This is a guest post by James Chartrand of Men with Pens, and is the first guest post for Guest Post Week here at Remarkablogger.
Setting up a blog for your business can produce phenomenal results. You can increase your client base, show off your work, boost your credibility and tell people more about your business.
But blogging involves some challenges that many people aren’t aware of. Not only that, some bloggers create obstacles that hinder and not being able to ask for directions isn’t reserved only for stubborn male drivers. It may be clear as day to you where to find your email, but you don’t really matter – your client does. Your client won’t ask you for directions. He’ll just leave… and probably buy from your competition.
Have someone test your site. Sit them down. Let them click around freely. Do they get stuck anywhere? Do they ask questions about what this or that means? Is there something they find confusing? Now ask them to find specific information – your contact info, your About page, your rates, etc. Can they do it easily? Quickly? Happily? Fix what’s broken; improve on what isn’t.
What Should I Write?
In business, always avoid the taboos: sex, religion and politics. Keep your posts neutral at all times to increase the appeal of your content. Also avoid writing about what everyone else writes about, unless you have something new to add or a different angle to present. Redundancy gets your business nowhere.
Write about your business and its processes. Discuss what’s going on in your industry. Post about frequently asked questions and provide some answers. Do case studies of clients you’ve helped. Write whatever seems relevant and valuable.
But I Want to Voice My Opinion!
People enjoy blogging because it lets them air their views, opinions, comments and personal feelings on many events and situations in life. If a client discovers a scathing monologue or a boss stumbles on a harsh critique, get ready for consequences.
Business blogs are professional blogs, first and foremost. You are not there to bash the competition, your co-workers or your peers. Leave out identifying information. Talk generally. Focus on the positive in the negative. Write to share lessons, not to rant, vent or attack. If you can’t help yourself, start a second personal blog, rant away, and avoid identifying information.
I’m Still Stuck for Ideas.
Since blogging is a long-term affair, eventually it feels like there’s nothing left to say. You’ve covered all aspects of your business and given out all the advice you know. Lately, you’re spinning your wheels on writing something you feel is interesting. Pressuring yourself to write only makes the feeling of having nothing to write worse. Now what?
Now dip back into your archives. Pick a post – any post. Close your eyes and point your finger. The paragraph you land on is the basis for your new post. Expand on it. Contradict it (yes, you can do that). Debate it. Do a pros and cons post. Update it with the latest news.
How Should I Write?
Blogging opens up worlds of opportunities for business, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is a blogger. Blogging means writing, and if you can’t write well or still struggle with spelling and grammar, that impacts your business negatively. Poor writing is unprofessional. Do you see “i can haz your bizniss” on United Airlines’ brochures?
First, write well - or find someone who does. Take some free courses online. You don’t have to be Shakespeare, but your blog should read as well as Curious George Goes to the Zoo. Format your text for screen reading, too. Break up long paragraphs, keep fonts one color, use bullet points and headers and choose a simple sans-serif font like Arial.
When Should I Write?
Irregular consistency can kill a blog faster than Russian roulette played with a shotgun. Too much blogging can send your creativity plunging downwards until it disappears. Not enough blogging makes your blog (and your business) appear to be one that is failing.
Your posting frequency should be the right frequency for you. Some authorities suggest more and some less, but one recommendation is constant across the board – post regularly. Decide on the number of posts per week you can handle, pick a regular day for publishing, and get at it. There are no wrong answers.
And if you get sick or have an emergency to deal with? You’d call in to advise your employer you couldn’t make it to work, right? The same goes for your blog. Post a short “I’ll be back note” and go take care of real life.
How Do I Get Traffic?
“If you build it, they will come” does not apply to blogging. Assuming that search engines will start sending you traffic just because you blog is a huge misconception. Bloggers do not get traffic; they go looking for it to herd it towards their blog. They also invest the time and energy required to market their blog effectively.
