On Jan. 17, OPIS put up a blog post titled Oil Prices in 2019: A Quick Video Preview. The two-and-a-half-minute video features OPIS chief oil analyst Denton Cinquegrana talking about pricing from his desk. Below the video is a promo for their free Oil Market Outlook with a large green download button.

The post serves many purposes: adding video to their content mix; providing useful information; showcasing one of their major analysts; promoting a free market outlook; and engaging people on their site.

The days of blogs simply conveying an opinion or delivering information have passed. Blogs still do that but they can be much more. I believe the term remains quite positive and indicates a fresh take on content. You don't click on a blog and expect something from six months or a year ago at the top.

Here are some successful ways SIPA members are using blogs:

Promote your offerings (and videos). For a post titled Author Introduction to The Child Medication Fact Book, Carlat Publishing uses a five-minute video with the three authors to promote the book. They are all personable and easy to listen to— Elizabeth Tien, in particular, shines—and it delivers information while not feeling too salesy. "...this book offers guidance, clinical pearls, and bottom-line assessments of more than 70 of the most common medications you use and are asked about in your practice."

Support a good cause. CQ Roll Call has a blog called Connectivity: Help for government relations, advocacy, and nonprofit professionals. Last summer they published a post titled Four Women Excelling In Advocacy at State and Federal Level. "Here are a few [women] to inspire you, and when you're finished reading, don't forget to nominate an exceptional woman you know, working to advance an issue for her organization." The nominations are for Excellence in Advocacy Awards, sponsored by Professional Women in Advocacy, an organization committed to the advancement of women working in the advocacy space.

Explain a complicated issue. January Spring published a blog post this week titled Programmatic Advertising, Explained. This is a good topic to explain and show your expertise. "The most fun you can have in digital advertising today is competitive conquering. Your advertising clients will eat it up. And your sales team will be knocking out the signed insertion orders. 'How?' you ask. Programmatic display advertising. That's how. Programmatic marketing is automated bidding on advertising inventory in real-time, for the opportunity to show an ad to a specific type of customer, in a specific context, or location."

Highlight great photos. Education Week has many excellent blogs, among them a photo blog called Full Frame. Their post last week was titled, What It Felt Like to Be at the Los Angeles Teacher Strike: A Reporter's Perspective. "Education Week reporter Catherine Gewertz and photographer Morgan Lieberman set out on a rainy day to cover the Los Angeles teacher strikes." The photos are striking. Previous posts include Photos of the Year, A Class of One at a Rural Wyoming School, Tackling Football and the Flute, and In a Grieving Texas Town, a Class Reunion Becomes Something More.

Reach out to a younger audience. North Coast Media posted a fun blog post about a city donut tour titled, Donut Tasting and Panel? Donut Mind If I Do! "Engage! Cleveland serves as a hub for young professionals in Cleveland to connect and share their stories through organized events such as the donut tasting and panel. The purpose of Young Professionals Week is to allow the city's young and working adults to explore what Cleveland has to offer and network with community leaders." Another post was written by an intern and titled, "How to Intern Like a Boss."

Attract sponsorships. TransUnion sponsors blogposts for insideARM; one a couple months ago was titled How to Encourage Consumers to Handle Their Debts During Tax Season. The content is informative and presented in an easy-to-digest manner. At the end of the post, you get a tasteful sales pitch: "While you can't abandon trying to collect from those people, you can focus more of your efforts on the people more likely to pay. That's where TransUnion's Account Prioritization comes in."

Stay in constant touch. Business Valuation Resources posts blog articles every week. They have a very inviting listing page. Each post has a title—last Thursday's was Tips For Applying Art and Science to Intellectual Property Valuations—a three-line description, which newsletter it's posted in (with its own icon), the categories and the tags. On the right is a comprehensive list of topic categories.       

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Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 and SIIA in 2013 as editorial director…