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Your Money Is Waiting
Here is something to think about. When someone
sends us a funny cartoon or joke, we do not hesitate to pass it
along and share it with people. The same is true of important news
or even something inspirational. Why limit our communication to
jokes and cartoons? Business is a legitimate source of news as
well. And you can transfer that same type of information about
your business to a blog for marketing purposes.
We hear a lot about blogs these
days, but not all of us are comfortable as yet in using them.
Some of this discomfort simply stems from being unfamiliar with
what blogs are and how they work. A blog is just a type of
bulletin board where people can post messages or their thoughts
and beliefs. They are getting quite popular and people are
finding that you can do a lot of business through blogs. We
thought we might use our newsletter to give you some solid tips
on why you should use blogs and how to effectively use them.
Why do you even want to consider utilizing a
blog for your business? There are lots of reasons, but here are
some of the more important ones:
1. Feedback. They give you the ability
to get feedback almost instantly. Which can make a big
difference if it reveals that you have a small problem before it
mushrooms into a big one.
2. Attraction. By blogging on your
area of interest or business, it can help establish not only
your credibility, but helps to set you up as an authority on
your subject.
3. Buzz Factor. Keeping your
blog informative and honest about what is important to your
readers, customers and prospects will often be the single factor
in getting the word spread about your business.
4. Humanization. Because blogs
are usually personal in nature, they really help to put a face
or human touch on you and your organization giving you a boost
in the trust category.
5. Search Engines. Creating a blog and
linking it back to your organization's website gives the search
engines that much more fodder to help attract customers to you.
Those are a few reasons as to why you should
have a blog for your business. Sometimes, business owners are
hesitant because they feel that they won't have enough to write
about. Keep in mind that you do not have to write something
everyday. A couple times a week is sufficient. The key is
consistency in making sure that you do it.
Here are 20 ideas you can use to help you
create a blog post when you're stuck for an idea:
1. Current events. Can you link what you do in your
business to a current event? Open up your daily newspaper or
your internet news reader and see what's happening in the world,
your country, your state, or your city. Give your opinion about
the event and a solution, if you have it, and relate that to
your business if you can.
2. Trends in your industry. Most business people read
constantly and subscribe to more industry publications than they
ever have time to review. However, most people have their
favorites and regularly read, and it's to those that we look to
for what the trends seem to be. When you blog about the trend,
put your unique perspective on it, or write a rebuttal post,
disagreeing with the relevance of the trend.
3. Get personal. Tell a story about what's happening in
your life or in your business that would be useful or
instructive for your readers. Chronicle both your highs and
lows, your wins and your struggles. One key to successful
blogging is getting personal with your readers. The more "real"
you are with your readers, the better your reader gets to know
you and begins to like and trust you. You become a "real, live"
human being to them who faces similar issues that they face.
4. Top 10. Top ten lists is an easy way for you to
outline the points you wish to make and then go back and fill in
the details for each point. In this case, each of your points
for a topic can become an individual blog post, and when all the
points are complete, you can compile the full list for an
article for your ezine or website.
5. Frequently asked questions. If you've been in business
for awhile, you know the questions that clients and prospective
clients ask you to answer over and over again. Instead of
repeatedly responding to the same questions, write a series of
blog posts that answer your target market's most frequently
asked questions.
6. How you helped a client solve a problem.
Clients hire you to solve a specific problem they're having,
whether they do that when they buy your service or your product.
List 3-5 most recent problems that you have helped your clients
solve. Create a post that talks about the problem and the
solution you provided (either with your client's permission, or
by making it generic enough to hide the client's identity) that
becomes a learning experience for your readers.
7. Interview an expert. What people do you know and
admire in your industry? If you admire them, chances are that
members of your target market do, as well. Contact them for a
short email or recorded interview and ask them 3-5 questions
that you'd like to hear them answer about their lives, their
businesses, industry trends, or how to solve a particular
problem. Publish the interviews as blog posts, adding audio and
graphics if you have them.
