What You Need To Know About Successful Blogging | Blogging Success Tips
What YOU Need To Know About Successful Blogging
Blogging Success Tips-The Positive Side of Blogging
A Pink Paper (Cousin of the White Paper)
by Irene Becker, Just Coach It
Well, this post is too long to be a blog post, and it is not a white paper. I call it a Pink Paper because it is all about the Pink-The Positive Side of Blogging–developing reach and resonance within your marketplace and the community at large.
Blogging & business in the New World-the Social World-
Lessons Learned.
Developing a Community of Purpose™ is critical to social media and business success, and will only become more so! It is your ability to reach out to influencers, connectors, colleagues, employees, constituents and prospects that will take you forward in terms of traffic to your site, brand exposure, lead generation.
Smell the ROSES
You need people, organizations, constituents who smell YOUR roses-LIVE bodies who resonate with your values, your vision, your mission. Human beings who value what YOU do, what it can do for them and how it adds something positive to their lives and the world in general. Your Community of Purpose™ must be defined and grown by those who lead forward, and want to use challenges & strengths, problems and opportunities to create prosperity by creating value for others.
YES, your blog and your business NEED a personal connection, a human persona. Demographical information that used to be relevant is passé. The new demographics are values, interests-emotionally relevant details about your target markets. Building your human connection, developing YOUR Community of Purpose™ will help you…
- Develop an emotional connection
- Build trust and credibility
- Carve out a small but important niche, a key area of expertise that differentiates you from other companies, services or brands.
- Develop improved SEO and brand presence
- Connect with collaborators who can be strong strategic alliances in terms of business development and coming together for key projects or initiatives where your combined talents provide extra benefits for your clients.
Blog & Communication KSF! (Key success factor questions YOU need to answer)
- Who is YOUR audience? What do THEY value? What type of headlines and language do they respond to? How do they see themselves? How must you position yourself in terms of headlines, subject matter and language so that they embrace your content?
- What are YOU focused on? Know what you are trying to achieve with your blog. What are YOUR goals? Using a blog to for SEO is not enough. Pick three goals for your blog. Get clear on them; review them as you are blogging as agility is critical. You cannot hit a target you cannot see.
- Measure, regig, measure-yes KPI’s count! Measure blog results and remember, you need to balance focus/objectives with flexibility and adaptation to your target markets. Get in the know and find out about the great social media tools and analytics that are out there, many of which have free initial platforms you can try on for size and fit.
- Name IT. Brainstorm around a name that contains keywords and expresses your USP. Choose a name that is creative and related to your company and what YOU do best. If YOU are the brand, perhaps your Blog is your name.
- Focus on What YOU do best and what will create value for your target audience. Decide on 4-5 categories that you will blog about. Remember to write blogs that are short (generation of ADD readers) have bold headlines and eye-catching pictures, graphics or charts and that do not overtly sell, but rather give information and consistently position you as the expert in your fields.
- Get visual and use great bold headlines; statistics tell us that only 20% maximum of people will actually read your blog; the other 80% will resonate with the visual image or take a mental note/snapshot of the title and headlines. When I started blogging, I did not realize the critical importance of visual images (flaw as I am an auditory learner) and bold headlines that engage the reader. You need images and headlines/key points that grab the reader.
- Get External: Develop Strategic Alliances with other Bloggers-Extend your reach. Develop a Community of Purpose™ with other experts in the field so that you both benefit from each other’s reach and resonance in the marketplace; as well as benefiting from each other’s ideas, creative input, different areas of strength and expertise. The new formula for success is collaborative. Embrace it or lose.
- Keep your eye on the SEO prize-keywords and phrases. Use the keywords from your site and also use Google adwords to find additional keywords. Try to be consistent in using certain keywords in every blog post as well as key phrases that allow the reader to understand what you do that is unique and of value.
- Have a Blogging Schedule and use different social media channels and times to post your blog. Start with one blog post a week, and make sure that you have set aside the time to write, edit and have someone else review your posting for errors etc. Try to post on the same day/days. Consistency is important to your audience.
- Ask for help and help others in your Community of Purpose™! Don’t just blog; help others who are doing great work in your sector to get exposure for their work. Build your Community of Purpose; when you notice an excellent blog post shout it out on your best social media channel. If you have written something that you feel really creates value, ask those in your Community of Purpose™ to share it with their readership.
- Create Involvement! Find new ways to get people involved, or simply ask them in your post to comment on your blog. Examples of great things to offer in your blog are:
•Contests and Free Giveaways/Downloads
•Case Studies/Client Success Stories
•White Papers
•Top Ten Lists and Ideas (Ending the blog asking readers for comments and ideas)
•Videos
•Infographics are very hot now because they contain info and visual appeal Valuable information positioned in as few words as possible with bold headlines and visual images are a dynamite combination. - Don’t reinvent the wheel, but do not copy cat. Become a learnaholic! Read the top blogs in your sector, see what is hot, how they use language, what they talk about, how they drive traffic and think of new ways that you can do the same with your voice, your persona! And, remember when you look at great blogs, or even the work of your competitors with an open mind you can find incredible creative nuggets, ways that you can change and re-gig something or come up with an entirely new idea that is a great fit for YOU.
- Give up YOUR guru. While it is critical to find experts who can help you develop and promote your business, developing a mind-set that X company or individual cannot be wrong, make a mistake is dangerous. The best organization, the best professional service provider cannot be right all the time. And, while we are all so deluged with so much to do in so little time, taking quality time to reflect upon what someone has suggested is critical. Relying on a guru provider, mentor or coach to be right 100% of the time is dangerous! Hire the best people to help. DO NOT try to do everything yourself or rely on.
- Learn whom YOU can really trust and remember the reality of FREE Advise and PAID advice! Learning whom you can trust is critical, and while social media is a virtual platform if you keep your eyes open you will quickly learn who talks the great talk and who walks it. Keep your eyes open. Developing a true Community of Purpose™ means collaborating with people who share your values, your sense of integrity and who will thrive when you help them and they help you. It is about finding those rare but powerful souls who can want to work on ME to WE solutions, and in this respect are truly leadership driven in a positive way. And, remember free advice is fine, but if you need coaching, consulting advice that is extensive set a budget and find the right provider, or find a way to barter services. Sometimes the best thing you can do is pay for the best advice, without the guru halo distracting you. The biggest name can be the best or not. Find the help YOU need both in terms of free advice and paid/bartered advice. It is impossible to evolve and grow as an army of one.
- Speak the Language of the Heart. Know the heart of your target audiences. No matter who sophisticated or learned they are or otherwise; it is the language you use, language that resonates with their heart and the value you share through your blog posts that will build or break relationships.
Build YOUR Community of Purpose™ NOW, watch your blog grow, watch your reach and resonance in the market place grow...and, of equal import watch the quality of your relationships and the footprint of your true purpose and mission strengthen.
©Irene Becker, 2012. All Rights Reserved
Did you like this Pink Paper? Were the blogging tips helpful? What has been YOUR blogging experience? Write and share your comments-kick off your Community of Purpose™
DO YOU want to integrate these concepts? Develop a Community of Purpose? Expand reach, resonance and results. Improve the written/verbal communication that is critical to leading forward?
Contact me. I am here to help!
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best . Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results
Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene
