Blogging For Your Business: 4 Keys to Start
As I stood in front of 10 pairs of eager, bright, and slightly caffeinated eyes at our first BBC meeting last week, I felt only a slight tinge of nervousness. This was the result of 4 months of planning and organization that brought the kernel of an idea I had last fall into reality. And I’m still amazed at how easy and fun it’s been all along the way. My husband was shocked when I told him this because he knows me to be someone who tends to over-think things and make them seem harder than they really are. Moi?!!
Thank God, Buddha and the Order of the Sacred Lily for blessed partnerships! Thanks, Beth!
Anyway, I wanted to write a post to recap what we covered last week, and also give folks an idea of future topics we’ll be bringing to the Club. Your input would also be greatly appreciated, so if you have ideas or topics you’d like to see us cover, let us know!
After covering the agenda, Beth and I went over 4 points:
1. What is the purpose of your blog? Is it to build credibility in your business, enhance your expertise, allow your prospects and customers to get to know you better – showing your authenticity and humanity, improve the search ranking of your website, build community, or have fun – really? Yes!
2. Who is your Target Audience? Who are you writing to? Who do you want to read, learn and benefit from your blog? This is a bottom line marketing question and deserves serious consideration. Nail it, or even get close, and you’re golden. Miss it, and you’re spinning your wheels and inviting frustration.
3. Ideas for blog topics. We listed only 15 things you can blog about, but there are many, many more. This caused quite a stir among participants, who had lots of questions; but also ideas and creative input for one another, which is what we were going for. Our list included:
- Success Stories
- Top 10 List (ex. To Do/Not Do)
- How To’s
- Product/Book Review
- News Related to Your Business
- Why You Love What You Do
- Compare & Contrast
- Why ________ is Important
- Pros & Cons
- Case Study about Your Product & Service
- Your Story (How You Came To Be Doing Your Business, Your A-Ha Moment)
- Interview/ Q&A
- Business Travelogue – going to a conference or workshop?
- Discovery
- Glossary & Terms – decipher the jargon and techno-babble of your field
If you really want a list that will blow you away, check out this topic list from Chris Brogan.
4. Key words and phrases. Make it easy for your Target Audience to find your blog by incorporating the words and phrases they might us in a search into the title and copy of your post. We had folks create a list of at least 5. (I won’t go into my ‘rooster’ story here. Ya had to be there!)
And then we wrote. All of us. Some wrote long hand on a pad of paper. Others used laptops. And with soft music in the background and our tea/coffee close by, we wrote. And some of us posted to our blogs right then and there!
Future topics we’re considering include:
- The importance of links….and maybe how to do it!
- Monetizing your blog….this is advanced stuff, but we’ll definitely bring it in.
- Using pictures and images.
- Dealing with the shyness of ‘getting out there’ and feeling ‘exposed’.
- The art & science of titles and subtitles.
- Techniques for overcoming writer’s block.
- …and more!
What would you like to learn more about at our Breakfast Blogging Club meetings? Comment on this post.
Comments
5 Comments on Blogging For Your Business: 4 Keys to Start
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Anne Keefe on
Wed, 18th Feb 2009 9:40 am
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Beth Barany on
Thu, 19th Feb 2009 3:34 pm
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Lisa Schliff on
Tue, 10th Mar 2009 12:40 pm
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Cheryl on
Fri, 20th Mar 2009 1:53 pm
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Rebecca Stees on
Wed, 1st Apr 2009 7:12 pm
I definitely want to come to your next meeting. It appears you are off to a great start. Congratulations!
Cheryl, I’m so glad you came up with the idea of our blogging workshops. I’ve had a lot of fun creating them with you, and look forward to more fun and play, and writing! Go team!
Beth
Cheryl,
I enjoyed the second Breakfast Blogging workshop just as much as the first one. It’s a whole new world that you are assisting me in tiptoeing into, but with this wealth of information from the workshops, you’re soon going to blast me into it! I look forward to the next workshop.
And we’re thrilled to have you join us, Lisa. We know you’re a great writer, and look forward to seeing you again.
Genius!
I need this!
