Like anything else in life and business, you have to work at it to reap financial and personal rewards. Nothing feels better than self-accomplishment.
First, let’s make sure you understand why blogging is so important.
- Blog posts create new published content on your website containing terms people may be searching for.
- Search engines will find your posts and store them away to help those who may be searching for something using certain search words (aka: keywords) that you use in your post title and paragraphs a couple of times. So you see, the more posts you make, the more you are “feeding” Google and the other search engines.
- Regular blogging makes YOUR website “keyword rich” and potentially easier to find than your competition in the search engine results page.
What to Write About
So many questions come to me about blogging. They all have something in common: anxiety and fear of doing something new. Once you get beyond that, your mind is free and this is no longer a chore but instead a lot of fun! Trust me on this.
Here are two simple questions to ask yourself to get started:
- Who is my target audience? Likely people looking for your services in your area. The services and location names are your keywords to incorporate into your blog posts.
- What can I teach or give them of value? In other words, what do you know that they may not know but may like to learn. Again, what you talk about contains keywords.
For example, let’s say you’re a stylist and you’re thinking of starting a blog post…
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I can cut and style hair professionally! (Nah…boring. You never want to be commercial.)
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Or I could tell you what hair products to buy that really work. (Hmmm…more interesting now and your opinion makes your content unique! Good choice.)
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Or I know how and why a certain cutting/style technique keeps your hair healthier and looks better longer! (Baaammm! Now you’re getting somewhere!)
Did I just get your attention? Make you mad? Make you think? That’s the whole point — attraction. Three things I listed above may seem like I’m giving the farm away, and that’s exactly right! And no, I’m not drawing business away from myself either, trust me.
I’m attracting readership and creating trust and investing in my future by blogging about what I know.
Napoleon Hill, an early personal success author and advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, once said: “Give more value than you are being paid for and soon you will be paid more than the value you have given.”
Lack confidence in your writing ability? No worries. Here are two easy options:
- Write something first and have someone read it before publishing it in your blog. You will know the answer to this question real fast.
- Get someone to write it for you or a family member or friend who can write well and offer some sort of trade-off for doing so.
Start today and don’t put this off. Get into the habit of blogging and the rewards will come with better and better organic search engine ranking results and way better potential for people to click your link!