For the business owners and bloggers that are publishing a blog for the purposes of growing their business, establishing themselves as an expert, selling products, promoting services, etc...certain questions must be asked - before you begin and as you go along - in order to maintain your personal brand and reach your goals. Here's my list:
- Why are you blogging? What is your goal, your mission, your raison d'etre? I recommend that you post this on your site - I've done mine as a tagline under my header, and I offer it to my readers as a guide telling them where they are and what they're going to get. It reads: Thoughts & actions about writing, blogging, social media & marketing - stirred vigorously with dashes of this freelancer's life.
- Who is your audience? You will write, I hope, different kinds of posts if you're communicating with luxury vacationers vs. small town suburban home owners.
- What is your audience looking for? This will influence your post topics, your keywords and your tone.
- What do you know? Please only write about things you know - we look to many bloggers as sources of quality information, add to the trend.
- Who knows what you don't know? Interviewing experts offers vital information to your readers and it rounds out the information. I know, I know - It's so easy to just pretend we know everything...but we don't! Our readers will respect us if we are honest and forthcoming.
- What does your schedule look like? It is best to pick regular blog publishing days and stick with them. We are all creatures of habit and we tend to expect our blogs to air at their usual times - like our favorite TV shows. Feeds and email alerts do help, but consistency is nice. (Disclaimer: I am still working on following this bit of advice!)
- Can you commit? The biggest blogging pitfall is not following through. If you can't commit to regular, value-packed posts, get someone to help you. If you recognize blogging as a powerful marketing tool for your business, it's worth it.
- Can you write? Valuable information that is captured in quality prose raises your levels of professionalism, engagement, return visitors, joint partners and respect. Hire a writer to help you if this isn't your forte. (I know a few good ones if you're looking)
- Does blogging make sense for your industry? Is the Pope Catholic? Sorry, I'm biased. I'm hard pressed to find a business that wouldn't benefit in some way from a professional establishing themselves as an expert, driving qualified traffic to their website, spreading the word and sharing information. The only example I can think of would be something like Area 51 - or any other place, idea or business that is supposed to be top secret!
Did I forget anything? I'd love to hear your ideas...
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