creating blog content

It’s the Easiest, Most Profitable Way To Talk About Your Small Business … So Why Aren’t You Doing It?

You’re standing in the checkout line, with several people in front of you. You glance over and start reading the titles of the magazines in front of you. And for some reason they just pull you in.

Do you really care who had an alien baby, or how you can create 365 looks that will make you look more sexy? Maybe … Maybe not.

Yet there is just something about those titles that make you want to pick up the magazine and start reading.

It isn’t a coincidence that the titles are that tantalizing. In fact I’m willing to bet more time is spent on creating those titles and cover layouts then they do writing the stories themselves.

What sells is the title – the sizzle – not the meat of the story. Yes, the story itself has to be good and give you exactly what the title promises. Yet the story satisfies your hunger for whatever information you were promised. You won’t move forward and take action once you’ve read the story.

Because editors know the only way they will stay in business is to get you to buy the magazine, they spend their time on what matters most. The titles.

Now lets convert that over into what you potentially do every week. If you blog, every week you sit down and come up with topics to write about. Yet how much time do you spend coming up with your titles? I know for a lot of you, the answer is “just a few seconds” – and that may even be pushing it.

I see post titles every day that are worded something like this:

Testimonials

My Favorite Tips

Case Study

Its Friday

Great titles, right? Yet I see the all the time. But what are they doing for your business? Are they truly motivating your prospects and clients?

When your clients come over and visit your blog, they are a captive audience. They are there for something specific. They are looking for advice, motivation or inspiration. They want to learn more about whatever business you are in.

But do any of the above titles do any of that?

If they are already clients and visit your blog, they may visit the case study post, especially if its about them. They may share the link with family and friends – again, especially if its about them. But what will happen outside of that?

If a prospect wanders into your site to look around and likes what they see, they may end up on your blog and read a testimonial or two. But outside of that, there really isn’t much more to read with titles like that. They’ll get what they need and leave.

And that’s the people that go directly to your site.

Yet there’s another way – a way in which I hope you are trying to create – to drive traffic to your site. And its all about search.

Yep, its Google. People head over there millions of times per day, typing in keywords and key phrases, hoping to come across great information. You can earn a ton of traffic coming through Google. But only if you are creating the right posts that will gain traction inside of Google.

Testimonials won’t do it. Have you ever gone into Google, looking for anything, and typed in the word “testimonials”? Probably not.

So why do you create a post titled Testimonials? It does little to attract attention from the people on your site; it does nothing to attract attention in Google.

Which means in order to gain traction, you have to change your titles. But what should you write? What are people looking for?

The easiest way to find out is to head over to Google and use their keyword tool to do a little research.

Let’s use the word “garden” just to see what comes up.

When you type in garden, you’ll get many different results. This will show you what people typed directly into Google last month using the keyword you’ve selected. It isn’t a comprehensive list, but should be a great starting point. It will show you search terms as well as worldwide and local results.

From there, you can further refine what keywords you wish to look at. For this example, lets choose the term “organic gardening”.

After letting the results come up using this phrase, you can see a wide variety of options.

If you were starting up an organic gardening business, with just this one simple search you would gain a lot of information on what people are searching for within your industry. They want organic gardening tips, organic garden seeds, and would love to find it all in an organic gardening magazine.

Testimonials as a blog title might bring in a handful of visitors to that post.

But if you created a blog post title “The Best Organic Garden Seeds For The Urban Gardener”, do you think you could attract more attention from a variety of sources … including Google?

If you spend a little time and find a way to make each post you create attractive to both Google and your readers, your posts could quickly help you build up the traffic to your site – and the profits to your business.

Don't forget to download your FREE Blogging Planner today.

Blogs can benefit any website but don’t worry if you can’t do all the writing yourself … you can hire a ghost blogger for that!

The 5 Stages Of Writing The Perfect Blog Post

What does it take to write the perfect blog post?

If you’re not a writer, chances are it can be the most difficult thing in the world. All kinds of questions run through your head:

What do I write about?
How do I find the perfect picture/graphic?
What about keywords?
How do people find my post online?

