Many professionals use blogs to further the message of their industry and/or discuss hot topics and trends. If done properly, their blog can help lead to bigger and better opportunities. However, the web is littered with blogs that started with the best of intentions, but for one reason or another lead nowhere. Blogs can be especially useful for promoting your personal brand by providing a forum to present your ideas to readers. The feedback you receive from testing ideas could prevent costly errors or lead to improvements you might not have considered yourself. To prevent your blog from being lost in the blogosphere, follow these tips to creating the best darn blog imaginable.
1. Discover your voice-For a new blogger, finding a topic and the appropriate voice may be difficult. To get in the habit, write whatever comes to mind about your intended topic for 30 minutes. Continue this exercise for one week. By the end of the week, you should have a good feeling for what your voice sounds like or where you would like your blog to go.
2. Stay on topic-Once you establish a topic, stick to it. Your followers read your blog because of a particular topic or interest you write about. Industry blogs are not the place to post your thoughts on the weather unless it relates to the topic. However, blog readers are often entertained by posts that link back loosely to the subject. Allowing your personality to shine through your writing will give your readers more of an idea of what you are about. Include anecdotes from your life that relate to lessons you have learned in your professional experience. This strategy gives the blog life rather than sounding like a news report.
3. Be informative, concise and consistent-Your readers love what you have to say, but don’t have time to spend all day reading it. Old news is not newsworthy. Let them know your thoughts on current events in your industry, and do it regularly.
4. Promote, but don’t over promote-Your blog should be an informational asset not explicit advertising space for your business or cause. Readers recognize advertising-only blogs instantly, and they do not stick around. The idea is to attract readers, not repel them.
Most importantly, have fun with it. Readers can tell instantly if the blogger doesn’t enjoy it.
Let me know how your blogging endeavors pan out. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. Happy blogging!
