It’s incredible, when I think back over the last six years or so, the evolution of blogging in business. What used to be a hard sell (yes, blogging is going to be very important for your business) is now standard-issue stuff. Successful businesses blog! Successful business people are bloggers. It’s so exciting to be not only watching but involved with this evolution in a very hands-on, integrated way.
Since you’re here, you’re probably a blogger for your business. Feel free to tell us about your blog in the comments — we’d all like to visit and read your posts!
I know we all get a little stuck sometimes, or a bit uninspired, so here’s a list of five ways to give you a boost in blogging:
- Involve others in the process. Even if you’re a sole proprietor there are other people you work with as vendors, partners or key customers. Ask them for ideas and inspiration. Get them to use Pinterest or Delicious to collect ideas for you to blog about. (OK, true story: I clicked over to Pinterest to add the link to this post and yeah, you lost me there for about half an hour. Behold the power of Pinterest. I’m back now. If you did the same, I hope you returned to finish this post with me.)
- Ask your readers what they’d like to see on your blog. I often ask my followers on Twitter for blog post ideas and they come up with some great ones!
- Read something you don’t normally read. If you’re a regular of the business section, try health or science, lifestyle or sports . . . mix it up to find a new angle that applies to what you do.
- Get visual! Look for or capture an image that sums up how you’re feeling, what you’re doing or what you’re seeing. Video is fun, as well (the shorter, the better.) Can you challenge yourself to tell a video story in 60 seconds?
- Dig deep. Share something personal (personal never, ever means PRIVATE). It is so valuable to show the human side of your business. We all have one — let your audience connect to yours. Some of my most popular business blog posts of all time have been from a very personal perspective.
I hope this is helpful to you — and remember, I want to read your blogs, so go ahead and pitch them below.