As the owner of my company, Virtual Assist USA, I have great interactions and engagements with clients. I am forever telling them to blog, to get involved in social media and to Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. A lot of clients are apprehensive about it – for several reasons. They do not know what to write about, they are unsure of the technical aspect and really, does anyone even read that blog?
Here are some reasons why you should blog and some tips on how to do it:
Inspiration Can Come When You Least Expect It: When I ask clients why they do not blog, they usually say that they do not know what to write about. Here is my tip: Your business has to have a unique selling proposition, right? If it doesn’t, then why are you in business? To be a successful business owner you need to be interesting, unique and have valuable knowledge. For example, if you are a health/fitness coach – write about the 5 foods that people should avoid or 10 easy exercises to do in 10 minutes. If you are a DJ, write about 5 ways to make your wedding unique, or 3 must-play songs to make your wedding memorable.
Write On: Even if you do not think people are reading your blog - Google and other search engines are picking it up. The more that you write, means the more freshly updated content that you have. Search engines love freshly updated content!
Learn: As you blog, you will often find that readers leave comments. They share valuable information in those comments, so make sure to read and respond. A blog gives you the opportunity to expand your network beyond your community and give you global reach to customers that you otherwise would never connect with. They read your blog, and they get to know a little bit more about you and why they should work with you. And is that ever a bad thing?
Give It Away: Some of my clients have been hesitant to write blogs because they are afraid of “giving the information away”. That is far from the truth. When you write a blog and provide information to your readers and to the community, you are positioning yourself as an expert and you are sending out good karma by providing information to the community. Furthermore, chances are, no potential customer is going to be able to read your blog and then say “ah-ha!” and have all of the tools, knowledge and experience that they need to do the task on their own. Also, who’s to say they will even want to? Believe in the good and in the honesty of people, and you may even gain a customer or two from your “teaser” copy.