embedding the code they provide. This This document provides guidance for creating an effective blog. It discusses focusing the blog on a specific audience such as those in a particular industry. It recommends writing posts that are 400-600 words, using short sentences, headings, and visual elements. The document provides tips for generating post ideas, writing with personality, properly citing sources, blog etiquette, using keywords optimized for search engines, and incorporating multimedia content. The overall goal is to create a blog that readers will find engaging, informative and easy to read.

1. Blogging
User Guide

3. Included in this guide, you will
find the following sections:
ƒƒ
Intro
• Audience Focus
• Why Blog?
• What It Takes to Succeed
ƒƒ
Writing for Your Blog
• Content Inspiration
• Writing with Personality
• Being Reader-Friendly
• Steps for a Proper Citation
• Blog Etiquette
• Keywords and Search Engines
• Sound, Video and Multimedia
ƒƒ
Expanding Your Readership
• Comments
• Promoting Your New Blog
The User Guide for Blog Authors was developed by Michelle Golden of Golden Practices, Inc.
1

4. Intro
Blogs are distinctly structured websites that contain short,
conversational-style articles called “posts.” Each post is housed
on a separate URL that is date and time stamped and can be
commented on by readers.
Blogs are a holy grail of marketing for CPAs Successful blogs have differing tones, styles
in their ability to underscore their author’s and posting frequencies, but one thing the
expertise, convey the author’s personality most successful blogs have in common is that
to begin building a relationship and they’re written for specific audiences. Defined
simultaneously draw relevant website audiences are better for the author because
traffic to the expert. you discuss any topic that your audience will
care about without being limited to just tax or
Enthusiasm is requisite—boring blogs often are accounting issues. This not only makes for a
the result of authors lacking passion about their more interesting blog for the subscribers, but
subject matter. Boring blogs don’t get read. the niche-specific aspect of these blogs helps
This is why the task of blogging cannot simply the author stand out as an expert in his or
be “assigned” to your best subject-matter her field.
expert—it must be written by someone driven
from within to do so. As an author, you won’t
always be inspired to write. It will come and
go. Do it when you feel inspired, but also look
for ways to feel inspiration (see related tips)
more often.
This guide is particularly detailed with very
specific steps, tips and visuals to aid the
individual/firm developing a blog to get an
intermediate usage level.
2

5. Audience Focus By targeting the right common interest group, Industry focus is
Industry focus is ideal, but targeting other you can find a built-in cheering section. You
can be cross-referenced by existing and future
ideal, but targeting
sorts of common interest groups also can be
effective. Generally, the more focused your organizations catering to the same group. other sorts of
audience, the better. For example, consider You can tap into their readership through common interest
audiences that are geographic or with specific comments and trackbacks that you initiate.
groups also can be
interests or lifestyles. Plus there’s endless “fodder” for your postings
with just a little bit of reading. Finally, the effective. Generally,
If you’re pursuing a service-focused blog, clearer you are about your audience and their the more focused
needs, the easier it is to assure your content
ask yourself: “Who’d subscribe to a continuous your audience,
feed of information about cost segregation remains relevant to readers.
studies, or general tax issues?” A business
the better.
owner or another CPA? Probably the latter.
To hold a business owner’s interest (and your
own), you’re better off not writing about tax
or cost segregations studies 100% of the time.
3

6. Why Blog? tools whereas print or e-publications
ƒƒJournalists use bloggers as sources because “dead-end” in paper piles or electronic folders.
they’re easy to find and follow. Blogs make
journalists’ jobs easier, so professionals with ƒƒPeople would rather buy from those they
blogs get more mentions and quotes than know, trust and like. Similar to the way you
To learn more about non-bloggers. “get to know” a newspaper columnist you
RSS and how to read regularly—your blog also is a
ƒƒSearching your own content—blogs are a relationship accelerant.
subscribe to and
great way to archive your intellectual capital
read RSS feeds, ƒƒBusy people receive your content one article
for future reference such as forwarding to a
click here. prospect after a meeting. or post at a time, so it’s more likely to be read
than a longer, multiarticle publication.
ƒƒDelivered posts keep you in front of the
minds of people. RSS feeds (identified with ƒƒBeing highly visible, blogs can quickly
the orange symbol) “push” your content establish a CPA as an expert in a
to subscribers. particular field.
ƒƒBlogs are a durable asset. Living on the web, ƒƒBlogs humanize the CPA and make him or
they remain searchable, in-bound marketing her more approachable.
4

