CASE STUDY: SEWARD INC. BLOG NELL KAULSHow content strategy could have saved my web project

THE SITUATION

We wanted to start a blog to:•Tell the world about what we do.•Tell stories about our international work. •Build content pages on our new website.•Drive traffic to our site.•Have content to share with social networks.

THE SITUATION

Things started out really well:•We met our goal to publish weekly.•Posts were interesting and timely. •Pages were indexed and getting traffic.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Signs of blog anemia were showing. We were: •Publishing only every 2-4 weeks.•Relying heavily on list blogs (posts lacked diversity).

WHAT WENT WRONG

Signs of blog anemia were showing. We were: •Republishing content.•Relying on a few key people to write posts, rather than company-wide participation.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Serial blog posts not so serial.

Hey! I made it just shy of a year.

WHAT I LEARNED

• We were way too informal and casual with our publishing goals.

• You say: Volunteer to write for the blog!People hear: This is optional and not a priority.

WHAT I LEARNED

• Company leadership needs to buy in to the blog and “encourage” participation.

• Leadership needs to state the business case for the blog.

“We needed content strategy because without it our blog would have limped along at considerable risk to our reputation.

HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED

• Assigned a blog editor.• Stated the business case for blogging.• Required company-wide participation,

including international employees.

HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED

Created an editorial calendar with dates, topics, and blog ideas.

HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED

• Established an editorial process for blog posts. • Communicated the process to all contributors.

HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED

Gave people access to writing tools.

Posted editorial calendar and Seward Style Guide on intranet.

Bought copies of style guides for reference.