Some of my clients ‘get’ blogging; others can’t see the point.
The doubters don’t understand why they should invest in writing content for their blog. Who sees it? What will it do for your profit line? How do I know if it’s making a difference?
If you are just writing an article and posting it on your blog – and that’s it – hardly anyone will know it exists. That’s why you need to leverage your blog content.
The right subjects
If you’re really going to make an impact you will need to write about topics (in your area of expertise) that are ‘hot’. So what are the issues that are getting talked about? What problems are bugging your clients that you’ve got solutions for? Have you got an unusual twist on an ordinary subject?
Just rambling on about a subject won’t cut it – so invest some time in research and planning. Just thank heavens for Google and News Feeds!
Smart blogging
Make your blog into a marketing machine.
- Post it on your website – this gets you brownie points with the search engines for fresh content regularly and gets their spiders to visit more often (and improve your ranking)
- Post it on your LinkedIn profile as an article – this highlights your profile and gets you more connection requests.
- Extract soundbites from it and use them on social media – not just on the day of posting, but in the days, weeks and months afterwards to give your material a much longer life. This helps raise your visibility and brings people to your website.
- Use your blog as the lead article in your newsletter so you lead with value and get better engagement from your list. It’s establishing you as an expert and making them more willing to listen/read what else you have to say.
- Put together a number of blogs around a single subject and turn it into a report or ebook to offer as an ethical bribe on your website (and through social media) to encourage people to join your list.
In fact, I’ve used a blog challenge I did to write a blog daily for a month to create a book (How to market your business better in 30 days). Yes, I did have to do some editing and adding more material, but it made the process of putting together a book relatively easy.
Plan and schedule
If you really want to make your blog work it needs to be consistent. It’s no good posting three blogs in a month and then nothing for six months. The secret is to have a plan and then schedule it into your diary.
- Brainstorm a list of topics – and then decide what you will write about each month.
- Schedule a monthly time to write the posts for the month ahead (or the following month) and put it in your diary on a day when you usually have time to concentrate and write. (If this really isn’t your thing – then outsource it to someone else, I do this for several clients who would rather spend their time doing what they’re good at).
- When the blogs are written soundbite them and create your social media posts.
- Choose the best item to lead your newsletter and set that up – along with whatever you want to promote this month. This can be done on MailChimp, AWeber, ConstantContact, GetReponse or many other email marketing platforms – and scheduled to go out later in the month.
Doing the whole exercise in one or two sessions will make life much easier.
Then – as they say ‘rinse and repeat’! Eventually you’ll develop a monthly habit that will underpin your marketing and get you a much higher level of visibility and a reputation as an expert in your field.