7. What It Takes to Succeed ƒƒFeature a good blogroll—list of related Budget 1-4 hours
ƒƒAuthors who are passionate about blogs—your audience will appreciate.
per week for
their topics.
ƒƒReaders tend to make great bloggers; researching, writing,
ƒƒWriting interesting posts on a regular basis. bloggers tend to become better readers. reading comments,
reading other’s blogs
ƒƒBeing part of the community—reading and Budget 1-4 hours per week for researching, and replying to
interacting with others online. writing, reading comments, reading other’s
blogs and replying to comments. This is for
comments.
ƒƒBuilding readership and a blog following a frequency of two posts per week—an
(aka “subscriber base”). adequate pace to build blog traffic.
ƒƒKnowing your audience and remaining
true to them and their interests.
Paul Neiffer, a Washington state CPA who launched FarmCPAToday, was
invited to be a regular columnist for Top Producers magazine, a leading national
publication in the agriculture industry, and made an Ag-related TV appearance
within his first year of blogging. He’s gained new business from farmers in
Hawaii and Louisiana, among others—all as a direct result of blogging.
5

8. Writing for Your Blog
Reading is the Blog posts are bite-sized snippets of information—think of them
best source of as a single email answering a single question. Just as you’d write
inspiration, whether to a client, your email would address a certain issue and will
it’s books, news, be specific to their unique circumstances. Blog posts can be
trade publications very specific.
or Twitter. Set up a
feed reader (such as Content Inspiration ƒƒWhat information already is readily
Imagining what to write about week after week available to them (to help you determine
Google Reader) and
is the greatest concern of most blog authors. what information gaps you could fill)?
subscribe to blogs to
watch client industry 1. Scan your sent-items in your email 4. Need something to inspire you when
trends, technical because you’ve probably answered you’re stuck?
updates and other questions for people. Sanitize the email
by stripping out real names and identifiers ƒƒWhat are you currently working on? How
business news. might it be relevant to your audience?
and add a sentence or two at the beginning
for context.
ƒƒWhat do you worry about on behalf of
2. Find a consistent place to record random your audience?
ideas that arise as you go about your
daily routine. ƒƒ you were a fly on the wall within the
If
organization of your reader, what would
3. Reading is the best source of inspiration, you be observing that they should
whether it’s books, news, trade publications know about?
or Twitter. Set up a feed reader (such as
Google Reader) and subscribe to blogs ƒƒWhat inspired you to go into your
to watch client industry trends, technical practice? Or what do you love most about
updates and other business news. For other what you do?
things to follow, consider your audience(s):
Periodically brainstorm article ideas, but also
ƒƒWhat does your audience read remain flexible and able to post quickly on
(online and offline)? emerging issues because doing so can attract
some highly desirable media attention.
ƒƒWhere are they online (other blogs,
websites or forums; trade or other
associations; networking groups and
LinkedIn groups; etc.)?
6

9. Writing with Personality ƒƒDon’t allow your blog to appear to have gone
Blogging affords CPAs a new way to through a PR-department edit process or it
connect with people that is enormously time will lose credibility.
leveraging. Readers tell Scott Heintzelman
(ExuberantAccountant.com) they feel like they Authenticity is the key. The more human and
know him when they first meet. To achieve helpful you are, the more credibility you have.
this, let your unique “voice” and personality
shine through. Being Reader-Friendly
On-screen reading is different than print. To be
ƒƒ as conversational as possible. Write like
Be read more often, make your writing extra easy
you talk, avoiding words you’d feel silly to skim.
saying aloud.
ƒƒKeep blog posts short (400-600 words is
ƒƒPicture a specific person each time you draft average). Consider breaking a longer article
a post and write just for them. Don’t think into two shorter articles. Use short sentences.
you’re “writing to the world” because you’re Break up your text. A lot.
not. You are writing for an individual reader
every time. ƒƒKeep paragraphs to five or fewer lines to
avoid “walls” of text.
ƒƒDemonstrate your knowledge to build trust
as someone who cares enough to help others. ƒƒUse headings and subheadings
throughout posts.
ƒƒPosition yourself as a resource for information
readers can’t get elsewhere so they’ll continue ƒƒ clarity, stick to one idea per post.
For
to read. It’s okay to relate two things together
(making one point).
ƒƒ a storyteller. Use sanitized real-life examples.
Be
ƒƒUse bullets and numbered lists.
ƒƒAvoid the word “client” because it’s
impersonal; whereas saying “you” helps ƒƒInclude relevant graphics or photos as
the reader project him or herself into often as you can. Think USA Today.
the situation.
Keep blog posts short (400-600 words is average).
Consider breaking a longer article into two shorter
articles. Use short sentences. Break up your text. A lot.
7

