"How to Blog like a Pro: Beginner's Guide"

Blogging really is becoming an essential key to any business; you need to consider starting one if you've not already done so

If you've not blogged before, don't be overwhelmed.  It really is quite easy if you bear in mind the following points:

1. Think about who you want to attract to your blog.  Who is your ideal follower? 
2. Once you've identified your niche market, ask yourself what they're likely to be looking for.  How can you be helpful to them?  What problems can you solve for them?
3. Don't blog to make money initially; concentrate on building up regular followers.

Once you've identified these key areas, I'd recommend that you do some background reading about blogging in general.  Have a look at online books or magazines and see what you can find. 

If there is only one book you read, I'd advise you to get your hands on a copy of Jeff Bullas, "Blogging the Smart Way". Personally I think he's the master blogger and his book will give you all sorts expert tips and advice.

Consider your Content

Don't write about subjects you're not familiar with as it will show.  Also, try not to write when you don't feel inspired.  I sometimes sit down to write a blog post but the ideas won't flow.   I was advised not to write on these occasions as my readers will recognise poor content when they see it and they'll start looking elsewhere.  However, try to be as consistent as you can and aim to post once or twice a week if you can to start with. 

Be passionate about your subject; it will shine through in your writing and will make your article so much more fluid and interesting.

Stephanie Frasco, from "Convert with Content", gave some very good advice when she said, "The best way to strengthen your personal brand is through a strong online presence backed by consistent blogging and social media ... blogging has been a key factor in growing my network and building my authority. With more authority comes more trust. And with more trust comes more clients. It's a simple equation".

Attention Grabbing Titles

Always try and think of a title that will grab your readers' attention and encourage them to read on.  If you don't they'll more than likely not read the rest of your post.  It's that important. 

Have a look at titles experienced bloggers use to introduce a subject.  Often you'll find variations of the same theme, such as, "10 Must-Read Tips to improve your Writing", "8 Days to Build a Money-Making Blog"; "How to ..."; "Tips about ..." etc. 

Social Sharing to Increase your Reach

Sharing your content on other social media platforms is really vital. There's really no point in writing a great article if nobody is going to see it so make sure you post your articles to as many social media platforms as you can, email them out to your clients if you have a good client list and have all the usual social media buttons available on your blog to encourage other people to read and share your content. 

Add a subscription widget to your blog and let people know that they can subscribe for regular updates, newsletters and any offers you may run.  This is an excellent way of capturing new clients and growing a client list. 

And don't forget, when you start out, blogging isn't just about you and your business; social media is all about getting 'sociable'.  So don't blog with pound or dollar signs in your eyes; don't be tempted to do the hard sell right from the beginning.  That will follow on naturally. 

Reach out to other bloggers, comment on their posts, answer questions for people on social media sites.  I'd really recommend that you build up a presence on Google+ and get sharing other people's content; they might reciprocate one day and start sharing your blog posts to people in their circles, so your followers will grow. 

Call to Action

Don't let your readers leave your blog without giving them some sort of instruction or "Call to Action".  Ask them to do something such as subscribe to your blog or newsletter, email you or schedule a telephone consultation.   When you become more experienced, ask your readers to sign up for a deal you're offering or a competition.  Make your CTAs really stand out so they can't be missed. If you have a look on HubSpot and subscribe to their own newsletter, they will often send you free images or CTA buttons you can put on your website.  When I started out I couldn't have done without these guys; they're wonderful. 

So, if I can help you any further please do get in touch with me at Virtuoso Assistant.  You can call me any time on 0118 328 3018 or email me at hello@virtuosoassistant.co.uk.

If there is a subject you would like advice about, please drop me a line in the Comments box below and I'll sort something out for you. 

If you've enjoyed reading my post please do give me a +1 in the box below and do share with your friends. 

Thanks!

Brush up your Business Blog!

Do you spend hours and hours writing on your blog without seeing any positive results?

If you have your own business a good rule of thumb is to write on your blog ideally three if not four times a week.  That can be quite demanding, particularly if  (like me) you have writer's block every other day and the ideas don't seem to flow!  It can also be frustrating to see that, despite your best efforts, people aren't reading your articles or sharing your content. 

I don't know how I got to read about Shama Kabani, it was one of those occasions when I'd clicked on so many links that I'd lost track of where I'd originally come from. 

In a nutshell Shama was born in Goa, India, in 1985; her family moved to Texas in 1994 where Shama went to school and eventually graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.  Okay, so lots of people go to school and graduate from University, so what?  The thing that I found quite amazing was the fact that, when studying for her Masters, Shama wrote her thesis on Twitter which, back in 2008, was still in its infancy.  Shama had such an understanding of social media that she could already see how Twitter was going to become a major player. 

Sharma is now CEO of her own company, Zen Marketing Group, which has grown annually by 400% since 2009! 

Great Content Advice for your Blog 

So, if you're struggling with your blog, here's an article which you might find useful.  It was written for Zen Marketing's own blog by Angela von Weber-Hahnsberg called, "Using Earned Media to Promote your Content".

The steps Angela suggests you take are really simple and easily done.  It's just a question of sitting down and thinking who you're writing your articles for and creating content which is useful and interesting enough to be shared. 

I hope you enjoy it.  You never know, you might be the next Sharma Kabani in 2014!

As always, please feel free to share with your friends or leave any comments you may have.  If you'd like me to write on your business blog, please do click over to my website, Virtuoso Assistant, and get in touch using my contact form.  

Thanks!

Hot Tips for a Twitter Tuesday!

Do you want to know why some people are so successful on Twitter? 

It's really simple.

There are two fundamental ways in which you can become top of the tree on Twitter; they're incredibly simple but are often forgotten.  The result?  You end up feeling deflated and frustrated as you feel you've put a lot of hard work into tweeting but people don't seem to engage in what you're saying.

There was a great discussion on Google+ last night which was started by a lady called Donna Beckett from Beckett & Co solicitors.  We were debating the pros and cons of having a  Google+ profile here in the UK and almost everybody came to the conclusion that it was a great social media platform but it was one where you had to make an effort to get to know people, to share posts, to interact with one another. 

Putting the Sociable into Social Media

You really have to embrace the 'social' or 'sociable' part of social media, get to know people, understand what your audience wants to read, what might interest them before you can really start to see significant results from posting on Twitter, or any social media platform for that matter.

These are the points which Rebekah Radice makes in her article, "Two Simple Twitter Tips to Virtually Dominate your Niche".  Not only does Rebekah give some great advice, she also shares a couple of free apps you can use to filter tweets according to your niche market and to find out what's currently trending on Twitter. 

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful going forward. 

As always, if you like this post please feel free to share it and add your comments below.

Thanks!

The Business Show 2013: Can you Afford NOT to go?!

If you're a start-up, a small business in your first year or an established business looking for more in-depth business advice, you should be heading over to London, Olympia on 28th/29th November

Tickets are free!  Sign up by visiting the homepage and you'll see a link to click on and register.

I won't go into too much detail as you can find all the information you need on The Business Show website. 

Personally, being a relatively new business, I'm going to head on over for the 2-minute speed-networking!  I think I'll be exhausted after a whole hour of pitching my business but the benefits will be enormous.  Or maybe I'll book in for a seminar or two; there's an enormous range you can choose from.  Caprice is talking about setting her lingerie business up in 2006, there's a talk about how to grow your business with social media and online marketing (might try that one), and plenty of seminars about financing your business.

I'll leave you to read up about the rest but don't lose any more time in booking your tickets!