Why Turn To Blogging as a Marketing Tool?
Dec 5, 2007 Prosperity, Success, Time Management, Writing
Professor Moolha knows that independent Professionals have to spend most of their time not with clients but in marketing. Except for the few lucky ones, Professionals are constantly battling to develop new clients and build a bigger business.
Time is the important issue here. Most people who want to become independent and become professionals do so because they don’t like something in their current organization. The overwhelming dislike is the fact that they have to spend so much time for someone else. It may be time in working, it may be in efficiency, it may be the fact that they don’t like to show up to work and be there during a normal work week (9-5 on the time card but we all know that it is more like 8-7 most days).
So how do we become independent workers and make enough money to make us happy? Develop a blog and utilize the new social internet (Web 2.0).
What will your blog get you?
- Reach More People – As you build your blog you will build readership. Utilizing this readership you will be able to reach more people at one time. It is like meeting someone face to face and telling them about your business in a story format. By doing this with a blog you will be telling many people about your business at the same time, but it will feel as if you are talking to one person at a time.
- Targeted – People look for very specific things when they go on the internet. If you have what they want then they will find you. You will in turn get a very focused and targeted group of people reading your blog. Since you have good content they will want to come back time and time again to read your blog and see what you have to say. This will only focus their attention more. You will not be spending time trying to target and convince a group of people who really are not interested. If they stay with your blog you know they will be interested.
- Subtle – Everyone is bombarded with ads these days. No one likes the hard sell. We are simply a smarter Nation now. By using your blog to market your business, and if applicable, sell products, the sell is very subtle. Instead of saying “this is the best product you need to buy it or your life is ruined” you will be writing about he need for a product. Oh by the way we just happen to have it. Or maybe you have a satisfied client who will let you use their story (if you can get a picture it is very powerful). Don’t sell your services or product here. Let them sell it. Let them say what is great about you. It is the soft subtle sell. A great success story. Everyone wants to be successful.
- Less Time – You will be spending less time. A blog post will only take maybe an hour to map out, write, edit, and post. As you do this more your time spent will be less and less. You will not have to spend a whole bunch of time sitting down with a marketing consultant or an ad specialist to develop a strategy. You simply get an idea and write about it. That is it, that is all a blog is. It is an ongoing conversation with you as the leader and your audience as the listeners.
- Anytime – Blogs are great because you can post any time you want. We recommend if you have a big chunk of time write a few posts, you can set WordPress to spread them out over time using their post date stamp function (more about that will be on the way). You don’t just have to work from 9-5, but you can do it anytime. Write a post just before bed, or when you wake up. Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to be productive? No one else is awake so what do you do? Write a blog post.
- Anywhere – I personally love to sit at the beach or in a coffee shop to write my posts. It gets me out of the house, I get a good cup of java, or a milkshake and let my surroundings inspire me to write. There are fewer distractions and I get done quicker. Plus the fresh air is great. I can even take my dog and we both get a benefit.
- Free – Everyone likes free. Blogs for the most part are free. As we get into some more advanced topics we can see how we can begin to charge for a “premium blog” but for now lets just get started. As long as the content is coming, and it is free, there will be people to read it. Free is good.
There are probably many more reasons to have a blog, these are just the ones that I have come up with and that I find the most compelling. It is a great way to spend your time marketing and developing your business.
Prof Moolah.
Tags: building a business, business, marketing, professionals, small business
Built In Niche
Jul 19, 2007 Topic Building, Visualize, Writing
As an Internet Entrepreneur I am constantly looking for a Niche. That is a very specific area of expertise, of a sales market, or of a service. Professionals make me jealous. They already have a built in niche. They are already an expert in a narrow field, and in a field that most people don’t have the time to learn, or the time to figure out one little specific detail to get a task done and then forget it the next day. Maybe I should give an example.
A good painter is hard to come by. With the advent of home renovation and the flat line of the real estate market people are instead doing a lot of home renovation, and home improvement jobs. I my self have painted (inside and out) many houses in my time. In painting these houses I found out a few things. It is boring, it takes a lot of time, the detail work is really difficult to get right, and I have no idea how to pick out complement
ary colors. I really am not exaggerating. I don’t have the patients for painting. I do a great job in a square room, but give me some detail work, or some trim to paint. I am not so good.
Lets say that a good painter comes along with a little Internet savvy. If they set up a blog about painting your house, about lets say specifically painting your living room. How to set it up, tools needed, colors to choose, drop cloth placement, and all the little details about how to do this. At the bottom he or she gives a little plug about how he is a professional painter, and gives some details on how to hire him to paint.
Targeting himself in a very specific way will give credibility to him self, will begin to get a customer base of people who are renovators, or do it yourselfers, or whatever. They get a few tips, and begin to realize that they have a big project coming up and they really don’t have any idea what is going on, or how to do it. So they come to you and hire you to get their big job done. Of course they are amazed that it only takes you a couple of hours where it would take them all day, or maybe even two.
The niches are endless, and those who are already doing it are losing out not creating a website that has great information on there to make themselves look even more like a total expert.
What and When to Write
Jul 9, 2007 Idea Building, Organization, Topic Building, Writing
WordPress is great, you can write whatever you want whenever you want. Lets do the whenever first. By using the simple Post Timestamp on the lower right hand side of the Write Post page you can change the day that the article that you just wrote will post. This is an excellent tool. I am no English major, nor am I even a good writer. When I get inspired to write I just have to sit down and do it. I may bust out two or three articles in one sitting, then not get inspired to do so again for a week or two. Using the Post Timestamp lets me spread those articles out and seem to have a constantly updating site. What a great tool.
Now what to write. This is the hard one for most of us non writing types of people, but lets face it, even if we want to be a hermit in todays world we need to communicate a little bit with some people. If it is midnight or 1am, or in my case when I wake up at 5am there are not many people available to talk to, so we are back to writing.
I keep a notebook with me at all times. I prefer the little note pad with a spiral binding about big enough to keep in your back pocket. I also keep a “Mini Pilot G-2″ pen along with it. It is a system that works flawlessly for me. The pen hooks right onto the spiral notebook part and is always there when I need it. If I have an idea I will jot it down immediately. I am always getting ideas, some good, some bad, but they are always coming and going. I am trying to eliminate the going part. By writing down a word or two about them I can remember them when I get home.
Once I get home the geek in me comes out and I put it in a spreadsheet of ideas. I even use the strikethrough font if I have written about one. I never delete them because usually they will spark another idea for me, and the cycle continues. This way if I get in the mood to write, I will begin writing, if I have a little writers block, I open my spread sheet and away I go.
My recommendation to you is find a system, a notebook, note card, whatever works for you and use it to keep track of ideas as they pop into your head. When you get the time sit down and write a few out. Then use the Post Timestamp and forget about it. An hour worth of writing on your blog can produce weeks and weeks of articles posting right on schedule. Having articles posting on a regular schedule not only keeps people interested in your topic, but it lets the search engines and ranking tools know you have something to say thus putting your website higher and higher on the search engines.
