“You're right, Deb, blogging is such a powerful way of developing a relationship with your community, or tribe, or circle of friends (whatever you call them!). Twitter is like a calling card. Facebook is like a phone call. And blogging is like a full-fledged conversation!”. This is the comment  Sharon O’Day (http://sharonoday.com), left for me about my article on blogging last week, and I wanted to share it with you as I feel it encapsulates what you can really achieve by regular, consistent blogging.

You’ve heard it all before – the way we do business is changing and it changes every day, whether you like it or not.  Business owners are looking for more creative, cost effective and  unique ways in which they can market their products and services to their clients and customers.  Why not add blogging to the mix?

As Sharon mentioned, blogging is about having a fully-fledged conversation with not only your current clients, but also your potential clients.  These are the people, who up until now, may not have thought they needed to work with you, or buy from you.

In my first article on blogging, I spoke about understanding what your niche is and the areas you have experience in.  This time, I want you to focus on the benefits and results that you want your blog to provide your readers, so that you can really start the conversations.

Ask yourself:  “What benefit/s will my clients receive from reading my blog? What will keep them coming back, day after day to learn from me?  What do I need to do, to engage with those who are following me and my blog?”

Firstly, what is the mission or purpose of your blog? Do you know?  If not, take time over the next day or so and think about this question.  Once you are clear on the reason you are writing your blog, then you can let your clients know.

For example:  My blog is committed to providing small business owners with ideas, strategies, tools and knowledge about how to market and grow their businesses.  Some of the areas that I write about include: the best ways to identify and target your ideal clients, how to attract more clients through your specific messages and offers, and what you need to do from a personal level to develop your successful business.

Secondly, why would your clients want to visit your blog regularly? Once you’ve identified the purpose of your blog, think about why your clients would want to keep coming back to your blog.  What are the results/benefits you provide to their challenge and/or problems?  What are you providing that is different to the blog up the road?  What value do they receive from your blog?

For example, if you are a boat trailer company who specialise in fixing boat trailers, your readers may look at your blog to find out how they can maintain their trailers outside of the boating season. A variety of other topics may include where the best local boat launching ramps are, safety considerations when taking their boats away with them on holidays, or something different like how to keep the kids happy when you are out boating or fishing. A key here is to provide information that others aren’t bothering to share or explore with their clients.

Thirdly, test, test and re-test.  Blogging is about creating a community that will want to communicate with you.  If readers are not commenting regularly on your blog, then you need to take some time to identify what isn’t hitting the spot.  Working out what works for your readers takes research,some experimentation, time, and overall testing.  So take the time to evaluate your blog regularly and make the necessary changes as you see fit.

If you are still feeling resistance around the whole blogging process, I want to reassure you that really you can't mess it up.  Even if you don't get a response after your first, fifth, or tenth post, remember that every post is a new day!  Don't get caught up in trying to be the next literary genius, trying to make it perfect, just be natural, in the chosen "voice" of your business.

Let me know how you go!  And continue to provide me with  your thoughts or fears on blogging?  What benefits have you seen for yourself or others when they blog regularly?  I would love for you to share your thoughts with us.

It’s called a “blog”.  And I don’t know about you, (full disclosure coming up) - but it’s something that I’ve resisted doing in a commitment way for quite some time. But not any more, it’s time to dip my toes in, and see exactly what consistent blogging will mean for my business.  Why don’t you join me? 

Anyone who has been writing or reading blogs for a while, will tell you that one of the keys points to remember is that your blogs need to add value to the reader.  How can you do this?

Firstly, be clear on the reason for your blog.  Are you blogging to build your credibility, to increase traffic to your site, to build a community, or to make more sales?

To allow this to happen, you want to make sure your blog is niched in your area of expertise or experience.   By niching your blog, you begin to develop a loyal readership base, because they know that when they visit your site, they will receive the relevant information they need.  Your community begins to grow, and this greater interaction will occur by the use of feedback and comments between your readers and yourself. 

Ask yourself: “What is my niche?” “What are the topics that I have experience or expertise in?”

Building a successful blog doesn’t happen overnight, so you will want to make sure that as the author, you have enough content within you on your area of interest.  If you feel you may not, then begin to think about other sources you can use to glean content and inspiration from. 

Your content will be central to your blog's success; readers are looking for great, relevant content when scanning blogs.  But trying to pinpoint what is great content can be difficult, because this will vary from reader to reader, and it will depend on their needs at that specific time.  It’s similar to a film review – what you think is a great movie, may not be the same case for the person sitting beside you.  The beauty with this, is that it really does give you permission to start blogging, rather than holding back waiting for that perfect content to be written.

Why not begin today?  Once you are clear on the topic you want to write about, know who your readers are, and have time to commit, there really is nothing to stop you from entering the world of the blogosphere!  In fact, I will see you there. Let’s do it together, what do you think?

(Just in case you were wondering: Did you know there is a 'blog day'?  Bloggers have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. The designated date is August 31, because when written 3108, it resembles the word "Blog". -taken from Wikipedia).