Take a Walk on the Blog Side, Part II

If a website is your brand's face, a blog is like the intellect.

A good website is like the storefront...you can have the cleanest stoop and the most dazzling window displays and a clearly placed sign, but once that customer walks through the door, they are not likely to stay if you never speak to them, or tell them all about your goods, or show them that you have a unique passion for your product or service and convince them that they cannot leave without buying something.

Once you entice people in with your branded website, then what?

As mentioned before, a blog is less like a diary and more like a book. But one that can engage and encourage your clients in ways that you may never have thought.

That is why a blog can be called the intellect.

Since I started researching this topic a week and a half ago, there have been two more articles written on the Entrepreneur.com website alone. One just yesterday titled, "Recruit a Virtual Sales Force With Your Blog." Sounds intriguing, right?

Mark Stevens writes that "catching a virus can be the best thing you can do for your business." What?! (Don't get excited, Hugh!) He is talking about the phenomenon of viral messaging in the whole social networking craze. The kind that rolls out like a growing wave reaching tsunami heights. The kind that happens when one person tells two friends who each tell two more friends...and they all are talking about how great your blog is and posting links on their blog and writing about you and your products and...well...doing the viral marketing for you. That is gold. You don't have to know how they find you to know that it is great and it works. You just need to be ready to pan the prospects.

While the website you have created might entice someone in the virtual door, it is what you do for them while they are there that makes them want to stay and, more importantly, come back and bring friends. So think of a blog as a way to connect on a personal level with every one who comes to your virtual storefront.

To be effective, a blog needs to be these things:

Educational not Commercial. This is not the place to sell everything for $9.99 or posting obvious sales pitches like that guy who screams at you on t.v. about everything from insurance to laundry soap. Blogs are a conversation, not a commercial. You need to inform your clients and show them the reasons why they should buy from you. Remember that you are the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and you have a lot to say about your product or service to those who are listening. That being said, you need to stay on message and keep building that brand with every word you write. But there are plenty of ways to show and not tell that get your message across while taking advantage of that teachable moment when you have them reading.

Compelling. We are bombarded daily by things to read every where we turn. So keep that in mind when you write. I believe that people are seeking community and will come back time and again if you are seen as writing something worth reading. You will be surprised at how much you have to say. It doesn't have to be long, and it helps to have pictures to support your writing. But there are all sorts of industry-specific updates and even your own personal insights and customer testimonies that are important to your target audience and can give you a boost in keyword search engine rankings.

And once you start making connections you might find that someone else is a great ambassador for your brand and can be called upon to write a guest post or regular column. Or how about switching perspectives with others in your company to keep the voices fresh? I am currently a contributing editor at the Watch Me Create blog and I will be doing four guest posts in the month of June for the Art Bead Scene blog. Each time I post to one of these blogs, I find that I get a spike in readership and new commenters. But the best part is that people like what they read and sign up to be a regular follower. Today I am at 63. Last week I had only 54. Pretty good for only posting once last week.

Frequent & Timely. I know people who write a blog post a day. Usually, they are really short posts that are fun to read, but that sort of pressure might just be too much for most. I personally have a Blogging Without Obligation button that basically frees me from feeling that it is necessary to stick to a hard schedule. I have an imaginary schedule, but it is pretty loose and based on the fact that something needs to spark my creativity for me to write about it. A blog is a periodical. If you only write once a month, why bother. You do have to keep to some sort of timeline, and I have found that once or twice a week is ideal. Too much and you are saturated. Too little and people won't let the door hit them on the way out as they seek inspiration elsewhere.

Exuding Your Distinct Voice. I asked several people why they haven't considered a blog. Several said that they don't have time (you don't have time to connect personally with your clients and potential customers?! Really!?), but most often I was told that they felt they couldn't write. You are the greatest ambassador of your brand, and your clients deserve to hear from you. It will personalize and humanize the experience of buying from you. From Derek Gehl at Entrepreneur.com, "You don't need to be a brilliant writer; you just need to be able to relate to your audience and give them good content."

For my own blog, I decided against making it merely a sales pitch for the latest creation that I made and instead focus on the mantra "inspiration is everywhere." I have found that there are a lot of people who are seeking connectivity on that very subject, and there is infinitely more to write about than just what beads I used in a piece. From there they see my creative process and a finished piece. I actually do get a lot of requests for purchase, and I try to connect with every regular follower through email as well, and some of the leads have turned into sales or sales-in-progress. All because I regularly share my passion and knowledge as a SME, and I have enticed people with my content and easy conversational style. They want to comment. They follow me. They come back. And they bring friends. And that is the sort of virus that I don't mind catching.

While you can start a blog in as little as five minutes, to truly be effective and to keep people coming back again and again takes a lot longer. But armed with a little thought and effort you can turn your blog into a strategic tool that drives traffic and sales to your online and in person business in a uniquely compelling manner.

I have heard it said that there are too many blogs in the world. I agree. Everyone with a soap box and a keyboard can have one. But really there aren't enough great blogs. If you keep those tips in mind, you cannot help but having one of the greats. (And I promise to be one of your first followers!)

Point to Success Challenge:

Let's start the dialogue!
I will give away a pair of Tesori Trovati pearl earrings to one lucky commenter this week.

Rules:

• Must be a member of the BNI Point To Success chapter.


• Must leave a comment on this post related to the challenge below.


• Must tell me what blog you found (just cut and paste a link in the comments).


• Must tell me why you like this blog that you found.


• The following blogs, while great examples, do not count since I have used them as examples in my article: Treasures Found, Watch Me Create, Art Bead Scene, Motivation Manager and Entrepreneur.com

Find at least one blog in the next week that you would enjoy reading regularly, whether for personal or professional reasons, and start reading their current and past posts. Make sure to add an insightful comment at least once on that particular blog. And leave a comment here to let me know that you are part of the conversation!

I will pick a winner on Tuesday, May 26th for our next meeting!

Working Words of Wisdom:

"I will prepare and someday my chance will come."
~ Abraham Lincoln