Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Why Enthusiastic Business Bloggers Lose Steam

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© BillionPhotos.com - Fotolia.com
© BillionPhotos.com – Fotolia.com

I love enthusiastic bloggers. They know they have knowledge to share, an inspiring story to tell, and passion to tap. They’ve discovered how easy and quick it can be to broadcast their new thoughts to the world via the blog on their business website.

That’s why it’s sad when I see them fall prey to these common missteps, which limit whether their blog posts will ever be read or shared. Feeling bewildered and ignored, I know that even the most spirited bloggers can quickly lose steam and stop posting.

If this sounds like your experience with business blogging, ask yourself these five questions now so you can avoid or bounce back from a blogging disappointment.

Are you being too cool?

There are a lot of interesting design elements you can apply to a website or blog today. Yet just because you can do something, doesn’t mean that you necessarily should. As cool as something may look to you, it might be detracting from delivering your message to its reader.

Watch for:

See: Is Your Blog Too Cool to Read?

Are you being too serious?

It’s tempting for business bloggers to take themselves way too seriously, sacrificing sleep, peace of mind, or other self-care to adhere to a rigid posting schedule.

While consistency is definitely a crucial ingredient of a successful blogging strategy, and one you should plan for, it is not a matter of life or death.

Watch for: The temptation to apologize and over-explain if a post is late or if you miss a week or two in between posts.

See: Five Things Not to Do When Restarting Your Blog.

Are you being too prideful?

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me. This is a familiar tune to many business bloggers, enamoured with the concept of chronicling their journey in life and business. Yet a business blog is not a diary, and shouldn’t be treated as one.

Other bloggers misuse this platform as simply another sales channel where they describe and promote their various products and services, announce sales and special events, or constantly write about how prospective customers could benefit from hiring them.

Blogging is a form of content marketing – the practice of sharing helpful information as a way of building relationships, demonstrating your expertise, and expressing your commitment to help, inspire, educate and entertain your readers.

Unlike the efforts of the early “web log” pioneers, and today’s passion bloggers and thought leaders, your business blog is not about you.

A third way business bloggers can be prideful is to assume a prior relationship with every reader, and expect them to be able to jump into the middle of a conversation without any context.

This is especially common once you’ve built up a readership and have confirmation that some readers are coming back.

Watch for: Can a reader always answer “What’s in it for me?” in your blog posts? Is what you’ve written more for them or for you?

See: What is Business Blogging?

Are you being too humble?

On the flip side, you may lack the confidence to really put yourself out there and share your work across a wider platform. Or you may simply lack the knowledge of how to do that effectively.

Watch for:

  • Your blog post byline is blank or says “Posted by admin.”
  • You’re not announcing or promoting your blog posts, expecting readers to check your site to see when something is new.
  • You don’t reply to or acknowledge people who share your posts on social media.

See: 10 Reasons to Share Your Post on Social Media.

Are you being too hasty?

While blogging is a quick and relatively simple way to broadcast your thoughts, there is a big difference between your initial draft and the polished marketing tool it can become.

Before rushing to hit that Publish button, take time to check all the boxes of effective publishing and promotion.

Watch for:

See: How to Streamline Your Blog Post Publishing and Promotion Tasks.

When you’re bubbling over with enthusiasm, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. If you’re a business blogger who’s jumped in with both feet, welcome to the blogosphere! Please don’t let these mistakes chase you away.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

Top 10 Blogging Tips for Professional Services

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© michaeljung - Fotolia.com
© michaeljung – Fotolia.com

When a prospective client is looking for the professional services you provide, they may not be ready to talk to you yet. Instead, they may browse your website to find out more about you.

While the other sections of your website can show that person who you are and what you do, your blog shows them just how much you know.

Reading your blog gives clients a non-threatening way to interview you at a distance. If they like what they see, it will give them the confidence to contact you directly and take the next step.

Here are 10 blogging tips for attracting new clients for your professional service business:

