Why Accountants*Should Blog**

* Applies to other industries, as well** Applies to other media, as wellBy Scott Priestle

Because it’s an effective, efficient

way to reach prospective clients and

generate revenue

Agenda

• Why you should write• What/how you should write• What to do with the content once it’s

published

Why You Should Write

• Thought leadership = improves your reputation and that of the firm

• Inexpensive form of lead generation• Search Engine Optimization = more fresh

content improves our chances of showing up in Google search

Why You Should Write:Thought Leadership

“The new mantra for today’s partners is: it’s not who you know, but who knows you; and it’s not what you know, but how quickly you share your knowledge, observations and insights.”

Why You Should Write: Lead Generation

According to HubSpot’s 2012 “State of Inbound Marketing” report:• Organizations that rely more on inbound

marketing than outbound marketing pay 61% less per lead generated

• Inbound leads are 5 times more likely to become customers than outbound leads

Why You Should Write: Search Engine Optimization

• Search engines give additional weight to fresh content vs. old content• assume fresher = more accurate

• The more topics we address on our website, the wider pool of Internet surfers we will attract

Why You Should Write: Search Engine Optimization

• Prior to re-launching our blog in July 2010, we averaged around 940 visitors per month to barnesdennig.com

• Through the first four months of 2012, we are averaging more than 1,800 visitors per month

Why You Should Write: Search Engine Optimization

• 12 opportunities in 2011 via website lead• 5 new clients from website lead• From 2000-10, only 3 clients from website

lead

* Information taken from business development report

What You Should Write

• News• Accounting news, tax news or news from

your industry niche• Summarize and add insight when possible

• Trends within the industry• Opinion

What You Should Write

What You Should Write

• Tell. Don’t sell.• The audience is more likely to ignore your content

(and future content) if it comes across as “too salesy” or “too pushy.”

• Be insightful• Opportunity to show how much you know.

• Make it accessible.• Write as if you are talking to an executive with a non-

finance background. Be informative but not technical (unless you are writing for a technical publication).

What to do withWhat You Wrote

• LinkedIn = status update + post to groups• HubSpot survey: traffic from LinkedIn generated

the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 3 times higher than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%)

• Twitter = build your personal brand• E-mail clients, prospects, referrals

• Add a personal touch to e-blasts

Need more guidance?

I am always happy to help you turn an idea into an article.

Scott Priestlespriestle@barnesdennig.com(513) 241-8313 x1271