Link out to relevant posts from other bloggers. Comment on their blogs. Start interacting on social media sites like Twitter, Digg or StumbleUpon. Interesting comments on your behalf engage others, and they stir curiosity that encourages people to click through to your site. If you aren’t present and active, you aren’t driving traffic.
So I Don’t Need SEO?
Search-engine optimization poses a problem for many bloggers. They don’t know how to SEO their blog or their content, or they focus on writing for search engines and not people. Sometimes they focus on writing for people and forget search engines.
A blend of both SEO and good content helps your blog be picked up by search engines and helps readers enjoy what you have to offer. Do a little research into basic SEO and apply it. Don’t expect tons of overnight traffic – SEO does offer results, but good results come over time.
Yeah, But I Don’t Have Time.
A major challenge for bloggers is finding the time to pay attention to their blog, write posts and drive traffic, all the while staying updated on other blogs and being active in networking settings. Keeping a blog going can be grueling. A day only has 24 hours, after all.
Choose a lower posting frequency that fits your schedule. Outsource writing posts, if you can afford it. If you can’t, decide how much time you can spend per day on your blog and do what you can. Pick one good social media site as a favorite to leverage. You don’t have to do it all – you just have to do a little and do it consistently.
Why Am I Not Getting Business?
Many new bloggers slap up a blog and expect to become overnight successes. There is no such thing on the Internet. Realize that boosting your business reputation with a blog takes time, effort and perhaps some investment. You knew that your business would start small and grow… Why do you expect different from your blog?
Make sure your blog represents your business well. It should reflect your business image properly, it should include showcase samples, a contact page, information about you and information about your services or products. Make a checklist of what you’d like to know about someone else’s business – and then see if your blog fits the bill.
Oooh, This is Cool!
The latest gadget or widget or meme or trend or fad may be the coolest thing going, but if it doesn’t help your business, it has no business being on your blog. Your friends may love the cute little avatars on the sidebar from a blog directory, but what’s that doing for your sales? Do your friends keep you in the money?
Invest your time and efforts into proven marketing strategies instead of the hot widget of the moment. Sure, test new things to see if they help your business, but ask yourself first if a client would appreciate what you want to try. If you do try and don’t increase sales, ditch the widget, folks.
When you’re blogging for business, treat your blog like a business. You may be a creative soul with breezy thoughts or the struggling hopeful trying to break into an industry, but you remain a professional business owner. Act accordingly on your blog, and give people the right impression for better success.
How about you? Do you recognize yourself as struggling with any of these problematic areas? Do you have some other challenge that you’re facing? Share and see what help you might get – it may set your business up for life!
If you want more great tips to set your business up for life, head over to Men with Pens, where James and Harry share their web business tips for writers, freelancers and online entrepreneurs. Better yet, grab the Men with Pens feed by subscribing here.
22 Comments
Thanks for the great suggestions! I have a fairly new blog (since August, but just recently re-designed).
I’m finally working on writing my own unique and helpful content - which is TOUGH! I lucked out with a good article that’s become very popular (for me anyway, lol). Coincidentally it’s one about my process on web design and development. I took the process information from my main web site and altered it to be used by anyone hiring a designer in general. Who knew, but I’ve received comments mostly from other web designers who have found it helpful.
Now I just need to figure out how to write MORE great content - and what to write about, etc. By far the most difficult part, but of course, the writing is what makes a great blog.
I love the suggestion to have other people look at your site/blog and get their opinion on it, ask specific questions, etc. That should probably be my first step…
Anyway, thanks for the great ideas!
Michael, Have a lovely week off.
James,
A great article, lots of super tips here. My favorite is “…dip back into your archives. Pick a post – any post. Close your eyes and point your finger. The paragraph you land on is the basis for your new post.” I’ve never thought of it like that. The next time I feel stuck I’m going staright to that idea.
(If you’ve ever seen Dr. Dolittle-the original-there’s a scene where they pick where they’re going in the world by that method. A great way to pick a post or a voyage, if you’re adventurous!)
