Blogging 101: When You Want to Share Yourself
Get Ready…. Get Set….. BLOG!
Welcome to Day 29 of the “30 Tips in 30 Days” Holiday Blog Special. If you’ve missed any of the previous tips from this month, go to the Business and Marketing Tips category on the right sidebar.
Blogging — there may be no better way to start branding yourself.
Why? Because it’s written by you, with your own personal flavor.
How to get started blogging? It’s unbelievably simple. Everything is done for you except the ideas.
I usually recommend for my new team members (with no prior blogging experience) that they choose either one of two blogging platforms:
- Blogger – simple format and structure. Great if you want to promote your business in your blog. Not very flexible in terms of themes and plugins.
- Wordpress.com — the beginner’s form of Wordpress, this is a great blogging platform that allows a lot of flexibility in terms of plugins and themes. But one word of warning – DO NOT blatantly promote your business or product on Wordpress.com — they will DELETE YOUR BLOG. Take it from experience!
There are more advanced options for those with more expanded blogging needs, but that is beyond the scope of this post. For further information, I recommend you go to Wordpress.org.
The best way to discuss how to get started blogging is to answer the most frequently asked questions I get from my new team members:
What should I talk about? What shouldn’t you talk about is the better question. You can talk about anything, but my advice to new bloggers is always the same — MAKE IT PERSONAL. Make it about you, your experiences, your dreams, your goals. Make it about something new you learned today. Make it about a book you read, or a movie you saw. Let people get to know you.
But if I talk about me, how will they know about my business? Let’s back up for a minute. You DO have a choice. You can go to Blogger, set up a blog, and promote your business like your life depended on it. Or you can promote YOURSELF by letting people get to know you.
I prefer the latter, although I have 2 blogs, one for each purpose.
If you get stuck for something to talk about, discuss the latest mindset book you are reading (you should always be reading one) and how it relates to your life, dreams, or goals.
How will they find your business? Next question.
What do I put in my profile (or the About Me section)? THIS is where you can get people to take a look at your business. Tell more about yourself, the story of how you got to where you are today, and provide a link to your primary business (or wherever else you want to send them).
People naturally want to see who is writing this great blog, so don’t skimp on the profile. You would be surprised how many people click on my profile to see who I am. I do it all the time when I read someone’s blog. It’s human nature. It’s also where you’ll get them to look at your business. TIP: ALWAYS include a picture in your profile. People want to see the real you, not a caricature.
How will people find my blog? Great question. In the most basic terms, the answer lies in writing good content on your blog. But you can help the process along. Every time you write new content on your blog, you should “ping” it. This means notifying one (or all) of the blogging index tools that you’ve added to your blog.
I prefer either Technorati.com or Pingomatic.com. Either one is very simple to use, and each will notify all the other index tools that they should index your blog.
One more tip: Make sure you have a way for your readers to subscribe to your blog. The most common way to do this is to have a Subscribe feature on your blog (Technorati is a favorite here). It comes standard on Blogger, and you can add it to your Wordpress.com blog with little problem. Just make sure you do it. This way, people can subscribe to your blog, get notified of new posts, and you’ve got yourself a loyal follower.
How often should I blog? There is no standard answer for this, but I usually blog at least 3-4 times per week (unless I’m doing a Blogging Special, where I blog EVERY DAY!). The key here is consistency. Set a schedule and stick to it. Once a week, twice a week, whatever you choose. But stick to a schedule, or you’ll find yourself going weeks between blogging posts, and your momentum is lost.
That’s the key folks — Build Momentum with your blog. That comes with adding content on a regular basis, and keeping your readers interested in what you’re saying.
Blogging can be a very efficient and, at times addictive way for you to develop a loyal following and get free leads for your primary business opportunity.
If you like to write and you enjoy sharing, Blogging may be just what you are looking for!
To your Success!
Remember I said I had 2 blogs? Check out my new blog on Blogger.
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