A very good reason why blogging is a powerful tool to market your business online

Why blog for business?  A good question was posted in our online business community,  a question I’ve often asked myself in fact. For the most part I know that a number of my readers are people in the same industry as me. I also know that my friends in business are all so busy that by the time they want to read things they are too tired and while they know that they need to market their businesses online its not a passion of theirs and so its easier to get sidetracked.

Here’s the question posted by Sandra Roy de Greef of Optic Blaze a web development business.

“I was reading Romany’s questionnaire about why we don’t blog. I was thinking about the whole blogging industry. If I had to start writing blogs about Design | Print | Web | Signage, what would you want to know about my industry. I could, for example, tell you the difference between digital & litho printing… but would you care HOW I got your job done? Don’t people just want to know that you can do the best possible job, with the best service and at a reasonable price.”

This was my response rewritten here:

There are a number of people who do extensive research before they use a product or service. They will want to know how it works. They will want to know the features it offers and compare it with other products or services. They will want to know what people are saying about the product or service.

Take my hubby fore example:  If he wants to buy something he will read reviews, watch videos about the product and its features. He will read articles about the product and only then decide to make a purchase. If he is looking to use someone’s services he will visit various websites. Read testimonials, do some research, read their articles, watch their videos, makes me watch their videos (ha, ha) and he will make a short list and contact those he felt were suitable.  Now if you are not publishing articles that will help him determine that you are experienced in what you do or the best in the business, then you’ve lost out on potential business.

I wish more people were like him because he seldom buys a bad purchase. Most of what he buys he can resell at value or use in some way. If people took the time to do their research and to gain a deeper understanding of some of the services or products they use, they would waste less money on products or services that don’t deliver what they promise to do.

After my comment, Sandra came back to me with her response and I could just picture it.

“That’s a good point Romany.

Shaun is the same and at times it drives me crazy. For us to buy any new equipment takes forever. TV, Sound equipment, laptop etc.

Shaun reads up on all the spec’s, we go to alllll the shops, speak to allll the sales rep’s etc. By the time we make the purchase, I am already tired of it and the excitement has worn off. BUT, we do sit with the best!”

That’s just it, most of us want to know who to go to and we look to each other for direction. I spend an enormous amount of time researching many differing things on all sorts of topics to expand my knowledge.

Think of blogging as an investment in your business.  It’s a tool that helps you to market yourself online.  Once written and published it exists 24/7.  It can be shared by anyone.  It’s online forever and you can use it over and over again.  Now that is what I call cost effective .  Both a time and money saver.

Tell us about your buying habits? What do you do?

21 March 2015 Content Marketing, WordPress and Blogging Tips No comments yet

Why don’t you blog for your business?

I asked this question “Why don’t you write blogs or articles?”  in our online business community and especially liked this response from Lynn Rippenaar-Moses from Wrap It Up PR and Communication which has inspired me to share my thoughts.

“Personally I’m not always sure about the kinds of topics I should address in my field or whether I would be adding anything new to topics that have already been covered. “

What topics should I write about in my field?

I think many of us get stuck with what topics to write about.  I know I do and if its not your talent then it makes it even worse.  Trying to figure out what to write about can be challenging because more often than not people actually don’t tell you what they want to know about which leaves you a bit in the dark.

Two of the best ways I get topic ideas is from asking questions and reading the comments or by reading other articles and coming up with my own thoughts and views based on my experience and what I’ve extensively researched.  Another idea is to think about things your clients need to prepare for you and turn those into blog posts or I find clients ask me the same questions over and over and I turn that into a blog post.

Everything’s been covered already, I won’t add anything new

I agree to disagree because it can feel a bit like overkill in cyberspace.  You can literally find any answer you are looking for on the internet.  This means that you have to raise the bar.  If you are writing on a topic that’s been covered extensively then you have to come up with something that has kick.  A different way of looking at something.

