A lot has been said over the past couple years about blogging and how it can lead to success and business growth. However, the truth is that most blogs as well as most social media strategies don’t work in bringing more sales to solo-entrepreneurs and small businesses.
I think that the biggest reason for this fact is that these very small businesses don’t think they have the time, or the resources to create solid inbound marketing success. They create a blog because they are told that they need to have one. Then after it becomes hard work keeping it up or they just get busy with meeting the day to day needs of their business, they bail on the whole “blogging thing.”
Here are my thoughts about solo-entrepreneurs and small businesses blogging in order to create a solid use of social media for inbound marketing success:
1. Decide that you want to blog. If you get into blogging because someone told you that it would bring you leads and sales and not because you want to be a thought leader for your clients/customers, don’t start! You will get tired of all the work it takes and in the end you will damage your brand rather than strengthen it.
2. Decide what you want to write about. I know that most of the blogging “gurus” will tell you that you need to write about what interests your clients. While, to some degree that is true, if you are not also passionate about what you write it will show in your writing and your blog will be booring! If you don’t have a passion about helping your clients, your blog will be the least of your business woes.
3. Create original content. Even if your blog is primarily a review site, make those reviews yours. There is too much “near-plagiarism” in the blogging world. Too much warmed over content. Too many “me too” articles. Be yourself and teach what you know and what you think. Original content is like a breath of fresh air!
When you learn to blog this way, you will gain more consistent readers. These readers will comment more and answer your calls to action more, and in the end, buy more. They win with great content and you win with more sales.
