information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest. Services or people that implement content curation are called curators. Curation services can be used by businesses as well as end users. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_curation

How: Find the most popular content (blog, article, image, infographic, etc.) in your niche using a REDDIT or BuzzSumo and aggregate it together to create a new piece of content. Introduce your topic and use each article as a subheadline. Make sure you use an image for each and always give credit to the original article.

*Quotes from industry leaders or influencers can be a good content curation blog.

Benefits Linking to reputable colleagues in your niche Spreading the love for influencers and curating content for your viewers that

is relevant to their queries in one page

The Influencer Blog The Influencer Blog- Content post created with the help

from key niche influencers. How: Get a few experts in your niche to give you a short answer to

a specific question your readers would be interested. Aggregate these questions and answers into one post. Make sure you write a catchy headline and introduce your question. Make sure to get a good headshot from each expert and align it next to his or her answer. Don’t forget to link to each expert’s website as well.

Benefits Creating a relationship with an influencer Good SEO value Creating new and educational dynamic content your viewers may be

asking for Makes you look like an authority

The Video Blog (Vlog) The Video Blog- A video blog or video log, usually shortened

to vlog, is a form of blog for which the medium is video, and is a form of web television. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. The vlog category is popular on YouTube. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_blog

How: Find a topic, do your research, find a video, create a kick-ass headline, and embed the video in your blog. Make sure to add your own unique analysis underneath the video. Feel free to combine the news, curation blog, and influencer blog post strategies to make your post a winning one. Always remember to cite the creator of the video. Rather make your own video than use someone else’s? Go for it. I tell my clients and followers if you can’t write or don’t have the time to write a blog post, take a few minutes and, just make sure it looks professional.

Benefits Using video is great for the user experience Video helps decrease bounce rate Quick to create Good for SEO

The Interview Blog The Interview Blog- Set up and interview with a client (case

study). Industry leader, or market influencer. How: Reach out to influencers and experts in your area for an interview. A client

interview or case study would be good content to post as well. Your interview can be solely text, a recorded phone call using join.me, or a video interview. Be warned: an interview blog post takes more research and more time to prepare.

Make sure you prepare by researching your subject and learn as much as you can about him. The last thing you want to do is ask him a question that you could have found through a quick Google search. Get all your questions written down ahead of time and send them to your subject. Be sure to include your takeaways from the interview. If you’re using video, you may want to have a professional edit it.

Try using a service like Fiverr for video, audio editing, and transcriptions. Be sure you tag your subject in your social media posts and remember to thank him for taking the time out.

Benefits Show expertise User experience Good for SEO

The Statistics Blog The Statistics Blog- A blog citing specific industry statistics. How: Create a post that answers a number of questions with aggregated

statistics or an awesome infographic. Adding statistics in your blog can make it seem more authoritative. Infographics are great for showing numbers and can be social media gold. For an attorney, using client case studies can be a good way to display statistics.

Including statistics in your blog post ends the argument on a specific subject because the numbers do not lie. A headline or subject line will seem more persuasive with a number attached to it.

Which of the below headlines would appeal more to you? Sample:

“Hiring a family lawyer has shown to be a more effective way to collect child support.”

“Hiring a family lawyer increases your chances of collecting child support by 40%.”

Benefits Show expertise Shows authority Social sharing Informative/educational User experience Interesting way to share information

The How to & List Blog The How to & list Blog: A post showing the user how to do... How: A video is worth a million words, especially when it comes to how-tos.

Think about it; when you look up how to do something, would you rather read instructions or watch a video? If you are in a pinch you can research one that has already been created; however, creating your own video allows you to re-purpose your content. When creating the post on your how to video make sure you introduce the video, describe it, discuss it, and show takeaways. You might also want to include a transcription of the video. Research a specific topic in your niche that your clients or users may be asking about.

Sample: “What to Do if You’re Stopped for a DUI.”

Benefits Delivers dynamic education content Good for SEO Repurpose content Shows expertise Decreases bounce rate

The Slide Deck Blog The Slide-deck Blog- (Power point presentation)

Repurposing a blog post into a slide deck presentation. How: Take one of your favorite and most viewed blog

posts and turn it into a slide deck then post to SlideShare. SlideShare is the “Quiet Giant of Content Marketing.” At the top 100 of most visited sites, great for ranking, not a lot of competition, and tons of authority. Create or use an existing post and after posting to SlideShare embed the presentation in your blog.

Benefits Show expertise User experience Good for SEO Good for Ranking Repurpose Your Content

How Can WDWC Help? Develop a content and SEO Strategy Done for you blogging…

News blogging packages All inclusive blogging packages All inclusive blogging packages and SEO