Guest post by Joel Kelly
There’s been a lot of chatter for the last few years now about how every business needs a blog. And in most cases I would agree.
I think there’s far too little chatter, however, about having a real, actual strategy and plan for your blog. It’s easy to realize why you should have a blog, why your business should be blogging, but it’s a lot more difficult to figure out what you should be talking about on a regular basis. It can certainly be pretty difficult to make sure you always have something interesting to say each week (or whatever your schedule might be).
Because, let’s face it, if you’re an artist or run a small business, you don’t have time to blog. At least, you probably don’t think you do. If you’ve got enough time on your hands each week to sit down for a few hours and come up with a brand new topic, write the post, edit it, and then throw it online, then your business might have more serious problems than its blog.
So what do you do? You’re swamped, you don’t have the time to dedicate to that every single week. Well, that’s where I suggest a solid, consistent blogging strategy would come in. If you have, for the next 10 weeks, post topics lined up with bullet points for each post of what you want to cover, and how it relates to your overall story, then you’re in a much better position.
And if you had a set of guidelines written up that outline how each post should be written, what elements of consistency should be there, how to offer value in each one, and reasons for your readers to care, then you’re pretty much set.
And these outlines and guidelines allow for multiple authors to jump in and offer their unique perspectives while still maintaining that consistency and value. Now, it’s possible that the purists might suggest that you should write spontaneously, or that you shouldn’t have multiple authors if it’s a more personal blog. But, on this and so many other issues, I defer to Hugh.
Having a solid blogging strategy will allow you to always have blog ideas at the ready, and will allow you to make sure you’re always offering value and contributing to your overall story. Even if a different author jumps in.
So make sure you take the time to figure out your blogging strategy (or get some help with it). Assess where you see it going, and how it’s going to provide value and be interesting to your customers. I, of course, recommend the Story/Content/Offer formula for constructing your blog guidelines, but really it’s about what works best for you, and what will make sure you always have something interesting to say.
Hope this helps!
Joel Kelly helps artists and small business with their marketing over at his blog Ingenioustries.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree completely. If you are going to blog for your business, then obviously you have a goal in mind. With a plan, you greatly increase the likelihood of achieving your goal. Most things in business work best when you make a plan.
Very, very true. I think in the social media world too often basic business principles like this are not given the attention they deserve — too much emphasis on the tools and not enough on the strategy.
Great post Joel. That’s something to think about indeed.
Thanks, glad you like it!
Not entirely about blogging strategy here, but I’d like to - if I may - string two of your very well made points from previous posts together:
You’re absolutely right as you’ve mentioned here: small businesses, artists and nonprofits often hide behind the excuse of not having enough time to blog. Whether it’s fear or a misconception of what’s expected of them as bloggers, it’s one of the top issues holding people back. Combined with their jokes of, “Well…no one cares what kind of coffee I had this morning”, these folks are armed with everything they need to avoid getting connected online.
Now, I really believe that all of this is remedied by points you’ve made in the past about adding value for audiences who voluntarily choose to follow corporate blogs or twitter accounts. I won’t read a nonprofit’s blog if it’s simply another mouthpiece for the information already being distributed through other channels. I’d argue that at times, anecdotes, sidestories, and unpolished behind-the-scenes looks at your brand are exactly what are needed to help audiences connect with you on a deeper level. Maybe not what coffee you drank in the morning (but then again, maybe this WOULD be what your audiences are looking for!), but things that you experience, appreciate and add to YOUR day, will help me paint a picture of who you are, what you stand for, and where our priorities sync up.
Good points, Ben. Not sure they’re really “hiding behind” it in a lot of cases. I really think it’s usually a real lack of time and direction. But in either case, a solid strategy will help with that
And yep, a little context about the writer can go a long way. For sure.
I have no blogging strategy… maybe that’s why the majority of my blog posts were in 2006? Great work Joel
Glad you liked the post
Hope this one and the ones on my blog end up being helpful with that!
Thanks for the post - great tips. Have often thought about starting my own blog once my small biz is up and running. Many of my friends blog and find it to be a great sanity check for them and for their businesses (e.g. “Am I on track?” “Am I doing what I said I was going to do?” etc.) But according to them, not only is it time-consuming to maintain the blog itself (as you point out) the peripheral duties - such as promoting the blog, participating in blog-oriented events etc - are almost equal drains on their time. Strategies would probably help here as well.
Glad you like the post!
Absolutely right. Both content creation and promotion have their strategies than can be created and implemented that will greatly help the time management of a blog. Maybe I should do a post soon about promotion..?