Why Blog?

I was talking to a good friend of mine in Sweden a couple of weeks ago – he’s a savvy marketer and a sharp businessman. We’ve often talked about the difference in technology in the US vs. Europe. When I visited him a few summers ago, I was fascinated when he paid for a parking meter and purchased items from a vending machine using his cell phone. They’ve expanded that technology to include SO many things – it’s convenient, easy, smart and I’m still waiting for it to hit stateside.

He’s fascinated by our use of technology on the personal front – webinars, blogging, extensive use of social media. They’re just not quite there in the same way. Of course, he’s always been surprised by the American willingness to say say what we think – whatever we think!

I was explaining what I often talk to clients about – he was interested enough that I thought you might be too.  He likes the idea of blogging – but was curious how blogs fit into the ‘social media chain’ and how we teach using them – particularly for professional practices.

A blog serves as a hub – a home if you will – the place where your clients, customers and potential clients and customers can learn about who you, how you think, what you offer and sometimes what you believe in – if not personally, then professionally. It provides you a place to be part of the give-to-get culture of the internet. Provide real value and develop a following and create loyalty and trust while building your personal and business brand. You can compete no matter how small your business – this is true in a way it’s never been before – not on this scale and never for free.

Unlike traditional static sites where nothing much changes, there’s a reason to keep coming back to a blog, or better yet, to subscribe and stay updated and current – particularly if the people you’re following provide valuable information that you can really use.

All the other social media platforms you participate in can be used to share smaller bits of information and drive traffic to your blog and ultimately your website and your business.

To further the hub analogy, think of a wheel, with the blog at the center and all the social media platforms as spokes, leading back to the wheel and acting interdependently. You blog allows you to provide value to your clients and to showcase your work and your personality, which, because of social media, has become more important than ever before in business. Key is to provide real value – give away some of your best stuff. That’s a hard concept for people to wrap their minds around at first – it may seem counter-intuitive – believe me, it’s not. It’s the way it works. Provide so much value that people trust you and some of those people will need/want what you offer and happily pay you for it because they already ‘know’ you and know the value you provide, the type of person you are – the way you do business. There’s never been a way to showcase this before in quite this way – it’s brilliant and it’s simple.

Don’t know how to set up a blog? There are some great– even free – resources. WordPress is a an easy-to-use platform that you can attach to an existing site – there are many themes (think templates) that you can use, or you can have one custom designed relatively inexpensively. WordPress has extensive information, training and forums available – it can take a while to dig around and learn, but if you like to do it yourself and you have time, take on the learning curve and get it set up. If not, and you want specific resources, just email me and I’ll point you to the right resources for your needs/interests.

Don’t think it’s too late – the timing couldn’t be better. There’s still a huge window of opportunity to establish your brand and carve out your space online. I believe 3-5 years from now that will have changed and those among of who haven’t taken the time to get established are going to wonder how we ended up in “Siberia” – no offense to anyone – I grew up with my mother referring to everything not “HERE” as Siberia! Get busy, get blogging, email me with questions, or post comments – let’s talk.

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