10. Steps for a Proper Citation Blog Etiquette
It’s appropriate to use excerpts of other blog There aren’t a lot of hard and fast “rules”
posts or articles and add your thoughts. This is for blogs, but here are a few don’ts:
“continuing the conversation”—a big part of
the experience of blogging, a part that attracts ƒƒDon’t end your posts with cheesy pitches like:
significant readership. “Call us for more information.” They won’t.
That’s not how blogs work.
ƒƒName the original author and link the text
of their name to their “about,” “author,” or ƒƒDon’t just ask for comments or feedback
“bio” page. at the end of every post unless you like the
sound of crickets. It takes a while to earn
ƒƒName the site or publication, and link the participatory readership and one way to
company name to their company’s home page. encourage comments is to prompt people
with something simple to react to.
ƒƒName the specific post or article and point
the title of their article directly to the item ƒƒDon’t shamelessly self promote. Talking
you are referencing. about yourself should be the exception,
not the rule—just the way you wouldn’t want
ƒƒ create visual interest, break quotes out
To to be “that boor” at a party. A dozen posts
using the quote styling or indent specification without it might excuse the rare self-promo
within your blog. but be up-front about it: “Forgive me for
promoting myself today, but you might be
ƒƒDon’t include someone’s entire post interested in …”
within yours without the author’s
specific permission. ƒƒAvoid re-saving a post (hitting “submit”
or “post” again) even if you are tempted to
ƒƒPost a link back to the original post. correct minor errors because it re-sends the
blog post to RSS subscribers. Proof before
posting and only correct major errors once
live. Courtesy to readers overrides perfection
so it’s understood that credible blogs will
have the occasional error.
Don’t just ask for comments or feedback at the end of every post
unless you like the sound of crickets. It takes a while to earn
participatory readership and one way to encourage comments
is to prompt people with something simple to react to.
8

11. Keywords and Search Engines Best Practices Tip
Blog posts provide organic search-engine strength for CPAs. Keywords (words Use online tools such
and phrases your audience cares about) can dramatically improve the firm’s
as these to test your
search-engine rankings for terms found in as few as two or three posts on a
given subject. While you don’t need to cater to search engines, knowing a thinking on search
little about how they work can help you make advantageous word choices. volume for phrases
you suspect might be
Use important keywords in the highest-level Knowing what keywords to use is a continual
good: Wordtracker
locations you can. Search engines give credence learning process.
to (in descending order): Keyword Tool,
ƒƒThink of your audiences and ask yourself Google Tools and
ƒƒBlog name and URL “what would they call ‘x’?” Google Adwords
ƒƒPost titles ƒƒUse readers’ industry “buzzwords”
(e.g., Tinsley discusses “National Provider
ƒƒCategories or tags Identifier (NPI),” the “CMS-1500 claim form,”
and “Medicare Claims Processing Manual.”)
ƒƒSubheadings, bolded words and words that
comprise links (aka “anchor text”) ƒƒFocus on three- or four-word phrases
(versus one or two words) because phrases
ƒƒImage file names tend to attract more qualified traffic than
single words (note Tinsley example above
ƒƒGeneral text within the post versus just the term “Medicare”).
ƒƒUse variants and words within words (e.g., sit
is within sitting, but sat is not within seated).
ƒƒMention geographic locations if applicable
(e.g., Arlington, Highway 40, etc.).
ƒƒMention competitors, referral source and
other experts (in a favorable light) to be
found by people looking for them.
ƒƒLearn from visitor trends and adjust your
writing based on what you see (on your blog’s
traffic reports, hover over the Google, Yahoo!,
Bing and other referring links to view the
exact term searched).
9

