Are the Top 10 Construction Management Firms Missing the Boat on Blogs?

I have felt for some time that the building/construction industry was dragging its heels on Internet marketing and social media but I was surprised to see that even the top firms were slow to adapt. Using Building Design + Construction’s Giants list as a guide in checking out the websites of the industry’s top construction management firms, I found only one of the top ten construction management companies – all with revenues in excess of $888 million, had a blog.

There is no denying these companies have achieved success without a blog, but they undoubtedly face increased competition. While I am sure potential building owners still solicit referrals for a considered set of builders, I am equally confident they also turn to websites at some point during their search. A company blog provides an outlet for thought leadership, an opportunity to showcase expertise as well as a place for customers and potential customers and prospective employees to engage with you online.

There are plenty of content possibilities … projects in progress, sustainability, charitable work, interesting people and stories. When research shows that blogging drives website traffic, provides valuable feedback to management, and allows companies to showcase their expertise and talent, I am at a loss to understand why these top construction management companies are foregoing the opportunity.

No. 6 (Suffolk Construction) as well as No. 11 on the list, (Hunt Construction Group,) are the exceptions. Hunt’s blog, entitled Landmarks, offers an inside look at various projects under construction as well as community events. Suffolk’s blog provides thought leadership from the company’s CEO. While good efforts, neither of the blogs provides website visitors with an opportunity to comment. About half of the Top 10 firms have Facebook and Twitter accounts. However, often the connections weren’t accessible from the company websites.

Today’s buyers demand more. A modern site should include blogs and sharing features that foster a sense of community.Why is construction so far behind the curve?

Rank BD+C Giants	Company		Blog
1	Gilbane Building Co.	www.gilbaneco.com/	No
2	Skanska USA	www.skanska.com	No
3	Lend Lease	www.lendlease.com	No
4	Hensel Phelps Construction	www.henselphelps.com	No
5	Whiting-Turner Conracting Co.	www.whiting-turner.com	No
6	Suffolk Construction	www.suffolkconstruction.com	Yes
7	Structure Tone	www.structuretone.com	No
8	Jacobs	www.jacobs.com	No
9	Flintco	www.flintco.com	No
10	The Yates Companies	www.yatescompanies.com	No
11	Hunt Construction Group	www.huntconstruction.com	Yes

Does Your B2B Company Blog Need a Makeover?

You start a company blog to increase web traffic by sharing industry knowledge and perspectives. Understandably content development should be your primary focus when launching a B2B blog. But once your company blog is up and running and your content is flowing smoothly, it’s a good idea to take a step back to examine the blog’s effectiveness. Are visitors subscribing? Are they sharing your info? Are they clicking on other areas of your website? Are you getting as much search engine traffic as you could? If the results aren’t what you think they could be, you may be in need of a blog make-over? Here are some questions to help you find out.

1) Is it easy to subscribe?

Put your subscription box in a prominent place and allow visitors to subscribe vie email or RSS feed.

2) Do you offer an incentive to subscribe?

Encourage subscriptions by providing an offer for something useful and valuable. Create a landing page with the offer and an easy signup process.

3) Do you make it easy for people to share your information?

Include buttons so posts can be shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

4) How does your blog read on a mobile device?

Mobile usage is growing dramatically. WordPress now has some plug-ins that will do this for you, or consider a new theme that is already mobile friendly.

5) Do you encourage people to visit other areas of your site?

Once someone’s interested, get them to stay longer on your site by promoting some of your most popular posts.

6) Are you optimizing posts for your keywords?

Learn how to write titles and metatag descriptions to improve rankings on search engines.

7) Do you make it easy for people to learn more about your services?

Provide links directly to your services or products. Make it easy for people to buy.

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you could probably benefit from making a few changes.

For a complimentary review of your current blog email me. We’ll be happy to provide you with some suggestions for a blog makeover. Content for Biz can help you take your blog to the next level.

What to Do When Your Company Blog is Failing

Did your company jump into blogging without a plan? Has it been months since any content was created? Are your subject matter experts failing to create the content you need? It’s not all that uncommon. But don’t give up before you have tried these tactics.

Get Blogging Training

As you have probably discovered on your own, there is a lot more to blogging than meets the eye. The more your corporate bloggers understand about your goals and objectives, keywords and other blogging basics, the better job they will do. A boot camp for bloggers will empower and reenergize your team, build camaraderie, and demonstrate management’s commitment to the blog.

Hold a Content Creation Brainstorming Session

Devote a few hours exclusively to developing content ideas for the blog. Invite a professional content manager to lead a discussion using your keywords as a jumping off point. Do you have content related to every stage in the buying process? Can you make your customers the stars? What information lends itself to video? Consider a series of posts related to a specific topic. Get input from bloggers, customer service and sales and other departments. By the time the meeting is over you will have plenty of ideas to fill an editorial calendar. But don’t stop there. Assign various topics to your contributors. Realize that some content takes longer to develop. Choose quality over quantity, but also recognize that there are benefits to frequency.

Start Reviewing Results with Your Team

Share analytics and help your team identify those posts that are drawing traffic and response. Can you elaborate on hot topics or create similar posts using different examples? Identify trends in keywords. Reward bloggers who successfully engage the audience.