For me personally I only write blogs when I feel inspired to or if I have something to contribute.  I am working on a different strategy because like so many I have some talent for writing but it’s not my specialist area or what drives me so I have to continuously learn to improve my writing skills.  I must also be realistic in what I can do in terms of my daily responsibilities.  I do see the value and benefit in writing blogs and so I spend time researching the how’s and I do it as part of my online marketing strategy.  Blogging experts might disagree with me because its recommended to post a certain amount of times and regularly and their reasons are very valid.  If your strategy is to build for traffic, high lead generation and SEO or if you are just starting you then it’s advisable to follow recommended strategies on how to write blog posts that gets results.

I also believe that depending on where you are located there are still plenty opportunities for you to leverage and to position yourself as a thought leader.  Most of the articles on the internet are primarily written by Americans with an American view point on how things work.  In your instance Lynn there is not enough South African based content in a number of topics especially in relation to how things work in South Africa with a South African voice.  While many things work the same around the globe there are subtle differences at a local level.  Communicating in UK English is different to SA English and both are different to USA English.  That’s just one aspect.  Cultures behave in different ways and do things differently.  Countries have their ways too, e.g.  Green means go for us in SA and we call them robots but when the traffic light in the UK turns yellow that means either slow down and stop or it means go.

Then there is also the aspect of progression e.g.  Some parts of the USA has self driving cars already, we don’t. So talking about self driving cars would mean nothing to us.  I found personally that SA is more offline than online in that they still prefer to meet face to face where I think overseas virtual conferencing is fast becoming the accepted norm. Virtual working is also more accepted overseas.

There is also a huge market of people who still need to get online which is a whole new market for business opportunities. This is one of the reasons I am so gungho on business owners understanding their clients in a very personal way because the more you get to know your clients the easier it becomes to write content for them, to connect with them and offer them services they would value.

Ask yourself, what are you doing from a strategic point of view?

It doesn’t matter that the market is over saturated.  What you have to ask yourself is, “what is the purpose of me writing articles and what am I hoping to achieve?”

For many writing blog posts can be seen as a time waster and it can be if your content is not helpful to anyone.  By writing blog posts you can answer people’s questions and help them solve their problems.  Blogging helps you to communicate your values and brand image.  Blogging also gives you content to market your business.  I see blogging as a strategic marketing tool that has many benefits.

  • When writing an article you are giving the reader and insight into who you are.
  • You are also giving them an insight to your level of knowledge and skills in the topic you are speaking about which would be related to your business.
  • Writing an article is an investment of say 2 hrs of your time. Once written it’s there for life. Now you have a piece of content your can re use to help promote your business.  There might be an initial cost but the long term is free marketing.

When I look at it from this perspective then it makes the initial investment worthwhile because the benefits are two-fold.  I get to demonstrate to others that I have knowledge and experience in what I do and the reader may learn something new that could be useful to them. The best place to get tips on how to write blog posts is from Problogger and Copyblogger A word of caution.  There is no one size fits all when it comes to online marketing.  Not all products and services are the same.  Blogging and writing articles might work for some but not others.  You must find what works for you and your business.

14 March 2015 WordPress and Blogging Tips No comments yet

Does the thought of writing blog posts scare you?

Just before the recession hit the UK I decided I’d had enough of the 9 to 5 rutt and I was desperate to escape and get out.  All I wanted was to find something that earned me enough income so I can work from home.  While working I spend every bit of spare time I could find to work on one day being able to work from home.  I explored and exhausted many options and then one day I found what I was looking for.

When the time came and I started working for myself I did not have a big marketing budget and I also knew that traditional marketing was costly.  However,  I understood the importance of dedicated marketing because it is the ingredient one needs to let people know you exist so you can generate business.  I decided to see if there was a way I could market my business using the internet.

There is quite a bit one can do to market your business online but it does come at a price if you want results.  However, it is not as expensive as advertising in the newspaper or using other traditional mediums and the biggest advantages the internet has over traditional marketing is that it is forever, it levels the playing field and you are not restricted by location.

