by Karen Wessels, co-founder of SnappSales and VA Connect
The year was 2013, I had quit my day job and I was trying my hand at this thing called “entrepreneurship” full-time. I had started a side-line business a few years ago and decided that this was the year to give it my all!
By this time my business had been going for 5 years and blogging was becoming quite a thing. So I decided to try my at hand it. My first attempt was terrible! Well, terrible in that my writing was stiff and very formal, and the blog itself wasn’t very engaging.
In hindsight (as there is always wisdom in hindsight! ☺) I realised that there were a few flaws in my blogging approach. I didn’t know who my target market was, I wasn’t sure what message I wanted to bring across and there was no planning behind my writing.
You’ve probably heard the adage “content is King” over the last couple of years. Creating powerful content that is engaging and can convert visitors to followers and these followers to clients is what you should aim for. Videos and vlogs will certainly overtake blogging by strides in the years to come, however, blogging is still powerful right now.
Let’s take a look at ways you can implement this great tool in order to grow your business.
1. Content Strategy
As with anything in business you need to have a strategy. My first suggestion is to sit in a quiet place for about 2 hours and plan the first quarter’s content. Getting blog topics in advance will help tremendously with writer’s block and will dissuade you from putting off the inevitable. And by this I mean that for some writing might start out as a chore until you get comfortable with writing and you find your ‘voice’. Write regularly, share often and enjoy the process!
Plan your blogs around the time of year that you are writing, and with each piece have a desired outcome in mind, therefore write with intention.
2. Write for your market
Do you know who your target market is? You can only achieve blogging success if you know who you are writing for. The best way to determine this is to define your ‘buyer persona’. Understanding the fundamentals of your prospective clients will aid you to write about topics that are relevant and applicable to your market. Your business blogs should be aimed at both prospective and current clients. These blogs will cover things like ‘how to’, ‘did you know’, ‘top 5 ways to’ and so forth. If you’re not sure how to define your buyer persona, here’s an easy sample to try out : http://karenwessels.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Karen_Wessels_Buyer_Persona.pdf
3. Take-aways and Call-to-actions
The key to successful blog writing is to keep in mind that blogs are less formal than articles and should be engaging. Blogs will help the reader with a sound base of information. Remember that with each piece you write the reader has a key take-away, that is, one thing that will impact them enough for them to keep visiting your blogs on a weekly basis. Your blog should also contain a call-to-action, so you want the reader to either sign up for your weekly newsletter, or request a quote or download an e-book. You’ve engaged the reader up until this point, don’t lose the momentum!
Bringing it together
Blogging is fun, so keep your style light and engaging. Blogs are one of the best ways to establish credibility and thought leadership. Write with intention, write regularly and keep pushing your creative boundaries, it always pays off in the end!
Karen Wessels is the co-founder and COO of VA Connect, a South African virtual assistant platform that provides outsourced administrative support; and is also the co-founder of SnappSales, a company that generates quality sales leads for its clients. Prior to establishing both her companies, Karen spent over 10 years in different sales, marketing & admin support roles. This experience has equipped her with the invaluable skills required to run her two successful business ventures. Follow Karen on her Personal Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
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