Blogging is one of the most accessible tools to connect and engage with your target audience, whether you are product or service related. By writing valuable, relatable, and enjoyable content for your clients or customers, you begin to build a lasting relationship.
When I was asked to write a guest post for the Women’s Business Network, it struck me that the ideal topic for a blogger to write about was blogging!
How did I get started in the blog-o-sphere?
I’m so fortunate that writing comes naturally to me, and thanks to this creative gift, I’ve been penning tall tales since I was old enough to hold a crayon. When I discovered blogging back in 2012, it opened up an entire world of new connections, fantastic topics, and both personal and professional development.
My first blog was challenge related and became the catalyst to me publishing my first book in 2014. I never thought at the time that blogging would have such a significant impact on my life and eventually become a thriving business. That blog has evolved over the years from its humble beginnings as My Resolution Challenge with over 200,000+ visitors, to the award-winning personal development blog, Motivate Me, that it is today.
When I started blogging, it was to share the successes and failures as I took part in a year-long challenge to complete 52 New Year resolutions. I ran a ladies only holistic spa, and my target readers were the ladies who booked with me for reflexology, reiki, and the other treatments I offered. About a month into the challenge, I began receiving messages from women all over the globe as they felt inspired and motivated by my project – I had found an audience!
Since then, I’ve started another two blogs. My first, Motivate Me, is my self-help, personal development themed platform where I share inspirational stories, my self-help books, and wellbeing articles. The second is my author blog, where I share anything novel or writing-related. It’s where I publish my book reviews, author interviews and writing articles. I use this platform to help promote new authors as well as Sunday Times bestsellers. The last is my business blog, a relatively new platform where I share tips and advice around copywriting, blogging, and social media content. In the future, I would love to start a travel blog. Until then, I have the immense pleasure of writing blog posts for my clients.
The ladies I work with are from a wide range of industries. I’ve written posts about accounts and finance, wellness and mindfulness, business development, coaching, and several other topics. Researching for each post takes time, but I’ve learned so much about my client’s world and industry this way. It helps me to connect with them, and in turn, their ideal client.
Benefits of blogging
My promotional line is always ‘if you have neither the time nor the inclination to blog, then let me do it for you!‘ I realise that writing isn’t a joy for most people. Putting together a three-line sentence on LinkedIn can be the limit for some of my clients. However, all of them appreciate the value of sharing regular content on their business blog.
Some of the main benefits of creating a blog content plan and blogging regularly as part of your business marketing strategy include:
- Become a leader in your field – since starting my blog I have been invited to run workshops, speak at events, and collaborate on many projects in the capacity of either an inspirational self-help author/speaker or as an influential blogger. There is value in knowing your stuff and sharing that knowledge online. Your target audience and colleagues will see you as a go-to resource within your industry, and if a prestigious event needs a guest speaker, you will be at the forefront of the organiser’s mind.
- Build trusting relationships with your target audience – when you share good quality information on your blog, be it an entertaining piece, or an educational post, your ideal client will remember it, and more importantly, they’ll remember you. The beauty of blogging is in the way a post is structured to feel more like a conversation. You want to chat with your audience, get to know what they need help with, and then offer them solutions. By regularly turning up with great results, you begin to build a loyal following.
- Create opportunities – once you start sharing regular SEO friendly content, your business and brand will become established as a leader in your field. That boost in your brand awareness can create incredible opportunities. You may be invited to collaborate on projects, run events, be a guest speaker, or asked to contribute a guest blog post – like this one!
How do you write an effective guest post?
If you are invited to write a guest post for a complementary business, take this as a compliment. The author of that particular business blog is trusting that what you have to say is interesting and relatable to their audience. They are willing to share their online space so you can promote yourself and your business. That’s a great opportunity that you can’t miss!
Never written a guest post before? Don’t worry, here are a couple of tips to help you plan.
- Ask what the preferred word-length is for their blog platform. Most guest articles are around 500 – 700 words.
- Do they have a theme/topic for you to follow? For example, if you are an accounting software consultant and are asked to write a guest post for a bookkeeper, they may prefer you to talk about one particular area of the software and how it benefits their clients.
- Take time to read a few of the posts the company has already published to get a feel for the language they use, style of posts they share, and any favoured topics.
How to structure your guest post?
This is your opportunity to promote your business, so you want to make sure you are providing good quality content. Start by thinking about the company you are writing the guest submission for. What do you provide that will help their clients? What service do you offer that is a perfect companion to the hosts business? For example, an executive coach, a pregnancy coach, and a weight loss coach would have distinctly different audiences, but their coaching skills may overlap somewhere. Mindset is one such area that is vital in all coaching scenarios and would make an excellent topic for a post if the executive coach were to provide a guest article on the weight loss platform.
- Blog title – start with a great title that hooks the reader in. Use numbers or a how-to format as these types of blog headings do well. ‘5 Top Tips for Boosting Creativity in Business’ or ‘How-To Manage Your Time Effectively’.
- Opening paragraph – set the scene with an issue the reader may struggle with, an inspirational quote, or share a statistic (we all love reading stats!).
- Personal touch – this is a guest post which means you are allowed to share your story. It doesn’t have to be a hard sell style guest post. Your host is probably hoping for a more relaxed submission that entertains as well as educates. You are using this opportunity to introduce yourself to a new audience – share who you are, why you do what you do, as well as how it can be useful.
- Break up your text – if you’ve ever sat staring at a school textbook that contains pages and pages of words, you’ll appreciate the importance of a well-placed bullet list, picture, or sub-heading. Break up what you want to say using a variety of headings and lists.
- Call to action – whether you are writing a guest post or one for your own platform, it’s vital always to add a CTA (call to action). What do you want the reader to do once they’ve read your post? It might be to book a consultation call, follow you on Facebook, buy an event ticket/book/workshop place, or sign-up to your newsletter. Whatever it is, add it at the bottom as a ‘what you need to do next’ prompt.
Let’s put it all together and use this post as a guide:
- Title that captures the theme of the post and is targeted at the right audience – check!
- Set the scene with how [insert topic] is beneficial to the reader – check!
- Added the personal touch – check!
- Lots of bullet lists and bold sub-headings – check!
- Included a CTA – check! (You’ll see this below so be sure to keep reading)
Hopefully, you’ll now understand that blogging is beneficial to your business and that writing a guest post can be good for your brand. You’ll have an idea about the structure of your own guest post, be able to play around with headings and bullet lists, and your host will have provided helpful guidance on word-count and topic. Now all you have to do is write the post! Simples!
Of course, if you have neither the time nor the inclination to blog, then let me do it for you. I provide monthly blogging support via my ‘Done for You Packages’, as well as one-off blog posts via my copywriting services. Take advantage of my free 30-minute consultation call to see how I might be able to help you and your business HERE.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to sign-up for my monthly newsletter for more blogging tips, social media content ideas, and more HERE.
Find out more about the support, online meetings, and guest speakers we have coming up at the Women’s Business Network via our website: www.womensbusinessneworkjng.co.uk
Alternatively, get in touch to discover how membership to the Women’s Business Network will benefit you and your business and take you from surviving to thriving.
Book a clarity call to see how we can help you further.