And that’s just with the first post. A few months down the road, after you’ve written post after post, the questions become even more difficult.

What do I write about now?
Are people really reading what I’m writing?
Does anybody care about my blog?

That’s when the majority of bloggers give up. They let the questions win, and they move on to other endeavors. Yet that’s the time when you need to keep it up, because you’re finally starting to gain traction with your blog posts. Here are some ideas to keep you writing.

Choose Your Topic

With every post you write, you should have a topic or one main idea. Think of your products and or services. Think of your many clients, and how each of them came to you for a different reason. This is a great way to start coming up with topics.

Write From Different Angles

While its important to have your blog cover a topic thoroughly, don’t forget that every service or product you offer can be broken down in many ways. Don’t cover every piece of your business within one post; instead break it down into multiple pieces.

For instance, if you have a blog on dentistry, it’s easy to write to choose to write a post on a topic such as wisdom teeth. Yet even this one topic can be broken down many ways.

What are wisdom teeth?
Can you live with wisdom teeth?
Why do you need to have wisdom teeth removed?
What does it mean when the dentist says your wisdom teeth are impacted?

And so on. See how I started with one topic – wisdom teeth – and quickly found four different posts from four different angles?

Include The Complete Thought

Once you have your blog title and concept in place, write a complete thought from beginning to end. Just because you know you’ve written five other posts on this same topic doesn’t mean the reader will. They are entering this post for the first time, and need a complete message, from beginning to end.

Target It Towards One Client

Want an even easier way to write up a post? Think about one client you are currently working with. What do you talk with them about? How did you sell them on your services? Write a post directly to this one person, and chances are you’ll reach a dozen others with the same concerns, questions and thoughts.

Dig Deeper: How To Stay Out Of Blogging Overwhelm

Refer To Other Sources

Don’t make your blog posts a single read. Instead, use hyperlinks to bring them to other sources both on your own blog, and to other resources online. Not only does this provide them with even more content and details, it keeps them actively reading and clicking to more resources throughout your blog. The longer you can keep their attention, the greater chance you have of turning them into a client.

Don't forget to download your FREE Blogging Planner today.

Blogs can benefit any website but don’t worry if you can’t do all the writing yourself … you can hire a ghost blogger for that!

Instead of Selling, Blog The Story

What’s the one most common misconception of blogging?

Blogging is never about selling.

Many small business owners jump onto a blog, and start writing up all the benefits to their products, provide testimonials, and share information on why their business is the best.

If this sounds like you, you’re never going to make it blogging for your business.

Blogging is about telling a story. blog the story

Ultimately, you want your reader to be able to really get into your story, see him or herself in your writing, and have the desire to move to the next level. To take action.

The easiest way to become better at writing is to create your blog posts like you would be telling a story to a potential customer. How would you speak to them?

Let me give you an example. What if you had a coaching company to help people improve their selling techniques? You may put together something like this:

“Selling isn’t fun and most people don’t enjoy it.”

You may agree with that sentence, but does it really motivate you to want to take the next step or to find out more about what the person is saying? Compare that to:

“Jane hated selling. She hated it so much she almost decided to close her business because of it. She loved working with the clients, making them happy, and following up with them after the sale. But it was always the initial meeting that made her nervous. She never wanted to come across as a used car salesperson. She didn’t want people thinking she was pushy.”

If you hate selling, you can instantly feel Jane’s pain. You can put yourself into her situation, and feel exactly what she’s feeling. You also want to read more of the story – what happens next? Does Jane shut down her business? Or does she find a solution?

That’s the way you want to write. Let your writers feel what you are talking about. Bring out the details. Describe the situation how someone looking in would see it. Describe it from one person’s point of view.

Great books always pull you in because they tell a story. They make you want to read further because you want to find out what’s next.

Do the same with your blog.

Do this with every post. And do it between different posts. Make people move from one spot to the next.

The more you can pull them in, the greater they will stick to your blog. And the bigger the chance of them becoming customers in the future.

Don't forget to download your FREE Blogging Planner today.

Blogs can benefit any website but don’t worry if you can’t do all the writing yourself … you can hire a ghost blogger for that!