8. Solicit and answer questions. Ask your ezine
subscribers or blog readers to ask you their most pressing
question related to what you do. I do this and get questions for
1-2 blog posts per week, and it helps me stay in touch with the
needs of readers, as well.
9. Review something. Read a good book lately related to
your industry? Just purchased a product to help you solve a
problem? Reviews aren't limited to the critics at the New York
Times. Blog about your experience with a product, book, or
service, highlighting both the high points and low points, and
whether you would recommend that others use or purchase it.
10. Read other blogs. Go to Google's Blog Search or
Technorati and find other blogs related to your industry or your
target market. Add those to your blog reader and take an hour or
two each week to read the posts on those blogs. Do you agree or
disagree with the post? Have another point of view? Think the
blogger was on target but you want to expand on her point of
view? Reading other blogs is a great way to generate ideas for
your own blog.
11. Keep an idea file. Sometimes a
blogging idea or concept will strike you when you don't need (or
want) to blog. Begin a blog idea file by creating a document or
spreadsheet to track your ideas and thoughts. If you're in the
zone, go ahead and write the post, and then you can post it to
your blog on a day when the idea well is dry.
12. Create a tutorial. There's always something you can
tell your target market how to do. Create a written, audio, or
video tutorial of the process as your blog post. Depending on
the complexity of the tasks, the tutorial may need to created in
multiple parts, like Part 1, Part 2, etc., which would make for
multiple posts to your blog.
13. Share a positive/negative email. Share exceptionally
positive or negative emails you receive from people (without
names to protect their identity as appropriate) either to
celebrate kudos you have received or to demonstrate how you
responded to a particularly nasty or upsetting comment. You can
get the a lot of mileage out of the negative emails, and you can
also ask for feedback about how your readers might respond to
the situation.
14. Take a tour. Take a self-made in-person or virtual
tour of something useful to your readers. For example, if you're
a dating coach, tour the top 5 online dating sites and report
your experiences as a client in each. If you're a restaurant
consultant, visit 3 local restaurants and evaluate what's often
overlooked in staff training based on your experience as a
customer.
15. Write about a Twitter or Facebook update. You only
get 140 characters in Twitter to write about something. If you
need more space, or want to respond in greater length to
someone's Tweet or Facebook status update, do so in your blog.
Thought-provoking questions are often asked on Twitter, and the
answers may inspire you to blog.
16. Create a "Best of" list. What are the top 7 blogs to
read in your industry? How about the top 5 people to watch? What
about the 10 most useful online tools you use? Nothing attracts
attention on a blog quicker than a list, so create one yourself
or ask your readers to help you in the process.
17. Report from an event. Attending a professional trade
show, conference, or networking event? You can report live about
your experiences at the event on your blog. Talk about the
workshops your attended, the vendors you met, the speaker you
heard -- the sky's the limit!
18. Debunk a myth. Each industry is plagued with myths
and fallacies about success/failure or what does/doesn't work
that the industry professionals would like to see vanquished
once and for all. Use your blog to debunk some of the most
common myths/preconceptions/notions in your industry and set the
record straight. Little Known Facts daily stories are fantastic
for that.
19. Talk to newbies. Picture yourself as a newbie in your
industry once again. What do you know now that you didn't know
then? What questions did you ask? What knowledge do you have
that you think everyone knows? Getting back to the basics can
help bring all of your blog readers up to speed.
20. Write about a client conversation. If you find
yourself inspired by a conversation or something you have read,
then don’t hesitate to expand and share. Typically the
strategy/idea/technique you've discussed with one client will
benefit your blog readers as well.
This is just the tip of a very large iceberg of ideas for posts
to your blog. Take a look around your life, your business,
conversations with clients and colleagues, and what's happening
in the world around you. You'll soon begin to see more potential
for blog posts than you ever thought possible! |
ADDITIONAL MARKETING RESOURCE LINKS:
Assignment for Success
Business Articles
Assignment
for Success Marketing Newsletter Archive
Little Known
Facts
Business Radio |