Regards,
Kelly
James - great post with a business flavour. I’ll be keeping this one in my pocket as I venture out into the blogging world.
I think it complements your post today over at MwP in many ways.
Thanks for the words.
@ James - Thanks for writing such a great post. It really resonates with people.
@ Selene - Good for you! It is tough in some ways. On the other hand, nobody knows your business like YOU do. You can see what others in your field are doing, and then do better or do differently. Understanding the needs of your audience + accomplishing your goals (get clients, build reputation, etc.) will help you write content that does both.
@ Kelly - Yup. Single points in a post often make a great jumping off point for new posts. I find the same thing happens to me when I leave comments on other blogs–I get an idea for a post!
@ Brett - James did a great job of keeping his “original flavor” but still fitting here on Remarkablogger–the sign of a great writer.
Hello Michael and great post, James.
Ok, I have a few questions:
My biggest problem is time. I don’t read as fast as others out there. I can skim, yes, but read and fully understand, it’s a much slower process for me.
Any tips on helping with reading blogs efficiently?
Also, since I’m relatively new to blogging, I’m curious - do you guys read everyone’s comments on other blogs? If not, how do you know what you’re writing wasn’t just said by someone above?
And if you do comment, do you return to the blog to see if someone responded to your comment specifically? Or because we are in business, we have other matters to move on to.
Thanks.
@Michael - You’re right about the comments! I’ll often leave a comment somewhere else and realize that I either wrote too much in the comment field, or can think of other ways to expand by making it’s own post. I need to start bookmarking those rather than relying on memory alone. Whoops.
James -
Glad you added the point about SEO. Your blog is an ideal place to start adding keyword-rich content …
I only disagree with one thing:
If you build it, and if it’s worth coming to, they *will* come.. both visitors AND search engines.
Of course that doesn’t mean that you can’t assist, and of course you should. But some of the most popular posts I ever wrote, posts that have been read hundreds of thousands of times, were never promoted in any way by me (and the corollary is that there are also posts I tried to promote that never did squat).
John and Selene, thoughts on comments and keeping track:
Of course (on many blogs) you can subscribe to comments to keep up with what’s being said after you post, but whether it’s six or sixty, I do always read all the comments before I leave my own, because
(a) sometimes, the real meat is in the comments, and because
(b) other times, what I was thinking of has already been said. Twice. Since you can be sure that the author IS reading all of the comments, not knowing that you’re the third guy to make the same suggestion will make you look uninterested, which isn’t the best first impression.
I have a quick system for keeping track of great posts. I keep a folder called “Blogs” and inside it, a folder called “& Comment.” A post I may want to come back to later, to quote or to be inspired, gets a bookmark in “Blogs.” Every post I ever comment on goes to the inner folder, “& Comment.”
Naturally both are rather full, but it’s a lot better than thinking “I wonder where I heard (or discussed) that.” Plus, there are many blogs (including most at TypePad, at the moment) that do not have subscribe to comments, and the only way to see how the conversation progresses is to come back to them with a bookmark.
Sometimes I rename as I add the bookmark, if there’s a word or an idea that will help me reference it later. Once in a while I get the comments neat and make sure all my Remarkablogger bookmarks are next to each other, for instance. That tells me which blogs I probably get the most value from. I can do a search on my bookmarks looking for a key word or idea, or browse for blogs without subscribe to comments, to revisit (these I keep together in the folder).
Some people put stars in their RSS reader, but to me, using bookmarks is clearer and works very well.
My 2¢, I hope that gives you some ideas!
Regards,
Kelly
Thanks, Kelly. But where are you creating these folders? Do you use Google’s Feedreader? I’ve just now started looking at a feedreader (I’ve just been using FireFox’s Live Bookmarks).
Thanks for the insights and help.
No, no, these are actual bookmarks in my browser (Safari, but whatever you’ve got). As in, click through to the post, then bookmark it.
