Best Blogging Tips by 4 Business Bloggers (and Business Owners)

May 25, 2015

Syndicated from www.jenphillipsapril.com

You’ve heard that blogging for business can bring in business but you’re not sure how.

Maybe you’ve been erratic with your blog and you want focus. Or, you just have questions, “What do I blog about?” is a question I get asked all the time.

The reasons to blog are as long as my arm — not the least of which consistent blogging is a sure-fire way to bring in new clients and customers.

Here to share their “reasons why” and top blogging tips are a business coach, a copywriter, an event strategist and a social media expert. They’ll share topic ideas, how to’s and what to do AFTER you hit “publish.”

Go ahead, get your blog on.

First up is Small Business Coach Paula Gregorowicz of the Paula G. Company. Paula is a former editor at BlogHer and it’s because of her that I was invited to speak at the largest blogging event in the world back in 2013. Thanks Paula!

Take it away!

Q 1: Why Blog?

Blogging is one of the best ways you can demonstrate your thought leadership and connect with ideal clients. Where else can you publish your expertise for free, garner precious SEO points, and add value to people’s lives so easily?

If you can write or speak or take quick videos, you can blog.

Blogging has brought me and my clients new customers, speaking engagements, referral partners, part-time gigs, and new friends. Make it a no-brainer for people to work with you by giving them the opportunity to get to know you and your company more intimately through your articles, videos, and tips. The best place to do that? You guessed it – a blog that is integrated within your main website.

Q. 2 So what do you blog about?

Blog about what you know.

Do your clients ever ask you questions? Of course they do!

Answer each one in a blog post.

Are there questions you think your clients “should” be asking you? Of course!

Write about each one in a blog post.

Have you had a personal experience that impacted you or your business in a way that is relevant to your clients? Of course!

Write about it in a blog post.

It takes is consistent blog posts and a willingness to have the courage to be yourself and be visible. We all have that capability (even if it is scary and takes work, which it does).

Q. 3 What do you do after you hit “publish?”

Just because you write it, doesn’t mean they will come.

What you do AFTER you post the blog is as important as posting it in the first place (if not more so). It used to be that you could post a blog, link it to a few directories, and you could be “almost” famous. Now you need to market your content. Distribution to as many channels as possible on a consistent, frequent basis is the key to your success. This means – social media, groups you are a part of, your email list, and anywhere your ideal clients are online.

Get creative and create little sound bites of content to share from your main article. Share them in multiple formats – images, video, audio, quotations, and short text. Different people consume content in different ways. The web is become more and more reliant on visual media. A quotation is nice, a quotation within a beautiful image is ten times better.

About:

Paula Gregorowicz owner of The Paula G. Company LLC, helps business owners take charge of their time, productivity, and technology and helps them build authentic, sustainable businesses while having plenty of time and space for a life they love.

Great stuff not only gets started with Paula, it gets finished!

Get the freedom & profit worksheet at: http://www.thepaulagcompany.com /freedom

Next up is Aimee Wilson is the Chief Event Strategist of Occasions To Savor

I met Aimee a couple of years ago when she asked me for help with SEO and blog topics. Since then, she’s become a powerhouse networker and regular blogger.

Q 1. Why blog?

As a small business owner, blogging gives me the opportunity to share our company’s point of view. Blogging also gives me the chance to amplify our expertise without a filter. Because we work in the event planning space, there are many assumptions potential clients and prospective strategic partners make. Our blog helps distinguish us as an event planning company who specializes in event strategy.

Q 2. What to blog about?

While some bloggers are challenged by what to write about, at Occasions To Savor, we get ideas everywhere. For example, I was able to tie together a customer appreciation event promoted by a major national grocery store chain to highlight the value of appreciation events and how a few tweaks would have made this particular event go from good to great.

Q 3. How do you keep it going?

Like some bloggers, I started out with a personal blog years ago. I found it difficult to keep blogging because I got bored with the format of a plain narrative. Once I discovered the variety of formats, including writing posts with and without photos, blogging allowed us to address important concepts from multiple angles. Mixing up the format gives you the challenge and incentive to educate a diverse audience with varying learning styles. Plus, my attention is held as well.

Chief Event Strategist Aimee Wilson of Occasions To Savor recommends you check out the post “Top 10 Risks You Take with a DIY Event (aka not Using an Event Company).”

I met Julia Borgini Head Geek at Spacebar Press, a technology focused copywriter at a copywriting event.

Q1: There are 3 main reasons why you’d blog for business:

1. Knowledge: Not only do you show off your knowledge of your market, but you’re also sharing information with your readers that they’re looking for.
   
2. Connections: A business blog is another way for you to connect with your prospects, leads, and customers. And talking with them in a non-sales setting.
   
