What’s A Blog?
THIS! This is a blog. A blog is an article in which you share your knowledge, thoughts or opinions. It can either stand alone as a blog or can be integrated into your website, like this one. You could also consider video blogging, called Vlogging if writing isn’t your thing.
How Do I Start Blogging?
Depending on your website, you might have a built-in blogging feature already waiting for you, in which case just get started writing. If you don’t have a built-in blogging option then WordPress is a great place to start. It’s free to use and just needs a little prettying up. There are loads of free templates to choose from, probably too many as you could easily waste loads of time trying to decide which one to go for. My advice would be to keep it simple. A blog doesn’t need to be complicated – it just needs to let you write articles and add images. My whole website is built on WordPress, which shows how versatile it is and there are tons of free plug-ins to help you add functionality to your blog for example, adding a photo gallery or image slider, adding an opt-in box to help you collect email addresses to name just a couple. If you want to check whether your domain name is available, you can use this little Bluehost domain checker. There are loads of easy, step-by-step video tutorials HERE to help you get started with WordPress if you want to give it a go, from how to host your blog to tutorials on making it look nice. It’s easier than you think and the only cost would be a small annual hosting fee from Bluehost or your chosen provider.What Do I Write In A Blog?How Long Should A Blog Be?
What Should I Blog About?
This is the question I get asked the most when I talk about blogging – “but what can I blog about??” My answer is that you should blog about:
- Things that interest you
- Things you’re an expert in
- Things you can explain and teach
- Things your Super Customers will love and find interesting
And there are more topics fitting this description than you might at first realise. Here’s a little trade secret to help you never run out of blog topics (or social media topics, or e-newletter topics) again. Step 1: Think about your Super Customer (the people who are most likely to buy from you) and work out what they love about your business. What are they interested in? Write a list of 5 topics you think they would love. Step 2: Now pick the 3 you feel happiest talking about. Remember you have the ‘curse of knowledge’ and you’ve forgotten how much you know. Put yourself in the shoes of your Super Customers and think what you were interested in when YOU started learning your expert topic. Step 3: Now take each of your 3 topics and break them down into sub-topics. Let me give you an example. One of my big topics is Marketing. I can break that down into:
- Social media
- PR
- List-building
- E-marketing
- Websites
- Advertising
- Networking
- Copywriting
- Etc
And then I can break these down further into MORE sub-topics. Let me show you: Social media can be broken down into:
- Google+
- YouTube
And I can break each of those sub-topics down AGAIN. Let me show you with Pinterest:
- How to use Pinterest in your business
- How to use Pinterest for list building
- How to create strategic Pinterest boards
- How to drive buyers using Pinterest
- Top image tips for Pinterest
If I took List Building as a sub-topic I can break it down into:
- What’s a list and why do you need one?
- How to use your blog for list building
- What to do with your list once you’ve built it
You get the idea…
How To Blog When You Hate Writing
One thing that can stop you blogging before you even start is the belief you hate (or are no good) at writing. I’ll let you into a secret, I’m not very good at writing either. Or at least I didn’t used to think I was. I used to try to sound ‘professional’ and then I’d get totally stuck because I ended up sounding like everyone else out there and to be honest, it was BORING. It wasn’t until I started being myself that blogging became easy. One day I decided to blog about things that were happening to me, to my clients and to ladies on my Facebook page. I dropped the ‘professionalism’, stopped worrying about what people would think and just wrote from the heart. I wrote about things that interest me. I wrote about times when stuff happens in my life where I can find a lesson for my Super Customers (in my case my Super Customers are women business owners who are struggling with focus, don’t have enough time in the day, don’t know where to start with marketing, lacking in confidence and just need someone to hold their hand and show them what to do – which is what I do by writing blogs like this and others on my website). I wrote blogs like ‘I had 18 Hairbrushes Hanging Off My Head’ and ‘I Wrestled A Screaming 6 Year Old Out Of A Zebra Onesie’ and ‘Are You Marketing Like My Dog?’ Can I Make Money From Blogging? How Can Blogs Help Me Build My Business? Top Blogging Tips