Since you’re only doing this for posts you want to refer back to (or posts you’re commenting on anyway) it doesn’t really add too much work, and it saves a lot of headaches in the long run. Sorry if I left that unclear!
I really enjoyed reading this and was especially taken with finding inspiration in old posts, something I never really thought of, thanks.
Hi guys,
Sorry I’m late to the party. I forgot that this blog isn’t my blog and that I won’t get automatic notifications of new comments. I was wondering why no one was talking about my post… until the lightbulb went on.
@ John - You can create folders in Google Reader and separate blogs that way. I have “Important”, “Unimportant,” “Inactive”, etc.
I also do read all the comments of all the blogs I participate on… SOMETIMES. There are some times it’s just not efficient to read them all. There are times it’s not worth it (lots of “great post!”). Use your best judgment, skip if you have to, but once you do comment, continue to participate.
I’ll also add that your blessed with one thing - the NEED to make decisions on which blogs to follow. Choose ten at most. Everyone else has to go, period. You’ll probably have far better content than all of us put together because you’re not being influenced and because you’ll have more time to think.
@ Sue and Kelly - Your older posts provide a wealth of opportunity. Never ignore them. Enjoy the adventure.
@ Dave - Ach, yes, I know, I know. We completely neglect SEO. I know. *sigh*
@ Selene - More content? Pick a post from the archives. Turn each paragraph into its own post and create a series
@ John - I won’t go back to a blog that doesn’t have subscribe to comments unless I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to see what happens after I’ve commented. I just don’t have the time, unfortunately.
You can star them in Google Reader, though , and mark them to go back to.
@ Tony - Ahh, thank you for disagreeing. My world is right again
Hahaha! I think my favorite is “Ooh, this is cool!” It’s OK, dude. You don’t need the latest shiny widgets. Just blog. Try to blog well. Rinse, repeat.
Right, the talk about the social media is very appropriate. It is the trend / fad now. You may call it ‘word-of-mouth’ or ‘viral marketing’ as well.
The best method I know for getting blogging ideas is taking a warm shower. No joke. I get at least 3-4 blog ideas every time.
@ Deangelo - I get a lot of ideas in the bathroom, too, but when I’m staring at my own face in the mirror as I brush my teeth or shave. Putting the mind on autopilot as I go through my morning routine allows ideas to appear.
The biggest challenge I’ve found bloggers face is that they don’t start out with a plan.
Running a blog is great for business if it has a point and is useful.
Too many times, I’ve seen businesses start blogs only to complain - pretty much about all of the challenges you point out.
My take is, decide why you want a blog, create a blog plan, then work on it step by step. And, never stop learning!
@ Deangelo - I usually don’t get ideas there but a shower usually gets me refreshed to start thinking.
@ Michael - that’s too bad. The bathroom image is burned in my memory hehehehe.
@ Lid - You’re correct. Like with everything in business, you need to create a plan. Work it backwards, forwards, sideways, etc. In my short experience with blogging, I’ve already learned the same basic rules that apply to talking face-to-face with a customer applies to blogging.
I’d never tell a guy I’m trying to sell a guitar to how awful of a president I think George Bush is.
Great article!
It’s an interesting idea to pinpoint a paragraph of an old post and develop that into a new one. It rings true because creativity seems to love constraint.
For example, if someone said to you, “Write a poem about whatever you like and finish it in one hour” - you might be scrabbling around to find a theme. But if someone said to you, “Here are three words: “button, elefant, and raindrop. Write a poem now,” your creativity might be jolted into action. As I said before, constraint is good for creativity.
By the way, I carry a notebook around with me and write post ideas down when they pop up.
I have tried to download the free ebook but for some reason I am unable to do so, please can you give a link to download directly. PS: I have joined the rss feed but would still like to read your article
I never run out of topics to write about. I love writing, and could spend all day blogging, and everything else that comes with it such as seo, designing websites, creating products, and internet marketing.
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