Blogging for business doesn't have
to be difficult. Organic marketing infers that it's a natural process. I don't
think I have said this enough, if your not comfortable blogging that's okay,
you can pursue other routes to market your business. You can also hire a
consultant, say ME, to blog for your business. Yes that's a niche service I can
provide. But if you like
blogging, once a week or few times a month, it can only aid in your
business.
Why Blog?
As I shared in my first blog post, click
here, clients and vendors like to understand more about your business. You will nurture your business by blogging. It is a reflection tool for you, on your industry, your insights, and providing a resource for clients.
The blog gives you an opportunity to share Who you are and the services you
provide. They also like to see a legitimate footprint, for consultants
this is priceless. Especially if you are active on twitter, gaining credibility
couldn't be easier. A social network helps create that footprint, and a blog
adds insight to your business services, products, your business style and You!
Did you see what I did there? Just above, "click
here." I linked to my own article. Another easy SEO (Search Engine
Optimization) tip is to have a link within your post. For example in all my
articles I make mention of my document sales at the scribd store, and link to the
store site. More coding and sharing within the Internet web adds to a better
chance of being a top result in a search engine results list. I prefer to link
to my own articles and credible sources. Even a book on amazon on occasion. My
rule: to always remain professional, guides this principal.
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Nurture your business. Reflect on industry. Blog About it.
Content Marketing is for your too. |
Highlight your Articles
Did you also see my first post in
Really Big Letters up there.... That's a nice way to call out other posts
you've written - and don't forget to LINK the words to the web page (like I did
initially).
Get the App
I love the blogger FREE app. When I have ideas on the go, even overseas, I can
post my thoughts and save the post as a draft, or publish the post. The app is
simple to use and helps with grammar as it features spell check red
underscores, just like the web based blog page. Sometimes editing is a little
easier for me on the go - between meetings or school pick up. It just makes it
easy to draft a post, versus "writing in an iPhone note" and copying
or emailing it to myself (so old school).
Unfortunately the nature of
consulting is that your business is "on the brain" often! I may look
like I'm sleeping, but I'm really reflecting on the event plan and scraping
that budget to get more bang for the buck!
Schedule a Post
So I like to bulk post. I manage my business, sell documents
online, hold client meetings and just like any business owner I am busy! But
efficient. Use tools that your blog provides. I use bloggers Schedule feature.
I write or update a post, in the blog app as a draft. Then when I have some
scheduled PC time, I edit the post and just under the spot where I add my
labels is the "Schedule" link with a clock icon next to it. Go ahead
click thru and schedule your post to "go live" as a certain date an
time. Most social network services will tell you that users post a lot on
Fridays and Saturdays. Content then appears fresh in newsfeed on Twitter and
Facebook at the top of the audience feeds.
Update Older Posts
Search Engines really like fresh content. SO if you have a post from 6 months
ago or 4 years ago, click and edit your post. Add an update in the beginning of
the post (maybe one or two sentences) or add a story with detail at the end of
the post. This will "refresh" your article and add an updated DATE to
increase SEO as well.
Add "other searched Labels" to Your Post.
Blogger lets you see the links that brought people to your blog. Scribd, my
documents store, allows you to see the words people used to search for your
documents. Add these search terms to your labels ... it will expand the
audience in your SEO AND you are responding to the audience by staying
"fresh" and using "updated" terms and trends.
Back up your Blog Posts
Things change. Free today, gone
tomorrow. Or perhaps you grow and need a bigger bolder website. You want to
keep your blog posts right? Then Back Them Up. Save a copy to your notes. Copy
and paste the blog and email yourself. Save as a word file and keep them on
your back up drive. Just do it.
Things go wrong in electronica
land, and that's frustrating, trust me I Know!
Get a Website to Host Your
Pictures
I learned the hard way. On a
recent trip to Japan, while traveling on the bullet train, I was wifi uploading
pics to my blog... or so I thought. Blogger only hosts (or shows) 1GB of
pictures. That's nothing! 20 posts in, I go to view the pictures and post and
see these annoying little grey squares. Terrible! I researched the issue and
found that you need a photo hosting platform where you can upload your photos,
and then embed links into your blog. There's lots of tutorials out there and
after making a selection the process is relatively easy. I recommend either
google drive or Flickr. Free photo hosting, easy to embed links, and after some
trial and error, and reading a good guide, you'll get there! Good Luck!!
Add a Tag line
I've blogged about my Educational and Cultural exchange trip to Japan (via my
husbands grant for the trip through the JCCC) and I also maintain a personal
blog for the past few years. Over time my tag lines to posts evolved. You don't
have to have a tag line, but I think its a nice close to your blog thoughts.
Some bloggers end with questions to their audience. But as a marketer I believe
in branding. And one method is tag lines. Jingles too, but were not on a
podcast, yet! It also indicates just that, a closing, that this post has ended.
From Everyday to the Extraordinary...
Posted by Joanne Klee,
Consultant | Principal
JK Marketing and Events