12. Keep podcasts and Sound, Video and Multimedia ƒƒWhen you add a video, sound, photos,
Creating audio files (podcasts) or videocasts or presentation files to YouTube, iTunes,
videocasts to less
can be easy and inexpensive ways to spice up Flickr or SlideShare, post them to your blog
than four minutes by embedding the files in a graphic form
a blog and show your style. Sharing photos,
because it’s hard to presentations and other documents comes in wherever possible.
keep the attention handy, too, and file-sharing tools that store
of people if they’re your files, yet let you embed them in your ƒƒWhen you use these channels, add relevant
blog, get you a lot of extra exposure. keywords and phrases where prompted at the
any longer. time you upload your files.
Here are some tips:
ƒƒSlideShare.net is great for presentations and ƒƒWatch that sound quality is free of fades,
documents. Flickr is excellent for photos, “brushing” P’s and B’s, nose-breathing,
iTunes can syndicate your audio files, and paper shuffling and other annoying
YouTube is excellent for video files. background noises.
ƒƒKeep podcasts and videocasts to less than ƒƒPractice sounding natural while introducing
four minutes because it’s hard to keep the inflection in your voice so you’re
attention of people if they’re any longer. not monotone.
ƒƒWhen you give presentation, load the slide ƒƒUse good, medium lighting. Shady (dark) or
deck and handouts to SlideShare or a similar interrogation (bright) are not good looks for
site and provide the links before, during and financial professionals.
after the program.
ƒƒPrepare a script and practice it, but when
you deliver, go from memory. Your message
should be natural sounding, not “read aloud.”
10

13. Expanding Your Readership
It’s critical that you read other blogs. Blogs aren’t one-way Pick quality,
platforms; they weren’t even invented for marketing. They are high-traffic blogs and
two-way communication vehicles. When you blog, you join a build relationships
community, and if you don’t participate, you may be viewed as with these influential
rude, aloof or “not with it.” authors. Find good
blogs by searching
Here’s how to participate: Comments blogsearch.google.
ƒƒRegularly read other blogs. Don’t worry about getting negative comments com. Once you find
on the blog. Comments, if any, will be sparse
some, check the
ƒƒPost comments that add value to the at first—most will be spam. Set up your blog so
discussion (don’t “pitch”). that comments must be approved and activate sidebars of the blogs
spam filters. to see whom they
ƒƒThank people who comment on your blog. list in their blogrolls.
Reciprocate by reading their blogs to find ƒƒApprove and respond to every legitimate
Note or subscribe to
something good you could refer to in a comment you receive.
post—use trackbacks to the original posts. all the ones that catch
ƒƒ can thank them privately, by email, but
You your interest. You can
ƒƒLink liberally in your posts to other resources it’s best to post it on your blog, so people can unsubscribe later.
and writings. Sites you link to will see traffic see you’re accessible and responsive. More
referred by your blog and are likely to check people will contribute when they perceive
you out. These people are potential new you’ll notice and care.
followers and promoters.
ƒƒ someone disagrees with you outright,
If
ƒƒView your visitor stats to see what sites refer be gracious, approve the comment and
to yours. Thank referrers (via a comment) demonstrate maturity in your reply. At a
and subscribe to their blogs. minimum, thank them and let them know
you appreciate their readership.
ƒƒAlways “hat tip” someone who referred
you to interesting information with a ƒƒ someone is especially rude or unbalanced,
If
mention and a link. you needn’t post the comment; you can reply
privately or simply ignore it.
Comments are a validation of your work that
reassures you that you’re striking a chord with
readers. They inspire you to continue, lead to
healthy debates and launch new friendships.
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14. Drop a media release Promoting Your New Blog ƒƒPrint reference everywhere relevant (articles,
announcing the new Wait until you have at least 10 posts before newsletters, announcements, bios, proposals,
you promote your blog. A solid base of sponsorships and speaker “blurbs” etc.).
blog, spinning it from
posts better illustrates your long-term intent
the industry angle ƒƒAdd links in the email signature blocks of
and shows people why they’d benefit from
positioning it as an subscribing. Here are some steps you can all related parties.
industry-specific take to spread the word about your blog:
resource. ƒƒWebsite links everywhere relevant (every
ƒƒPostcard mailing to all prospects, referral author’s bio, every related service page,
sources, trade groups and other contacts every article, etc.) and links from all authors’
related to the blog and the firm, social media profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook,
if appropriate. Twitter, etc.)
ƒƒE-mail promotion: use your prior means of ƒƒDrop a media release announcing the new
communication at least two times to all of the blog, spinning it from the industry angle
above, with periodic future mentions in firm’s positioning it as an industry-specific resource
e-mail newsletters. (send to all industry associations, publications,
websites and blogs; also send to all
accounting publications).
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