One of the ways you can market your business online is to use a blog.  Blogging gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your skills and expertise.  It gives strangers the opportunity to get to know who you are and decide whether one day to use your services or not.

I decided I was going to blog and I went on a mission to learn how to write blogs.  I spent hours and hours researching articles on writing and copywriting.  I spent hours researching top bloggers websites to establish what works and doesn’t work.  I also spent hours reading other people’s blogs to get ideas on how to write and what I could write about and before I wrote that first blog post I had spent time just commenting on other people’s posts to help me become better at writing.

Truth be told, I had a big stumbling block when it came to writing stuff in general.  As a child my first language was mainly Afrikaans and the first years of my schooling was all in Afrikaans.  At the age of 9 I switched over to an all English school which presented numerous challenges having to learn everything now in English.  I struggled with English and when it came to writing essays,  I hated it so much that I got my brother to write my essays for me.

I remember when I published my first blog post like it was yesterday.  It was nerve wrecking especially when self-limiting belief thoughts starts to flood your mind, giving you all the reasons why you cannot write a blog post.  I spent hours and hours trying to write my first blog post and it took me 30 minutes to hit the publish button.  It is really quite overwhelming writing and publishing your first post because you feel like you’ve just exposed yourself to the world and you can’t take it back.

So I know where you are coming from when the fear hits you and you think you can’t do it because you don’t have the skills, the knowledge or the education. That’s how I felt.  I was so consumed with the fear of not having the education or the degree to write that I would write the blog post but not promote it as effectively as I should have.

I think we can over complicate things and I think a large part of the problem is how we’ve been pre-conditioned to behave and think in a certain way that suits the “status quo”. Sadly the result of this is that many of us have unrealised gifts and talents all stored up inside of us just waiting for an opportunity to come out.

reading-blog-postI’m not the best writer in the world and I’m certainly no expert at it but what I learnt is that you can learn to do anything if you put your mind to it.  You can do anything if you put in the time and energy but you have to put in the time and energy, it is not just going to magically happen.  It takes patients and practice and lots of practice.

What I am saying to you is that you won’t know until you try. I am saying we have spent too much of our valuable time thinking that we cannot do things therefore limiting ourselves and getting nowhere.

It really isn’t the end of the world if your blog post is not perfect,   mine certainly wasn’t but I’m learning and I’m practising to be better at it.  Willing to try it out has shown me that I can actually write something and surprised myself.  The result of my first blog wasn’t so bad.  I got lots of comments and met 3 people who I’m still in contact with today because of that  first blog post.   7 years later I am still in business and I generate all my business from the marketing I do on the internet using blogs and other mediums.

I hope this has inspired those of you who have been putting it off all this time out of fear of what people will think.

What was your first experience like writing a blog post?

If you are new to the idea of using blog posts and using it to market your business and would like someone to help you through this process and help you overcome those fears, come and join in one of our online group training workshops Paint-by-Numbers training program it may be just the confidence you need to get started.

7 August 2014 Marketing Your Business Online, WordPress and Blogging Tips No comments yet

Why should you comment on blogs

Before social media came along a strategy professional bloggers would use was to comment on other blog sites because it was a way of generating more exposure and it creates a link  which would point back to your blog site.   This is not the same as posting a comment in social networks, no, this is posting a comment on blog sites you find on the internet.    When I do blog training with clients one of the tasks they need to do is to comment on blog posts.  The biggest reason for this is to help my clients to develop their creative writing skills.  The more you comment, the better you become at writing plus while you are doing this you are creating more exposure for yourself and your website or shop window which promotes your business.

When you post a comment on a blog you find interesting, avoid saying “this is a great blog” or something along those lines.  What you want to do is offer your opinion or offer something of value.  You want to demonstrate your expertise.  It is also ok to disagree and share your own opinion as long as you are not rude but rather sharing your view point.  This will make you more credible and more valued to the blogger and their audience.

