Start a Blog

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blog boardBlogging, like social media, seems to be the hot topic right now.  A blog is a type of a website, with regular entries usually posted in reverse-chronological order – meaning the newest stuff is on top. Blog topics range from  commentaries, to descriptions of events, and uses media like graphics or video.

Some blogs function as personal online diaries – this isn’t the type of blog you want to start if you’re using a blog to build your business.  Most business blogs are topic specific – real estate, photography, gardening, small business marketing.  These blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject.  A typical blog combines text, graphics, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to the topic. One of the key features of a blog is the ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive way.  Readers comments and the blog owner responds.  Everyone can see the comments and the responses so a natural conversation develops.

But how do you know if blogging is for you?  If you like to write, then you should immediately start a blog for your business.  If you don’t like to write – think long and hard about whether a blog is right for you.  Most blogs are primarily text – which means you will have to write it.  However, depending on your business and your style there are still options that involve less writing.  You could create a photoblog, a Video blog, a music blog, or an audio blog – like a podcast.    For example if you wanted to create a video blog, you could record 5 minute segments 1-2 times each week and post them.  This is still a blog in concept, but you’re not writing.

There are a few reasons blogs have become so popular:

1. They are really easy to setup and maintain – unlike traditional websites which required a PhD in computer science.  Blogs are dead easy and most blogging platforms are free.  Check out WordPress or Blogger if you are just starting.

2.  They are completely searchable by Google.  Because blogs are primarily text – they are completely indexed by the search engines making them great at organic search.  There are some tricks to this of course.  Keyword usage is critical – meaning you need use keywords in your content so that the search engines find it and put you in the right category in their search results.  Be careful not to overdo it.  The content has to read naturally and sound like a person actually wrote it. Otherwise, Google can tell you’re trying to stock up on keywords and they don’t like it.

3.  Blogs can scale really well.  Blogs can be 1 page of pure text and very simple functionality. Blogs can be comprehensive websites with amazing features and functionality.  My two primary websites are both created as blogs using WordPress.  Lauralowell.com is a pretty standard blog with 2-3 entries each week, categories of content, specific pages with fixed content, readers can subscribe to my newsletter, offer comments, etc.  One the other hand, 42rules.com is a whole different thing.  It is a complete website with multiple page owners, a backend database, user-based security and tons of other stuff.  The point is – blogs can grow and expand without much effort.

Use Social Media

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Social-Media-LogosSocial Media is a topic I blog about quite frequently. FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the top 3 social media platforms.  Social media isn’t for everyone.  It can take time to get started, but if your target audience uses social media, then you should too.  The great thing is that with social media you open yourself and your business up to new opportunities, new people and new possibilities.

Social media marketing covers everything from the top three, to YouTube, blogs, podcasts, webcasts.  Basically any online media where viewers can comment or share are really social media.  And that’s the whole point – that people can offer ideas, others can comment and a discussion can follow.
And that’s the biggest benefit to social media marketing.  It gives you the chance to have a conversation with your customers and prospective customers.

You can ask them questions, test new ideas, get feedback, learn from them and share your expertise with them.  Plus, it’s free.  How cool is that?  To learn more about the specifics of social media – I have created 3 webcasts – LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter.  I’ve also developed two e-books, one on FaceBook and one on Twitter, which you can get on my website.  All the links will be in my follow-up email.

Give Something Away

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packagewithbowIf you want to attract customers and build quality relationships, a great way to start is by offering something of value for free.  The idea is that you can start building a relationship with prospective customers by earning their trust.  You earn their trust by providing them quality information and assistance and asking for nothing in return – except their first name and email address so you can send the info to them.

Consider what you can give away – information is power.  You prospective customers are looking for information that you probably have.  Go ahead and give it to them.  Now, I know that some of you are freaking out about this idea.  You’re thinking “but why give it away when I can charge for it?”  You can’t charge people for stuff if they don’t know you exist.  People aren’t going to do business with someone if they have no idea who you are?  You need to start by first earning their trust.

It’s really not that hard to get started either.  Do you have a few articles you’ve written but never done anything with?  Compile them into one document, edit them together and create a .pdf file.  Tada…you now have an e-book you can give away for free.  Those templates you use to manage projects, clients or other operations – put your logo on them and offer them to clients and prospects – free.  They will see how much work it is to manage all that stuff, and not want to do it themselves – so they will hire you to do it for them.  Or, more often…they will try to use the template, realize how much work it is and then call you to help.  30-minute consultations are also a great idea.  They help you get to know your prospects, and it helps them to get to know you. Plus, you’re going to do the business development discussions anyway…this is a great way to do them.

