If you’re not an enthusiastic blogger you can be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. You hear people rambling on about ‘Content is King’ and how important it is to be writing good content, but why?
The simple answer is ‘visibility’, but there’s much more to it than that.
An article can:
- Be a huge reputation builder for you and it gives you good quality content to share in social media, on your website and by email.
- Establish you as an authority in your industry and attract the media, giving you opportunities to be the ‘go-to expert’ for print, digital and broadcast media.
- Maintain your visibility without having to come up with fresh content every time you go online.
- Show off your expertise, demonstrate your knowledge and educate potential clients.
This last point is particularly important. If someone is looking for the kind of help you offer, there will almost always be competition. They’ll have a friend who knows someone, or a networking contact who does that, one of their clients might give them a recommendation. But all these are contacts that are based on someone else’s opinion.
If you’ve been writing great content that shares your knowledge and shows people the depth of expertise you can offer, they don’t need someone else to recommend you (although it won’t do any harm if you have great testimonials too). They can form their own opinion based on what they’ve read and can see you know.
Blogs are there to inform and educate, not to sell your services, but to demonstrate them.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
If you’re beginning to see the point, finding things to write about might be a bit of a challenge. But I bet you talk to people about your services all the time. You talk to potential clients, you talk to your networking connections, you answer questions people ask. That’s all potential blog material.
You can write:
- ‘How to’ articles explaining something that your clients find useful
- Tips to help people in your target market to make life easier
- An outline of common mistakes people make, and how to avoid them
- Your opinion on a topical item – explaining your rationale
- The answer to a frequently asked question
- What’s the latest new development in your industry – and why it’s important for your readers.
And that’s just for starters.
When you’ve written your blog don’t forget to share the link on social media – not just on the day you post it, but next week, next month and, if it’s not topical, next year too.
Get it out to your newsletter list – they almost certainly won’t have spotted it on your website and have already ‘told’ you (they signed up) they’re interested in what you do.
Don’t forget that fresh content on your website keeps the search engines interested too, so they visit your website more often.
Get on that keyboard and get yourself noticed!