  1. Plan first. A blogging plan is the best way to build confidence in your ability as a blogger, and in blogging’s effectiveness to grow your business. Outline why you’re blogging, your goals, and how you will achieve them. Detail when and how you will write, polish, publish and promote your posts, and define your blog’s key categories.
  2. Commit to a set of core topics. Hone in on 5-7 themes that intersect between your areas of expertise and the interests and concerns of your readers and prospective customers. Do not publish anything that doesn’t fit precisely into one of those categories. (You can add categories later, but think carefully first.) Blog categories focus your efforts and make it easier for both you and the reader to return week after week, knowing exactly what you’re doing there.
  3. Tap into a team. If a topic is outside your immediate scope, but important to your audience, you can still include that category. Simply create a list of people you can invite to write a guest post or be interviewed. Consider partnering with other professionals to share your resources. Decide who can best help you plan, produce and promote your blog posts.
  4. Ask and listen. You don’t have to guess about the topics your target audience is interested in, you can ask them! From a formal questionnaire to a casual question in passing, find out what’s on their minds in relation to your business. You can also listen in the background by searching for key phrases on social media platforms and reading comments and questions about your topics.
  5. Be a beginner. You’re an expert. That’s why people hire you. Yet it took years for you to build up your knowledge base and the collection of experiences you draw on every day to help your clients. Be sure your writing is accessible to someone who is brand new to your topic and your industry. Don’t use jargon or acronyms, or if you do, include a clear explanation that any novice can understand. Constantly put yourself in the shoes of a beginner and review what you’ve written from that perspective.
  6. Make your blog posts easy to read. Treat your readers like clients and give them a good experience of being with you. This can mirror the positive way you’ll treat them when you work together. Include plenty of white space on the page, by keeping paragraphs short, using sub-headings and/or lists. Include a compelling title and an eye-catching photo that help your reader connect to the topic on an emotional level.
  7. Proofread and pause. Walk away from your writing for a few minutes (at least) or a few days (ideally). You’ll be amazed at how many improvements you’ll find by giving yourself this space. Read your post out loud to catch errors your brain will skim over when you’re reading onscreen.
  8. Promote and repurpose your posts. As much as you’d like to think people are visiting your blog every morning to see what’s new, that’s highly unlikely. If you want them to see a new post, you must let them know it’s there. Use email newsletters (manual or RSS, social media updates, your email signature, and individual messages to people who would benefit the most. Schedule additional social media messages for the future. You never know when someone new will come along who needs to hear the exact message you just wrote. When you write posts on related topics (which you will, since you’re following my suggestion in #2), link back to this post to keep it alive.
  9. Monitor your responses and results. Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant® says there are three ways blogging gets business results: authority (i.e., recognition as an expert in your field), numbers (email subscribers, website traffic, social media followers, etc.) and dollars and cents (new clients, product sales). Be clear about the results you’re looking for, so you can track what’s working well and keep doing it.
  10. Keep blogging. Blogging only works if you do it consistently. While blog posts can and will draw new readers and results for years, when you stop blogging or blog only sporadically, it can raise questions about your professionalism and dependability. No one is perfect, myself included, so if you DO fall off the wagon, just jump back on as soon as you can.

If your business offers a professional service, blogging can tell prospective clients a lot about you. They will see how much you know, how generous you are with that knowledge, and how skilled you are at using your knowledge to help people just like them.

Use these 10 guidelines to make the most of this powerful marketing opportunity that is accessible 24/7 from your website, not to mention from any device connected to the internet.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

How Blogging Can Be Like a Day at the Spa

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© lenetsnikolai - Fotolia.com
© lenetsnikolai – Fotolia.com

To celebrate our summer birthdays (mine is August 11th if you want to send a card), last weekend my mother, sister and I spent the day together at a spa. We used to see a movie, but last year we upgraded and declared this as our new annual tradition.

If blogging still intimidates you, or feels like a beast demanding to be fed, use these short summer months as an opportunity to lighten your approach and even find some joy in the process.

Here are three ways that blogging can be like a day at the spa:

  1. The planning is one of the best parts.

A 2010 research study revealed that planning and anticipating a vacation can be just as enjoyable – if not more – than the trip itself. I know I had been looking forward to the day since last summer, and even though I wasn’t feeling my best, I still had a wonderful time that was cumulative through all those months of planning.

Planning your business blogging focuses both you and your blog posts, gives you motivation and confidence to keep up with your blogging, and allows you to consistently deliver the kind of helpful content that will attract people to your business.

  1. The options are endless.

There were so many tempting spa services to choose from, I think I was more relaxed after just reading their descriptions.

On your business blog, you may think you have to write a detailed, wordy article every week because that’s what some marketing gurus advise, but you don’t.

Luckily, there are many different styles of blog posts, and you can mix and match them to find a balance that’s easiest for you and provides an interesting variety for your readers.

  1. It’s even better with others.

I used to take regular spa days as vacations, and while I always felt relaxed and rejuvenated, sharing the experience with my loved ones definitely amplified my enjoyment.

Your business blog can be a team effort, taking some of the work off your shoulders and creating more value for your audience. Your blogging team may include:

  • Guest contributors – related experts in your industry, vendors, or customers with interesting stories
  • Regular bloggers – staff members, contractors, or other partners can have their own weekly or monthly column about their particular area of expertise
  • People who assist you with writing, editing, and publishing and promotion

I know that blogging may still feel more like a trip to the dentist than a trip to the spa, but I hope you’ll give some of these ideas a chance. After all, your customers are already online, waiting to discover your wisdom!

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

Blogger’s Block? Reduce Decision Fatigue in Your Blogging Routine

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© stryjek - Fotolia.com
© stryjek – Fotolia.com

When I read this post about how to streamline decision making in your life, I immediately considered how the same principles apply to business blogging.

The idea behind decision fatigue is that we consciously and unconsciously make countless decisions in our daily lives, including what to eat, what to wear, and how we spend our time.

