When people come to me as a small business coach, the thing they want most is to get more clients. It makes sense; without a flow of clients you can’t make the money you need for your lifestyle. One of the tools for business that most folks get in place pretty quickly is their blog. And from that point on your business can sometimes feel like really hard work.
It might sound crazy coming from a room full of high achieving entrepreneurs, but one of the conversations we had over dinner with our Mastermind group recently was that over half of these solopreneurs still found themselves staring at a blank screen when it comes time to write their blog posts! I bet that makes you feel a bit better doesn’t it now? Don’t worry – it hits all of us at one stage or another – what I’m talking about is ‘Writer’s Block”.
Why is this one client attraction tool so difficult when there is no doubt about the depth of knowledge you have on your area of expertise? I’m going to recommend some ways to help you create a list as long as your arm. So long that you will never wonder what to write about again!
It’s easy for you as a small business owner to dismiss the power of your blog. Instead you should understand that you can actually blog your way to the bank. Your blog is a key driver for traffic to your website. Google loves fresh and relevant content. So by writing several new blog posts each week, you can easily see an improvement in your organic search rankings. You can check this out by tracking your site with www.Alexa.com . Your blog is the ‘hub’ of your small business. In fact, to get more clients and make more money, as my mentor says, “all roads should lead to your blog”. By this I mean that any published posts, links, articles etc should all include a link to your blog where you also have the ability to capture visitors’ details.
To help you to attract more readers your blog posts can be informative, inspirational or humourous. If you include a little of each of these, you will touch all of the different personality types. Places to draw inspiration on what to write about is easier than you think. Here’s three of the best:
- Listen to your clients!! This is so obvious that most business owners overlook it. Read the comments your clients leave you on Facebook, read the emails they send in with questions, read carefully what they are saying in any comments they leave on your current blog posts. What questions do you always get asked when you are at networking events? All of these places offer an opportunity for you to expand or clarify topics in your niche.
- Check out sites such as www.yahoo.answers.com and industry forums to see what questions are being asked by your target audience and then write a blog post to answer them from your perspective. Search www.ezinearticles.com for articles in your niche and look for those with the highest searches. This shows that the topic is popular, so you can write your own post about it.
- Personal experiences provide you with a perfect opportunity to attract clients through your own compelling message. Write about the things that you are passionate about and relate that to your topic and your readers will devour your posts like irresistible hot bread.
After your content is decided, the next thing is to make sure you maximize it for the search engines.
Be sure to include several of your keywords or phrases throughout your blog post. ‘Stacking’ keywords will get you in trouble so be sure the keywords you use are relevant and used in context.
There is ONE more simple strategy I want to tell you about that will boost your organic rankings by effectively using your blog post. Rather than tell you about it, I want to show you an example…..
I want you to scan up through this blog post and notice there are at least four keywords that have been hyperlinked to other blog posts on my site. This is often referred to as internal linking. This strategy encourages readers to click on these hyperlinks and browse further into your site. By readers staying on your site for longer, Google will give you a ‘thumbs up’ for relevancy and this will boost your organic rankings.
Client Building Action Steps:
- Set aside a regular time that you commit to writing at least 2 blog posts per week
- Follow the blogs of leaders in your field and contribute to the comments
- Research using the strategies above to make a list of 30 new blog post titles to have ready to go
You can now easily add your comment below and tell me if you found any of these tips helpful…
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Fay – a topic dear to my heart. What great tips to help when the blank page strikes.
Internal links were a key component of an SEO course I enrolled in, I never quite understood the reason why it was important, now I do…time and relevancy – the penny’s dropped.
Thanks for sharing such valuable content Fay
Hi- I saw this post via Maureen Hunter. I am so glad I took the time to read it. I am just trying to get back into blogging and trying to make it more fashion related as a business blog. I am still trying to understand search engines and what is good and bad to do. Thanks for sharing your knowledge this post really helped me..
so many people I know struggle to write their blog posts, yet they know and understand their industry like the back of their hand. I’m glad this article has helped to get the flow back again for you Nicola and Maureen.
Thanks for reminding me about hyperlinking, Fay! I got out of the habit, and know how valuable it is for Google-juice! As for topics, any time I see something that could be “tweaked” to fit my topic, regardless what industry it pertains to, I copy and paste the text onto a new doc, title it meaningfully, and drop it into a folder called “Blog Post Ideas.” And whenever I lack inspiration, I open that up and something speaks to me …
Great post Fay — I needed the reminder about internal linking as well. It is easy to forget that the amount of time people spend on your site is valuable for SEO as well. Thanks!
Im just starting a blogging site about issues in education in partnership with websitebusiness.com. Over time, I want to expand this into newsletters and ebooks and beyond to help different groups like parents who homeschool their kids, parents dealking with children with special needs, teachers who are trying to help their students with special needs, and so on. So this is very helpful indeed thanks
Glad you have found this useful Rachael. Although solopreneurs tend to know their subject inside and out, it is amazing how you can sometimes sit down to write your blog and find you get a mental block. Its great to use these ideas to create an ongoing list of blog ideas to get you through those moments. Can wait to read some of your blogs!
I’m in the process of developing some action steps for my marketing and definitely plan to start writing a blog. This article provided great input for motivating me to get on with it and included something I wouldn’t have thought of – the hyperlinking.
Awesome Karen! Taking action is the biggest step. Each blog you write that provides great content will give you a bigger connection with your target market. Yes, the hyperlinking is very important to assist with onpage SEO. If you’re putting a marketing plan together now be sure to focus on just one – three strategies such as your blogging and get them working smoothly before moving on.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on blogging.
Regards
You’ve most very welcome.