A blog is part of your website. We say you should “blog” as a verb but really, you write and publish on your blog. You don’t technically “blog.” Regardless, you should be creating content and publishing it on your own website as regularly as possible.
Should Your Business Have a Blog?
Your business should have a website. You publish on your blog to elevate your brand. We write to have a voice, educate our audience, and position ourselves as thought leaders. We publish articles on our blog to have a voice, educate our audience, and position ourselves as thought leaders. It’s true that you can publish on Medium, LinkedIn, or Facebook. I do that sometimes as an experiment to test audiences.
The important thing to understand is that those free platforms don’t belong to you. You are at the mercy of their own funding. Anytime Medium decides to quit, everything is gone. Remember how everyone loved Katch.me for Periscope? It’s gone. Blab.im is gone.
This is why it is important to publish on your own website.
This presentation covers the following points.
What is blogging?
Blogging is writing that is published on a website.
Reasons to blog:
- Personal
- Professional
Personal Blogging:
- Writing is cathartic.
- Writing develops critical thinking.
- Personal blogging is professional practice.
Writing is Cathartic:
Sometimes you just need to express yourself. Writing helps process emotions.
Critical Thinking:
Even if no one reads your blog, you’ve organized your thoughts and deeply considered the material.
Practice:
Writing is an art.
Writing takes practice as well.
Writing is a skill.
* Haiku by Iris Messina
Professional Blogging:
- Position yourself as a thought leader.
- Educate audience on products and services.
- Exposure.
Thought Leadership:
People believe the written word. Publishing your opinions and advice positions yourself as an expert.
Education:
Content marketing is a fancy term for education. Describing your product is education and can lead to conversion.
Exposure:
The more you publish, the more people can find you through search, other blogs, and social media.
A Word About Audience:
When it comes to audience you have two options:
- Write and your audience will find you.
- Find your audience and write for them.
Just Write:
It takes time to find your voice.
As you publish and share, people will find you organically.
Personas:
If you’ve been in business for some time, you likely know your audience. Write to meet their needs.
My friends at Blue Steele Solutions have a Persona Worksheet to help you out.
Audience Size:
It doesn’t matter how many hits your posts get.
It matters who reads your posts.
Summary:
- The more you write, the better you’ll get, so publish regularly.
- Add value, answer questions, educate.
- Find your voice and your audience will find you.
to help get your blog and social coordinated.