1. Blogging - Now!
Blogging - writing blog articles about your area of expertise and sharing your knowledge with others - is a great online way to build your name and reputation!
I divide blog topics for two distinct audiences:
Topics written for peers and other professionals in your industry
Topics written for clients and prospective clients (and perhaps general audiences)
Both of these audiences can be interested in:
Topics directly related to your business
Secondary or related topics that may also be interesting to your readers
Let’s look at a simple example of the above: let’s say you are an interior designer. You can write peer blog articles debating the differences between local and internationally-sourced building materials, while client blogs should contain tips, hints and images of room renovations, lighting trends and the like. Secondary topics can include interviews with other suppliers such as electricians for peer articles, while client articles can include tips on moving home and packing your breakables.
No matter what you write and to whom, you must write compelling, on-point and relevant content.
2. Do you have the time to write?
Many small business owners feel they don’t have the time to write blog articles and build their business at the same time – they are completely correct and dead wrong! They are correct: they don’t have the time, but they need to make the time and they are absolutely wrong: part of their business’ success depends on building a reputation and part depends on understanding what you sell, why you sell it and to whom you sell it.
And here is the most persuasive reason for writing your own blogs: writing your own blogs is essential to helping you crystallize your business messaging, explore and understand where your business strengths and weaknesses lie and help you to really understand what it takes to build up a reputation and repertoire of content that can be reused, revamped and revisited to understand what content is most relevant to readers.
Now that you have your content - what should you do?
3. Get an editor – now!
I strongly believe that small business owners must employ a good editor to ensure that the content is well written, flows correctly and speaks to the appropriate audience(s). An editor will also provide a fresh pair of eyes to look at the content objectively, provide insight into the level of interest and depth of detail.
Along with content, your blogs must be formatted for easy reading, with snappy titles, paragraph headings, interesting graphics and images and easy-to-read texts. Until you have closed all these issues you can not publish your blog articles.
There are a host of other issues involved in successful blogging - which I will discuss in future blog articles - these include: selecting a blogging platform, tag words and the like.
4. Get your message out there – now!
Now that your blog article is published you need to share it on social media in order to get your message out there! Write a one-to-two sentence blurb tickling the interest of prospective readers and add a link to where the blog lives. Now share your blog with interested Facebook and LinkedIn groups and internet forums and ask everyone you know to regularly Like and Share your blog.
Blogging isn't a one-time action, you need to blog on a regular basis to really build your reputation and your readership. Once you have established your own blog rhythm, range of topics and fan base, you can start to think about hiring someone else to write your blogs for you.
Want to understand the world of blogging and how blogging can help your marketing efforts? Contact me today to provide a comprehensive assessment of your blogging needs.
Want to know more about building and branding your small business? Contact me today. Make today the day you and your business work together.
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