If we can automate more of these decisions, the theory goes, we can re-apply that time and energy to the activities that will most nourish us and advance our work in the world.

Just like the post’s author Anne Bogel, I aim for and recommend a daily blog writing habit. Yet I still sometimes let myself off the hook – maybe you can relate?

One of Bogel’s tips is to create if-then rules for yourself. Instead of just saying you’ll do something (e.g., “I will write a blog post today”), if-then planning identifies a specific event that will trigger each of your intended actions.

Here are four decisions we may face during the blogging process and how we can use the if-then method to reduce decision fatigue:

  1. What should I blog about?

“If it’s the week of May 10th then I’m blogging about ___, and if I’m blogging about ___ then I’m exploring these ideas: ___.”

In order to have such clarity about your blogging topics and schedule, you need to have a blogging plan and editorial calendar. It also really helps to have an outline for each post. A topic or title aren’t always enough when you come back weeks later and try to write the post.

  1. Is this good enough to publish?

“If I’m finished my draft, then I take it through an editing process.”

In a recent post about her daily writing tools, Ann Handley explains why an editor is crucial: “I think of a good editor as the best advocate for the reader, which is why companies that don’t use editors end up hurting themselves.”

Before turning over her draft to someone else, she checks them with Grammarly and Hemingway. My own self-editing tool is text-to-speech software that helps my ears catch what my eyes miss.

  1. What do I do next?

“If I’m finished my final post, then I do ___, ___, ___, etc. until I’ve completed my list.”

I tend to forget new skills or processes pretty quickly if I don’t have repeated opportunities to practice them. As my volume of monthly blogging clients grew, I would check and re-check whether I had remembered all the steps for publishing and promoting, and then still second guess myself.

The answer for me was to create a blog post publishing and promotion checklist to stay consistent with all the steps in the process.

  1. Should I stop writing or keep writing?

Keep writing, of course!

At Forbes, Stephen J. Meyer describes creating an if-then scenario for when he wants to talk himself out of following through with his exercise goal. “If I get to the point where I want to quit,” he writes, “then I will focus intently on my audiobook and tune out the pain and fatigue I’m feeling.”

“If I want to quit working on my blog post, then I will check my Pomodoro timer and commit to writing until the next break. If I’m still struggling, then I will pause and consciously think about my audience and how this post could help them. If I still want to quit, then I will take an earlier Pomodoro break and play a song from my “Happy” iTunes playlist (dancing around the living room is highly recommended).”

Is decision fatigue sabotaging your blog writing efforts? What trigger events could get you back on track with your business blogging?

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

How to Remove the Technical Obstacles of Business Blogging

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© taramara78 - Fotolia.com
© taramara78 – Fotolia.com

Even people who are accomplished writers and influential leaders in their fields sometimes feel intimidated by business blogging. There is a lot of confusion about the term, and the mechanics of posting and promoting can be another hurdle to jump.

If you know you have valuable ideas to share, but you’re getting stonewalled by technology, here are seven ways to step away from the computer and still post regularly to your business blog:

  1. Mental blogging – In a previous post, I described a process of mental writing you can do anywhere, anytime. The key is to have a plan in place, so you can let your thoughts drift naturally to your blogging topics even while you’re doing other things.
  1. Working with pen and paper – Whether you’re a graphic thinker who uses mind mapping, a list maker, a long-form journal writer, or some combination, take your blogging off-screen to unleash your creativity without any digital distractions.
  1. Catching ideas on the fly – Just because you’re away from your computer or other devices, doesn’t mean you can’t make progress on your business blogging. Use a notepad, journal, or a small slip of paper to record your thoughts; write on the back of a receipt or a napkin if you have no other options!
  1. Getting out into the world – In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron recommends taking your inner artist out for a date where you can fully immerse yourself in creative thinking. You can use the same premise to schedule blogging dates, visiting the people and surroundings that most inspire you and fuel your excitement for your business and the topics your ideal customers care about.
  1. Asking real people real questions – Since the best blog post ideas come from customer questions, that means that when you’re clocking face time at a networking event, client meeting, seminar, or even a personal outing, you can be working on future blog posts. Find out what matters to your customers and prospective customers, then address those issues on your blog.
  1. Reading – Books, magazines and blog posts all offer unique opportunities to learn, grow your awareness, expand your vocabulary, and make new connections – especially when you venture beyond your own industry. As a bonus, you can share some of this content with your audience as a way of being more visible on social media.
  1. Outsourcing – Is there a better way for you to be spending your time than fussing with the technical aspects of publishing and promoting blog posts? Is your time worth more than what you will pay someone else to do those things? Even for those of us who do enjoy technical challenges, it can sometimes turn into a sneaky form of procrastination.

Have you been letting the technical elements of blogging stall your progress? See what happens when you remove this barrier to your unique expertise, by trying a low-tech approach to business blogging.