3. SEO: Search engines love new content on websites, so if you’re creating it regularly, they come back to index your site more frequently. Which is a signal to them that you’re active and available. Gets you ranked higher on SERPs.

Q2: What to do after you hit Publish

It’s not just a matter of publishing the content; you also have to cultivate it like a garden. My top tips are:

1. Share it on social media more than once. Yes, more than once. After all, your followers don’t check their accounts once a day, so they may miss the initial publication notice. Use tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule messages to go out. I typically schedule 5-6 tweets for each post: once when it’s initially published, one later on that same day, and the rest spread out over the 2 or 3 days following publication.
   
2. Respond to any comments quickly. Many commenters enable the “notify me of updates to this post” option, which means they’ll get an email from your commenting system when you respond..and when others comment too.
   
3. Encourage comments on your blog by asking an open-ended question at the end of the post.

Q3: How do I publicize my business blog?

While SEO is good for organic search traffic, you’ve also got to get the word out about your business blog too. Here are a few tips:

• Put a link to your business blog in your email signature. It’s a classic for a reason.
  
• Put a link to your business blog on your business cards.
  
• When commenting on other blogs, link to your blog as well. Many commenting systems allow you to put a URL for your site when you’re writing your comment, so why not send them to your blog directly?
  
• Put links to your business blog on your website: include it in the main site navigation, in the footer, and anywhere else that’s appropriate.
  
  
  
  • Pro tip: depending on your market, you may want to call it your Blog or even Articles. Business owners have success with both, so it’s really up to you.

About:

Julia Borgini helps Geeks sell their stuff. I write content & copy for B2B technology & sports companies.

My mission is to help them create & develop connections with their audiences & evolve their business with Geek marketing — The only content marketing made exclusively for the technology marketplace.

Check out my Business Blog Management service here: link. Get a bigger ROI from your business blog today — without any of the headache.

Link is http://j.mp/businessblogmgmt

And finally, let’s hear from Kristen Robinson, a social media expert and military spouse who focuses on helping other military spouses grow their businesses through KR Design.

3 Top Blogging Tips for Small Business Owners

A lot of people think blogging is dead. It’s all about social media: how many “likes” on your Facebook page, how many followers can you get on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. If anything, I’ve realized blogging and social media go hand in hand. You need great content to post on your social media profiles and pages (ahem, enter your blog) and social media helps spread the word about your blog posts (I mean, you want people to read it right?).

So, other than social media content, why should you blog? Believe it or not, people are not going to purchase products or services because they were referred to you or because they like you. We’ve all heard it before: you have to build a relationship. What better way for someone to start to get to know you and gain trust from a potential client than showing off your knowledge on your blog? Trust me, it goes a long way. Here are my top 3 blogging tips…

1) Make a commitment to blog consistently

I’ll admit it; this one is a hard one, even for me. After much going back and forth, I’ve settled on once per week. Why? Because I know I can do 1 blog post consistently vs. trying to blog 3 times per week and coming up short. Instead of going after frequency, try consistency. Being consistent builds readership and it also shows your potential clients that you can be trusted. Trust me, Google will not punish you for blogging only once per week. And since we’re all busy entrepreneurs, you want to give yourself a goal that you can handle.

2) Have a note app on your smartphone

Sometimes, we don’t know what to blog about and we need a list of ideas. I’m sure we love those moments! That’s why I recommend having a note app (I use Evernote) on your smartphone. In case you get struck with those ideas on the go or having a great conversation that you know could spark some ideas, you’ll want to write it down and save it for later. This comes in handy many times when I’m sitting down to write and the next thing I know, I’ve created a blog series. Having a note app on your smartphone with ideas written down will save you from writer’s block. You’ll thank for me this!

3) Spread the word about your blog posts! Please?

I say, “please” because I’m literally begging you to share your great content on social media with the rest of us. Why are you keeping it to yourself? This is one of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make: they don’t share their blog posts on social media as often as they should. They share it once and never go back to it again. Do you know how many people probably missed that Facebook post about the blog post you just did? Why not share it again 3 days later? ? Your potential customer is on social media looking for you; give them a reason to find you.

About Kristen Robinson
Kristen Robinson is known as the Military Spouse Business Mentor and helps military spouses build online businesses that create flexibility and freedom within the military lifestyle. As an active duty military spouse, Kristen created her business to support her husband’s military career while constantly moving from one location to the next. Kristen’s company, KR Design, allows her to do what she loves from anywhere in the world. To learn more about Kristen Robinson and KR Design, visit http://www.KristenRDesign.com.

So there you are, business blogging tips from those business owners who blog.

Which blogging tip will you implement today?

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