When you are giving something away, there are two things to remember:
1. Make sure tt has your name and contact info on it
2.  Make sure it has a real perceived to your clients – and never say things like “oh, it’s nothing really…just some stuff I threw together”.  Never say that.  It is valuable information that you are willing to share.

In order for this strategy to be successful you need to make sure people know about it.  Here are some promotional ideas to try… issue a press release using a free press release distribution site (I’ll give you the link to several in my follow-up email).  You can announce it to all your social networks (FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)   You can put an announcement in your local Chamber of Commerce email distribution.  Send an email to all the Associations, Networking Gropus, industry groups that you are a part of. Most of the associations and groups have discussion boards…post a discussion topic and offer your Freebie to anyone who comments.

Use your signature line

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Non SignatureUpdate your signature line in your business and personal email. This is another one that sounds so simple, but I get hundreds of emails every day and so many of them don’t include helpful information in the signature lines.  Think about how many emails you send every day.  Your signature line is a valuable piece of email real estate that most people simply overlook.  Yep, it’s simple.  It takes less than a minute to create, but it can promote new products, highlight new businesses and start conversations.

Your custom email signature should provide information and be interesting.  I steer clear of graphics as they can be a pain in most email programs. In some they come across as attachments and can’t be seen without opening the attachment, which most people never do so the signatures end being rather useless. I recommend that your email signature contain your name (duh), title and/or company name, phone number and 2-3 weblinks.

Include things that make you different.  If you’ve written a book, include that in your title.  If you have won awards, include that too.  Are a featured speaker, contributing writer, blogger, etc…make sure to get it in there.  As a guideline, try to keep your signature under 5 lines.  Make the font the same size as your email text.  Use color and bold to highlight things. And, please make sure that all URLs and active links.  Otherwise, what’s the point, right?

Launch an E-Zine

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newsAn e-Zine is a form of an email newsletter and can be very effective for ongoing communications PLUS it gives you a way of building our own prospect list.  Building an inhouse list of prospects is one of the more important things you can do to build your business.  It is an asset that has value like any other asset in your business.  Starting an e-zine or newsletter is pretty straightforward.  Any good email marketing platform will let you do this. Like I said, I recommend SendPepper for this type of thing, but other systems like Vertical Response, Awebber or InfusionSoft do similar things.

Once you decide that an e-zine is in your future,  you need to work out a schedule for your e-zine.  When will you publish and how often.  Weekly to monthly is pretty standard.  The main thing is to publish regularly.

Next, make sure to publish news and information related to your product or service that people want to or need to know.  A good e-zine will have between two and four articles of genuine interest to your audience, and will have one to two promotional articles for your products or business in a way that makes them visible but not so obnoxious that it drives your readers away. Sometimes you can find people who are willing to write articles in exchange for a listing of their business below the article – it is advertising for them and content for you.

There are several ways to write articles, but some of the more popular types of articles include “How To…” or “Top 10 Lists”…or you can interview someone and publish highlights of the interview.  You can also feature customer questions and provide answers to common questions.  It doesn’t have to be great literature.  It does have to be helpful and the shorter and more direct the better.  Use a combination of different articles types so that your e-zine is interesting and will have something to offer all of your readers.

Once you have your ezine written and regularly scheduled, you can begin building an “opt-in” list.  This is not only a good marketing practice, it is required by the CAN-SPAM Act.  Opt-In  means that someone asked you to communicate with them, or they have given you permission to communicate with them via email.  Double opt-in is used to refer to the process of verifying a subscription by sending a confirmation email that the subscriber has to click on to activate the subscription.  You also need to have an unsubscribe link in your e-zine and you need to include your company name and physical address on all e-zines and newsletters and other emails sent to your opt-in list. Create a registration form using your marketing platform and post it on your website, blog, anywhere you can.  Describe the e-zine and offer subscriptions.

The goal is to collect names of people interested in your stuff.  Then you can market to them in an ongoing way.  Use your e-zine to establish your credibility and to build a relatinoship with your prospective customer.