What's the point of blogging? Why do the experts tell us that we should make time to write 500-odd words regularly and put it out there for the world to digest? Why? Maybe because blogging is a powerful medium, that has enormous potential for each and every one of us, if we are proactive in making use of the process.
What do I mean? Well, let’s think about what a blog is ...
What do I mean? Well, let’s think about what a blog is ...
... and how it can benefit you and your readers. A blog is, at its simplest, a forum where you can express your thoughts and feelings on any topic you choose to write about. If you host a blog, then this can be a place where you expound on matters of the moment. It’s a kind of personalised, web-based Speaker’s Corner, I guess. And many blogs function in just this way.
But a blog can be much more than a place just to air ramblings on the happenings of the day; it can also be a valuable business tool and public service, and that is how I encourage the talking professionals I work with to view blogging.
Creating a blog on your business website effectively gives you the opportunity to connect with your clients in a way that previously would have been nigh on impossible. Used wisely, your blog allows you to demonstrate to the world that you have an expertise that could meet their needs. It gives you the opportunity to write about your areas of professional interest, to tell stories of how you work and what has gone well for you, to reassure readers that you do know how to manage their problems, to make recommendations for simple actions potential clients might take to address areas of concern, to professionally guide them in how to get the right help, and to connect with them on a more personal level than any website Home Page copy can ever do. And, if your writing “voice” strikes the right note with your readers, you increase the likelihood that they will contact you to work with them on their issues, as they will have gained some insight into how you might be able to help them.
Your blog articles – whether on your own site or produced as a guest article on someone else's blog - serves as a window to the world through which you can promote your expertise and your services and raise your profile.
Your blog’s aim should be to provide good quality content that educates your readers. It needs to inform, engage and encourage your readers to return to see what else you have to say. An informative blog is also going to attract links and shares, draw search engines to your site and generally widen your sphere of influence … and by doing so, it can raise your professional profile, help you build relationships and widen your potential market.
Writing regularly on your blog – if you can, create a routine for this in your schedule (weekly or at the very least monthly) - and promoting your recent blog articles via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn – draws traffic to your site and helps improve your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) also, which in turn helps you move up the Google search pages. And if you incorporate a subscription option on your blog (look right ... :D), you begin to grow your email list too, which allows you to promote new services to interested parties directly (do feel free to sign up).
So you see … a blog, when used properly as a business tool, offers your business the chance to promote your services to your potential clients, demonstrate your expertise and build links that raise your web profile. And contributing an article or two as a guest blogger on other sites also helps spread your influence even further afield. What’s not to like?
My question to you then is this: if you don't have a blog of your own yet, when are you going to start one? And when are you going to take advantage of the opportunity to share your thoughts more widely by writing posts for blogs that are associated with your areas of interest? Over to you ...
But a blog can be much more than a place just to air ramblings on the happenings of the day; it can also be a valuable business tool and public service, and that is how I encourage the talking professionals I work with to view blogging.
Creating a blog on your business website effectively gives you the opportunity to connect with your clients in a way that previously would have been nigh on impossible. Used wisely, your blog allows you to demonstrate to the world that you have an expertise that could meet their needs. It gives you the opportunity to write about your areas of professional interest, to tell stories of how you work and what has gone well for you, to reassure readers that you do know how to manage their problems, to make recommendations for simple actions potential clients might take to address areas of concern, to professionally guide them in how to get the right help, and to connect with them on a more personal level than any website Home Page copy can ever do. And, if your writing “voice” strikes the right note with your readers, you increase the likelihood that they will contact you to work with them on their issues, as they will have gained some insight into how you might be able to help them.
Your blog articles – whether on your own site or produced as a guest article on someone else's blog - serves as a window to the world through which you can promote your expertise and your services and raise your profile.
Your blog’s aim should be to provide good quality content that educates your readers. It needs to inform, engage and encourage your readers to return to see what else you have to say. An informative blog is also going to attract links and shares, draw search engines to your site and generally widen your sphere of influence … and by doing so, it can raise your professional profile, help you build relationships and widen your potential market.
Writing regularly on your blog – if you can, create a routine for this in your schedule (weekly or at the very least monthly) - and promoting your recent blog articles via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn – draws traffic to your site and helps improve your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) also, which in turn helps you move up the Google search pages. And if you incorporate a subscription option on your blog (look right ... :D), you begin to grow your email list too, which allows you to promote new services to interested parties directly (do feel free to sign up).
So you see … a blog, when used properly as a business tool, offers your business the chance to promote your services to your potential clients, demonstrate your expertise and build links that raise your web profile. And contributing an article or two as a guest blogger on other sites also helps spread your influence even further afield. What’s not to like?
My question to you then is this: if you don't have a blog of your own yet, when are you going to start one? And when are you going to take advantage of the opportunity to share your thoughts more widely by writing posts for blogs that are associated with your areas of interest? Over to you ...
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