Tag: blogging

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5 Tips You Should Know Before Blogging

1-Make it personal

People want to read stories, not long essays or white papers.  Blogging is a way to build a connection with your audience especially when using simple words like ‘you’ and ‘I’.  Introduce a personal story to help engage your readers or something that is relatable to them.

2-Ask questions

If your blog asks questions of the readers, chances are someone will respond by commenting.  This is what you want – engagement.  By the way, don’t be afraid of constructive criticism from your audience.  Everyone has a viewpoint and an opinion.   Respond to all comments with respect and a professional tone.  Your readers will feel more connected to you and your message.

3-You need a community

If you upload a blog to your website and expect the world to go read it, think again.  Here’s where you need to put some time and energy.  By building a solid social media following, you’ll create a better opportunity for your blog to be shared.  Essentially, this is your main distribution channel.  Build your Facebook and Twitter followers.  Create videos and upload them to YouTube.  Reach out to other blogging sites to see if you may become a guest blogger and offer to reciprocate.  Turn your blog posts into podcasts that can be listened to while on the road.  There are several available methods for reaching your audience.  Try to use as many as you can.  There is another platform called Klusster which is a fabulous tool for bloggers to create their own publications or joining forces with other bloggers to create a community publication.  Check out this one on health which is made up of a community of local businesses sharing content related to health.

blogging
Healthy Waterloo Region

4-Stand out

There are over a billion blogs on the web vying for your attention, so you need to make yourself stand out.  Make it visually interesting.  I don’t know about you, but if I see a blog post that is almost all text and no images, I am not as inclined to read it through.  Break up your text with infographics and other visuals.  It will make your blog more enticing to read.

5-Choose a specific niche

It’s impossible to be all things to everyone and do it effectively.  So, don’t do it.  Pick a niche that isn’t too small either or you’ll have a hard time growing your traffic or have fewer people interested in reading your content.  Use Google Trends to home in on a niche.   This will show you on a graph the interest trends on a particular topic.  Here’s an example of a site blogging on the current popular niche of tiny home living.  The topic isn’t so small that the writers would run out of content anytime soon but it’s still specific enough to target interested readers.

Conclusion

If you don’t take the above key elements into consideration when blogging, you may find yourself floundering. These are just as important as planning your content.  Once you’re ready to begin writing, here is an article that might help you get things started and organized. What else have I missed here? What did you find to be critical to your blogging success?  Let me know by commenting.

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3 Steps to Help You Write a Superb Blog Post

Did you know that marketers that blog regularly generate 67% more leads than those that don’t? How many of you are cringing right now? Although the idea of writing blogs can be an enjoyable task for some people, helping them to tap into their creative side but for many, it’s a task that simply feels like a chore. Lucky for you, there is a fail-proof template that might make things a bit easier.  Here we go:

Step 1: Creating a template

Don’t be afraid to take extra time when writing your first few posts.  You’ll find your groove and if you keep to a standard process for how you go about it, well, you’ll be spitting these out in about 45 minutes (and never longer than 2 hours).

Topics – You know your business better than anyone so think about questions your clients would typically ask you and write about it. Still need more ideas?  Hubspot’s Big Ideas Generator could be a useful tool. Simply tell them words that interest you and they will come up with topic ideas. Brilliant. Another good tool is Buzzsumo.

Fill in the Blanks – I remember learning how to write an essay in 9th grade and what has stuck with me to this day is the basic structure:  Introduction, body (with 3+ paragraphs) and conclusion.  So go ahead, take some paper and jot down a couple of sentences to introduce the topic to your readers.  Then, write down 3 subheadings. Finally, write down Conclusion. There’s your template!

Go back and fill in content under the subheadings with 3-5 lines of text.

For your conclusion, summarize key points so that someone just skimming your content can quickly decide whether they want to go back and read the whole article.

Step 2: Images

Select some good images.  There are stock-free images that you can get from sites like Pixabay but if you really wanted to step it up, you could pay for images on sites like Fotolia.  Spend time selecting impressive images because as the old saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.  No one wants to read an article that is just text.

Step 3: Writing Style

When you begin writing your blog posts, keep to a certain style that you are most comfortable with.  However, one of the styles that most people enjoy reading is one that is more conversational like using the words ‘you’ and ‘I’.  Unless you’re writing a peer-review for a medical journal, keep it relatable. Here are a few more tips:

  • Use short paragraphs which should never be longer than 6 lines.
  • If your writing a blog that is roughly 2000 words include about 6 or 7 images throughout the body. Use your judgment here. If the blog post is shorter, still include a few images to help break up the text and increase the visual appeal.
  • Ensure you include supportive links to back up your statements. It only adds credibility to your article.
  • Encourage reader engagement by ending your post with a question. This invites the reader to comment or reach out to you for more information.

Conclusion:

By repeatedly following the above protocol, you should have a good routine in place to help you create blogs in no time.  Remember to:

  • Create your template with an introduction, some subheadings and conclusion. Go back and fill in content under each section.
  • Select some good images.
  • Be consistent in your writing style and keep it more conversationalist.

To find out who we are, visit us here.

For more great information, I like to follow the blogs from Neil Patel.  Check out his post related to this topic here.

Do you have any more ideas you’d like to share that have worked for you? I’d love to hear about them.

 

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Blogging


Imagine that just 20 years ago, blogs didn’t exist. Did you even know what it meant the first time you heard the word? Now, there are over 150 million of them! Well, it’s no secret that in order to be found online, you have to have content residing online. One of the best ways to do that is through blogging. Below are a few reasons why blogging is so powerful, beneficial and helpful in getting you recognized online.

ADVANTAGES

1-SEO – Having good content online is a must in order to be found online. Create good quality content that people are interested in sharing and Google is bound to take notice.

2-Increases new business – A constant stream of visits to your blog will also increase the potential to attract interest from prospects.

3-Great for feedback – It allows and encourages constant engagement with readers. Whether they agree or disagree, you will know it immediately by their comments.

4-Gain influence – If your material is good, you will attract repeat visitors and will gain their trust and respect.

5-Learn more about your followers – One of the things businesses spend a lot of money on is in learning what their consumers want from them or what they like/dislike about their products. Blogging is an easy and effective way to obtain this information.

6-Establish yourself as an expert in your field – This won’t happen overnight but over time, as you post more blogs and share your genuine knowledge with the community, your readers will begin to see you as an expert.

7-Help others – A good blog can educate, inspire and help readers in ways the blogger may never know.

Although the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, you should still be made aware of them.

DISADVANTAGES

1-Poor content – Poorly written content can reflect badly on your brand. Put some thought into what you blog about and ensure your work has been edited and reviewed.

2-Inconsistent posts – If you decide to blog, make sure you do it consistently. Imagine how it would look to people visiting your site and your blog is over a year old. An old blog is worse than no blog!!

3-It takes time – Yes, you need to give some thought and plan out what you are going to blog about. The good news though is that the more you do it, the easier it will become. Start writing!

4-Risk having no one see your content – What? Although good quality content is key, you need to drive traffic to your site so people know there is a blog to read. If you’re active on social media you may share it there but again, you’re limited by how many followers you have. Here’s some great news! There is a new concept in online marketing that involves working with other businesses so that everyone leverages all of their social media connections in order to reach a broader audience. Want more information? Reach out and connect. I’d love to hear from you.