By now, you should already be familiar with the many benefits of blogging for freelancers. But, are some types of posts better than others for attracting clients?
I think so.
Below are five types of posts that seem better than others for either attracting prospects or turning prospects into clients.
1. Case Studies
In a case study blog post, you describe a specific project you completed for a client, what the goals were, what strategies you implemented, what results you got, and how your readers can do the same for their business.
This type of blog post is almost directly promotional of your services. It demonstrates that you know what you’re doing and that you get concrete results for your clients.
When publishing a case study, remember to change the client details to protect your client’s privacy. And so as not to be overly promotional, identify the take-away lessons for your readers.
2. How-To or Tutorial
In this blog post, you show your readers how to do something, step by step. This type of blog post lends itself very well to a video blog, particularly to demonstrate a particular software or other visible process.
Your readers may decide to skip the trouble and hire you instead.
3. Review of Products/Services
Reviews tend to be traffic magnets. Web savvy individuals almost always Google reviews of a product or service before they decide to buy it. Your review will be particularly weighty if you don’t stand to make monetary gains from it (that is, you’re not an affiliate or owner of the product/service).
To write a good review, make sure to include:
- A general description of the product/service
- A photo, illustration or even video depiction of the product/service
- Your thoughts on a product/service
- Who can benefit from it
- How your readers can make the most of it, if they buy it
- Alternatives to the product/service
4. Special Offers
This type of a blog post is particularly useful when you’re having a “slow season” (a term I prefer over “famine”). This is probably the most promotional type of blog you could publish, because you’re calling out for clients.
Your offer could include free consultation, a limited-time discount, or a special bonus (such as a free report, design, or other digital product relevant to your service) for every client who avails of a particular service.
5. Opinion Pieces on Upcoming Trends
Like the case study post, the opinion post has the potential to showcase your expertise and give you authority status in your field. However, this will happen only if you write the post properly. To do so, you have to keep abreast of developments in your industry, provide a unique insight, and possibly provoke an in-depth discussion.
Although an opinion post entails plenty of preparation and thought, it’s definitely worth the effort.
Don’t wait until a slow season to publish these client-getting posts. Schedule them into your blog editorial calendar regularly. Of course, you don’t want to do them too often. Intersperse them with purely informational posts.
What Did I Miss?
If you blog, which of these posts have you been writing and with what results? Or are there other types of client attracting blog posts I missed? Do share!
Image by Daquella Manera
Related posts:
- 2009 Freelance Folder Best Posts Edition
- Five Ways to Better Engage Readers on Your Blog
- Why A Blog Is Important For Your Freelance Business
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HTC will fully defend itself against Apple’s celebrated patent suit. The Taiwan-based manufacturer has made it clear that they have not violated any patent issues and that they respect innovations and technologies by other parties as they have through the tenure of their existence.
Apple had accused HTC for infringing 20 Apple Patents related to the user interface, architecture and hardware related to the iPhone. Apple is asking unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent HTC from making or selling products using the patents in dispute.
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HTC will fully defend itself against Apple’s celebrated patent suit. The Taiwan-based manufacturer has made it clear that they have not violated any patent issues and that they respect innovations and technologies by other parties as they have through the tenure of their existence.
Apple had accused HTC for infringing 20 Apple Patents related to the user interface, architecture and hardware related to the iPhone. Apple is asking unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent HTC from making or selling products using the patents in dispute.
Common courtesy isn’t common among salesmen–use these tips to stand apart.
Now, even your security can be handled by cloud computing software–but consider these factors before you get on board.
A broadening range of tablet PCs like HP’s EliteBook 2740p aim to popularize touchscreen computing for business use.
Common courtesy isn’t common among salesmen–use these tips to stand apart.
Has your business received a “Your Weekly Facebook Page
Update” message via e-mail? If so you’re not alone. Every business with a Facebook Fan
Page has started receiving those. Are they spam? Absolutely not, furthermore:
- That Weekly Facebook Page Update is legitimate.
- These update notices contain valuable information.
- You should be putting this information to good use and
sharing it within your organization with key personnel.
At the end of this post is an example of the first Your
Weekly Facebook Page Update e-mail message I received, which arrived unannounced
just yesterday afternoon. I say unannounced, because I was wasn’t
expecting anything like this from Facebook and am always leery of unsolicited
e-mail messages claiming to be from social network accounts I manage for my
clients. (These days, phishing scams are nearly as popular as Facebook
itself.)
The Page Update e-mail message includes some valuable statistics:
- Total number of fans added this week
- Number of wall posts, including comments and “likes” this week
- Number of visits to the page this week compared to the previous week
Perhaps best of all, these e-mail messages serve as a reminder that you need to check your Facebook analytics regularly, at least once a week. I recommend you check your Fan Page(s) and analytics and engage with your fans daily, as a good Facebook friend should do.
Use the analytics on your Facebook Fan Insights Page to assess the results of your Fan Page efforts and work on accelerating growth in all three categories:
- Number of fans
- Number of wall posts
- Number of visits
Exponential growth may be unrealistic, but you should expect a greater increase in growth every subsequent week. After all, that’s what going viral is all about.
From: Facebook
Date: March 17, 2010 4:58:34 PM PDT
To: Mikal Belicove
Subject: Your Weekly Facebook Page Update
Reply-To: noreply
Hi Mikal,
Here is this week’s summary for the Facebook Page: XYZ, Inc.
+61 Fans this week (2,129 total Fans)
23 Wall Posts, Comments, and Likes this week (19 last week)
704 Visits to your page this week (641 Visits last week)
Update your Fans:
http://www.facebook.com/XYZ-Inc.
Visit your Insights Page:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?business%2Finsights/XYZ-Inc.
Get more Fans with Facebook Ads:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?ads/XYZ-Inc.
Since Microsoft introduced the browser ballot screen for European users of Windows 7, the downloads of the Opera browser have increased substantially, and we suspect it’s the same with the other browsers as well.
Opera revealed that the amount of downloads doubled since Win 7 debuted in Europe, and from some countries, it even tripled. We’d love to see how the rest of the browsers compare, with Chrome, Safari and Firefox, which each should have seen quite an increase in downloads as well.
IGN Entertainment, the company behind the popular gaming and entertainment portal IGN.com, has announced that it will lay off 20 percent of its staff, which amounts to 65 people. The company has suffered decreased ad revenue over the past year, and as a result, earnings aren’t what they used to be.
IGN was acquired by Fox Interactive back in 2005 for $700 million in cash