The benefit of taking the time to post comments on blogs sites are:

  • Posting a comment gets you noticed by other readers and the blog author.
  • It creates a link to your name and points back to your website.
  • Sparks more blogging ideas for you.
  • Your comments can build a relationship with the author of the site which in return can drive traffic to your website.
  • You are demonstrating your expertise to an audience who reads comments and visitors will take notice of you if you have something worthwhile to contribute.

But before you jump in and go commenting on blogs you want to make sure that you have your brand represented in a way that gets you recognised and noticed.

commenting-on-blogs-avatars

How do you get your avatar to display on comments you post.

It is simple really, go to www.gravatar.com and sign up, add your profile information and you are ready to go.  Everytime you post a comment on a blog site your avatar will appear alongside your comment.

How to add avatars from a blogging platform such as Word Press.

You can add the Gravatar plugin for Word Press and you can add a plugin called Add Local Avatar This plugin allows your visitor to add their avatar to your site, this is useful especially if they are not familiar with Gravatar.

4 July 2014 WordPress and Blogging Tips No comments yet

10 Good reasons to use WordPress for your website platform

The internet is one of those things that is constantly evolving and changing This will inevitably have an impact on the functionality of your website in the long term.

When it comes to having your website designed it is no longer a one off exercise where you pay someone to build you a website and then it sits on the internet forever. On the contrary, you will need to update your website regularly to reflect any changes and to keep up with a rapid moving market.  Don’t get me wrong, if your website is working and generating you heaps of conversion traffic then don’t touch it. What I’m referring to here is that as the internet evolves, so should your website. In the same way we buy new cars, new televisions etc., so should we give the same value to our websites and move with the times.

There are various ways in which you can have a website built but one of the most cost effective ways and one that works really well is using a platform called WordPress. Here’s why:

  • WordPress is constantly changing and evolving as the web evolves. It keeps up with the latest changes and developments that happen on the internet.
  • WordPress is an open source platform. This means that there are a large number of web developers who specialise in developing applications and systems to keep WordPress up to date.
  • WordPress developers gives people what they want. In my opinion it seems to monitor the web quite well in terms of what is appealing to people at the time both visually and in usability.
  • WordPress is easy to use for those who are technologically challenged and who do not have coding experience. It has a visual editor which is easy to use. You can draft content in advance and you can schedule your blogs to go out on specific dates.
  • WordPress integrates really well with social networking.  It offers offers so many different ways for your customers to connect with your website and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Plus and many others.
  • WordPress offers many different options such as forums, contact forms, portfolio styles, shopping carts, affiliate programs, landing pages, video integration, blogging facility, polls, reviews, and the list goes on and on.
  • WordPress offers good SEO (search engine optimisation) out of the box.
  • WordPress has gone through great lengths to make sure it is compliant with W3Schools standard web compliance.
  • WordPress is mobile friendly which is vital going forward.  People sleep with their mobiles, wake up with their mobiles and go everywhere with their mobiles.  I know I do.
  • WordPress integrates well with Google; Google Maps, Google Analytics,  and other Google Tools

There are  millions of people who are using WordPress.

I would highly recommend you have someone who specialises in WordPress to set it up for you initially with the look and feel you want and then keep them on a retainer to assist you in emergencies. Make sure the person specialises in WordPress.

 

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9 September 2012 Web Design & Hosting, WordPress and Blogging Tips 3 comments

How to format your blog posts

Do you know how to format your blogs so that it is attractive to visitors and to make it attractive enough for them to read further.

Many people struggle with how to format their blogs so that it is visually pleasing to the reader. The reason you want to make sure that your blog is formatted and laid out properly is purely to attract readers. Humans are very visual in nature and we tend to judge everything in a few seconds and in these few seconds we decide whether or not we are going to continue with whatever it is we are judging. The same applies to your blog. How it looks, the way it is formatted and the content it contains.

24 January 2012 WordPress and Blogging Tips 1 comment
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