The Erickson Barnett blog (see image below) is a strong example of what any creative firm should look to achieve by blogging. By posting several times a week, Erickson Barnett can maintain a high level of quality in their posts without inundating potential readers with echoes of information they are likely to get elsewhere or derivative content.
It's also important to point out that this is actually a blog. Fearing a lack of control but wanting to meet the expectations of a "web 2.0" audience, many firms begin publishing content under the heading of "blog" that does not actually fit the description of what a blog should be. While both allow for readers to submit comments, Erickson Barnett distinguishes between their Orange Thoughts and their blog posts for several important reasons. The Orange Thoughts are self-contained, less frequent, and more developed articles based upon internally conducted research, making for a more formal presentation. On the other hand, their blog posts are shorter and more informal, meant to comment and cumulatively articulate the firm's point of view. These distinctions are important as they help to solidify the purpose of each type of content within Erickson Barnett's overall strategy.
Other types of information are important to defining the purpose and presentation of a blog. These include keyword categorization of posts, tagging and a visual tag cloud, various sharing options, a blog-specific search tool, and a list of links to related or suggested material. On their blog, you can quickly scan and see what topics are written about, what books their team is reading, and what other blogs they recommend. This approach allows Erickson Barnett to use the blog to express a more subtle but comprehensive point of view- one which should become clearer and stronger as more and more content is created.
Lastly, the ability for readers to comment on posts is essential. The primary point of the blog format within a firm's content strategy is to connect with clients and prospects. Allowing for comments is a great way to receive feedback and build trust. However, participation of this sort is not easy to come by. While A-list bloggers get hundreds or thousands of comments per post, most blogs get few to none. But, don't let a lack of comments dissuade you from persevering with your blog. It takes time and hard work to develop a community around a blog. With that in mind, Erickson Barnett's relatively young blog is doing quite well by getting a comment or two on most posts.
I really enjoyed this article and am using it to stimulate conversation amongst our staff about critical changes that need to be made to make our site work for us.
Lori,
Thanks for your comment. Are you part of a creative agency? If not, I just posted a short article on a successful content strategy for a non-agency company.
Chris
Great article, Chris. It will help us a lot in developing our content strategy for wanderlust and keep smithandjones.com up to date.
Mark,
Thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to seeing the new and improved smithandjones.com that you've been working on with Mitch.
Chris
Very nice article, content is king!
Great article! Would love to know how the 'What we are reading' addition to the site worked for them. I am sure there are plenty of ideas like this, but how much extra value / insight into the company do they provide i.e myspace - What are we listening too?
Tim
Tim,
I tend to think that having those kind of cultural additions strengthens the personal credibility that a firm can build online. Though that's not directly related to the bottom line, it does help to share that kind of information if for no other reason than to show who the people are behind the service. Of course, depending upon what is listed among those books and music, they could have a potentially alienating effect, too. So, it would probably be wise to choose those items carefully.
Thanks for reading,
Chris
Content is without a doubt, should be a priority and is king. Brings value to end user. Nice Article!
Russ,
Thanks for reading. I couldn't agree more!
Chris
A nice article indeed Chris! It got me into an introspecting mode... I couldn't agree more to what you said about how positioning plays an important role in directing ones content strategy. Lack of a strong and persuasive content can only prove detrimental for the growth of a site in the long run.
Hi. great article. Could you throw some light on the rate of adding new content to ones site.. How frequently should we do that and is it a good idea to hire a professional for doing so.
@Search Engine Optimization, This all depends upon the kind of content you're creating. For newsletters, we like to publish them monthly since they are much longer and developed than a blog post. As far as blog posts are concerned, we recommend to our clients that they plan to post at least several times a week to their blogs. We have multiple people blogging for the Newfangled blog, so we're tending toward once a day on average. I don't generally recommend hiring a professional for content creation because I feel that the person who is best suited to create appropriate content for your website is probably you, not someone else.
Well apparently all the blogging in the world didn't do much as they seemed to have gone under.