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Q U A L I TAT I V E R E S E A R C H C O N S U LTA N T S A S S O C I AT I O N 13 By Jeffrey Henning n Researchscape International n Norwell, MA n jhenning@researchscape.com Build a Blog Content Factory to Drive Leads While a blog does not guarantee your site will leap to the front of the pack, many consultant websites that succeed do so because of a blog. If your site is "brochure- ware," listing the information that would have been part of print collateral material ten years ago, the only viewers you'll attract will be those with whom you already do business. But if your site offers great articles that speak to the industry, trends, and the qualitative craft, then peo- ple will want to read and share your wis- dom with others in their networks. GATHERING RAW MATERIAL If you're like most qualitative research- ers, the thought of starting with a blank page scares you. After all, when you're writing a report, you have a moderator's guide, transcripts, data, and numerous quotes to guide you. But when you're starting a blog, you need to generate your own ideas. Consider the process as if you are a factory owner. You'll need to collect raw materials for blog posts, store them, refine them, and move them along an assembly line until they are finished and ready for publication. To crank up your blogging machine, you have to start collecting ideas for blog posts. But where do those ideas come from? Why not apply some of your great projective research techniques on yourself ? My ideas for blog posts take all kinds of forms. Sometimes I have an idea for a title, e.g., "Why Qualitative Researchers Will Inherit the Earth – or at Least the MR Industry." Or just a subject, e.g., "talk up Chicago as a great place for focus groups." Or a link to an article that triggers a response, e.g., http://researchaccess. com/2014/10/selecting-markets-for-quali- tative-research/. Or a favorite quote, e.g., "The future is here today. It's just not evenly distributed," from William Gibson. Ideas can take many forms from questions and charts, to slides and cartoons. Once you've brainstormed and primed the pump with a list of ideas, you'll find new ideas will come to you naturally. They might be quotes from prospects or cus- tomers, ideas from co-workers, social- media conversations, other people's blog posts, and so on. STRUCTURE AND SUBASSEMBLIES When it comes to structure, use catego- ries that reflect the SEO keywords you are interested in, e.g., "Focus Group with Seniors," "Online Communities," "Working with Millennials," "Bulletin Board Focus Groups," etc. To continue our factory metaphor, you will need some "subassemblies." These are what I call "proto-posts," i.e., notes that go into a little more detail on an idea. They can take the form of an outline or consist C ustomers in the market for research services these days most likely turn to Google or some other search engine to find a qualitative researcher. A website with appropriate key words will position a researcher at the top of the hit list. But to make the grade, a good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy founded on an effective con- tent-marketing plan is critical. While there are many tips for writing web content that will attract viewers, the Golden Rule is to write for people first. If you do, page views, social links, and Google search- bots will follow. So how do you make your website one of the top ranked? By writing interesting, relevant, and informative blog posts. "You'll need to collect raw materials for blog posts, store them, refine them, and move them along an assembly line until they are finished and ready for publication."