Build Your Social Networks

Understand your audience and encourage participation of employees in industry-related social networks so you can share your expertise and introduce potential customers to your blog. Know where your blog traffic is coming from. Create a plan for promoting posts online, generating inbound links and more. Share links with older posts as well.

There is no doubt business blogging requires a big commitment, but the rewards do appear to be worth the effort. In a study conducted by HubSpot, the average company that blogs has 55 percent more visitors, 97 percent more inbound links and 434 percent more indexed pages.

Can we help you get your blog unstuck so you can reap the benefits?

Save Time and Make Blogging Easier

time stressed writer — What can I write about?

Most companies understand the benefits of a B-2-B blog. But when it comes to writing blog posts week after week, they falter. While a lack of ideas, enthusiasm, and ability may be the problem, more often, it is a lack of time that sabotages their efforts. Writing is time consuming. Here are some ways to streamline the blogging process.

Decide on a topic. This often involves research. After you have read what is written on a topic, you need time to figure out how you can create your unique viewpoint. Finally, there is the actual writing and editing time, which can vary considerably, depending on the degree to which your efforts are interrupted by other responsibilities. If time constraints are keeping you from producing a better blog, consider how hiring a professional writer can help you.

1) A professional writer can help you organize your B-2-B blog content using an editorial calendar.

Take a cue from B-2-B editors who find they deliver better content when they follow an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar includes a brief description of what you will publish and when. Instead of letting things fall to chance, you might decide to feature a case study on Wednesdays and a Q&A with a company expert on Fridays. You may have six key topic areas to plan around. Stop scrambling to find a topic the day the blog post is due.

2) A professional writer can research a blog topic for you.

Much of a professional writer’s job involves finding credible sources of information—weeding through a multitude of sources and conversations on the Internet. While your company experts are likely to be the No. 1 source of information for your blog, following other experts in the field, competitors, keywords, relevant research and news can be extremely valuable. Consider hiring a professional writer to research a topic or customize and organize market intelligence for you. With everything at your fingertips the writing process becomes more efficient.

3) A professional writer can edit your blog posts.

If you or your team have great ideas but don’t have the time to give your writing professional polish, you can hire a writer to review and edit your work. With an editor’s thorough review process you will avoid embarrassing misspellings and grammatical errors. A good editor will help you communicate clearly and concisely, without losing your “voice.” A writer knowledgeable in search engine optimization can also edit your blog copy to integrate important keywords that will drive traffic to your site.

4) A professional writer can develop and write blog posts for you.

People often wonder how someone can write about an industry or topic they are not familiar with. However, professional writers successfully do this every day by thoroughly researching topics and formulating the right questions to ask company experts and industry insiders. In contrast, those who are so close to a topic often overlook the obvious questions that potential customers might have.

If time is keeping you from fully realizing the benefits of a blog, consider hiring a content writer to handle a portion or all of your writing-related tasks. Content for Biz offers all of these writing, editing and content development services. Check out the “Work with Us” tab to learn more or give us a call.

How to Find Credible Sources for Articles, Blog Posts and Whitepapers

One way to keep your B-to-B content fresh is to inject the information and opinions from experts related to your product, service or industry. Writers call these their “sources,” and developing these relationships can inject new life into your website, blog, e-newsletter and articles.

Look for sources who are regular users of the product or service.

If you are a manufacturer, an expert doesn’t always have to be a CEO, engineer or marketing executive. A source can also be a customer or dealer who has experience with the product in the field. If your company is in the business of renting machinery, the opinions of a machine operator or a construction project manager would be very valuable to a potential customer. Each source will have a different perspective on the experience of renting a machine. Varied experiences will add credibility to your message. Customers love reviews from regular people. Salespeople can help identify potential candidates.

Look for sources in a business related to yours.

Your topics don’t always have to revolve directly around your business. A moving company might ask a professional organizer for moving tips that could form the basis of a blog post, checklist or whitepaper. A commercial real estate advisor might ask a lawyer to provide information about lease transactions.

You can find sources for a wide variety of topics using a free service like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to identify experts in particular fields willing to answer questions for an article. PR Newswire has a similar service for journalists. You can also identify like-minded bloggers using tools like Technorati or Twitter. Consider asking an expert to write a guest post on your blog.

Look for sources through industry associations and publications.

Industry associations and b-to-b publications are typically tremendous sources of information. If you see an article you like, ask the editor for permission to republish it in your e-newsletter, on your website or in a blog post. (There may be a fee.) Search the news sections of an association website for press releases highlighting industry research and to identify potential interview sources.

Look for sources among your strategic partners.

Your strategic business partners may provide content that your customers find interesting. In fact, they may already be creating that information for their own customers. Explore content sharing ideas with other businesses and industry trade groups. For example, a website developer might provide information on the latest updates to Google for any number of firms with small business clients. I know I often share my marketing articles, blog posts and presentations with a local printer.

Finding credible and intelligent sources for your online content can go a long way toward building your company’s online reputation. If you have a large audience, sources may be happy to provide information for its publicity value. If not, you may have to work harder to get what you need. Start by building relationships with industry movers and shakers. One way to do this is to comment on their blogs, “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And of course, make every effort to meet in person. However, be realistic in your expectations and let them know how their business might benefit from the relationship.