Is blogging a tool only available to the gifted and talented writers of this world? Absolutely not!
Always remember that one of the best parts of blogging is that there are no “hard and fast” rules. Here are a few points to keep in mind that will help you off on the right foot:
* Offer fresh, unique content often (at least 2x per week).
* Present information informally; your tone should be personal, yet professional.
* Provide useful information to your subscribers (latest updates, news, and topics in your industry) so that they see you as an expert in your field.
* Provide a place for busy, over-stimulated individuals to find the information that they are looking for quickly and efficiently.
Even if you hate writing, you can still maintain a successful small business blog. Here are seven blogging strategies for the non-writer:
1) Create video blog posts. Instead of writing a blog post, you simply videotape yourself (using a video camera) or your computer screen (using free screen capture software such as Camstudio ). You upload the video to your blog and you have created a video post.
2) Create an audio post. You can also use audios on your blog as well. Again, you record your voice using a microphone and voice editing software. Once you have uploaded your audio file to your blog, you’ve created an audio post.
3) Ask your blog/ezine subscribers to write guest blog posts for you. Once you have a subscriber database, you can send out an email asking for guest bloggers. You would be surprised how many individuals are willing to write a guest blog post to create exposure and visibility for their own business.
4) Hire someone to write the content for you. Believe it or not, many small business owners hire “ghostbloggers” to write blog posts for them. This option works best if you don’t have much time and have the funds to outsource the work. You can hire a ghostblogger through guru.com or elance.com Just make sure that they are fully qualified, dependable and sign an agreement that all the content they provide to you is copyrighted and owned by your company.
5) Use Private Label articles. Private label articles are niche articles written for the general public to use. You are allowed to take the article, tweak it so that it reflects your own voice and writing style and upload it to your blog. Obviously, you will need to take the time to find appropriate articles and edit them, but you will never again face the daunting task of coming up with fresh content. To find Private Label articles, you can use a company such as easyplr.com or simply do a Google Search using the term Private Label articles to find additional options.
6) Use article directories. There are hundreds of article directories on the internet that have published articles on every imaginable category. As long as you keep the article fully in-tact and reproduce the full biography of the writer, you can use the article as a blog post. Some of the best article directories are:
4) buzzle.com
8) amazines.com
10) articleset.com
7) Advertise for guest bloggers. Let other bloggers know that you would like them to write guest blog posts for you blog. One of the best places to find guest bloggers is at bloggerlinkup.com There you can advertise (for free), that you are interested in obtaining guest blog posts.
So, whether you are a bonafide Ernest Hemingway or not, there are still ways that you can maintain a highly successful blog that will help build your small business on a shoestring marketing budget.
About Jessica Swanson
Signing up for Google Alerts has helped me immensely in this area. Once you set it up, it sends you e-mail “alerts” about industry news and basically any and everything posted on the web related to the keywords you set up. I just go through the alerts in my inbox every day and save the things I'd like to blog about. I've gotten a ton of ideas for blogs posts and articles I could write just in the last week alone. Now if I could only find the time to write them all! LOL If you're struggling for ideas, check it out.
Thanks for reminding our readers about Google alerts…I use it too and it really is an amazing tool! And you're right…it's perfect for coming up with blog ideas.
Nice, thanks for your marketing kit !
Lots of great info! Thanks. You make it sound easy.
As always, wonderfully helpful tips and resources!
Do you have any experience with or thoughts on “Biznik”? I've been hearing consistently positive feedback and I was wondering if you've ever utilized Biznik as an article directory venue.
Thanks,
Melanie
I have been a part of Biznik for some time…it's a great small business resource. I have uploaded quite a few articles to Biznik…the only problem is that they need to be at least 500 words long (which is longer than most of the posts that I write). But, I have had quite a bit of traffic come to my site because of Biznik.
Really appreciate the reply, Jessica. I can see where Biznik might become a challenge for some folks (like me) who write shorter blog posts and articles. A minimum of 500 words seems like a bit of a stiff requirement. I'm sure they have their reasons. Personally, I prefer to not only write shorter articles/posts but to read shorter ones, as well. Good to know, however, that you've gotten positive results with traffic coming from Biznik.