The Ease of Blogging

A lot of business people worry about having a blog to which they have to contribute regularly on their website. They ask themselves, “Who cares what I think?”; ”Oh, I can’t write worth a hoot!”; “I never got good marks for writing in school.”; and the list goes on, and on and on. People have as many excuses not to write publicly as there are people.

The reasons for writing a blog for your site have really very little to do with you. Your blog is for your prospective clients, primarily. It will serve as a place where they can get answers to their questions about you and your offering. Ideally, they will be able to get enough information from your blog and from other parts of your site to become comfortable making a buying decision, to buy from someone they have come to like and trust. A blog is a place for you to supply information, yes, but more importantly it is a place where people can get to know you and what you stand for. Don’t write off the importance of what you stand for. It is what helps your business stand out from all the rest. For one thing it can help establish you as one of those rare people for whom no question is too small or too silly. That is rare, indeed. Such an attitude among prospects would be invaluable.

It really is as simple as, if you can say it, you can write it. The type of writing you will do in your blog is different than what you did in school. No one is marking you here. You speak to people when you sell your product or service, don’t you? If you are successful enough at that to survive, that standard of communication will serve you fine as a writer in your blog. Say it first. If spelling or punctuation is a problem find someone you like and trust to be your proofreader. Their only criteria need to be what you want them to correct for you and whether or not they get your point. You obviously make a point when you sell. Your writing needs to make the same point(s). Grammar is secondary to the point(s) you wish to convey.

More important than technical quality in your blog writing is your “voice”. This is a concept many people have trouble understanding but it is important in relationship building and branding, which are two of the key things you are doing with your blog. Everyone has a way of expressing themselves; the way they use contractions, or not; the metaphors (funny expressions) they use; their peculiar (sometimes) grammatical habits of expression. Our voice is one of the things that attract people to us. This is one of the reasons a conversational style is important. This is also why it is important to “be yourself” when you write. If you talk and write the same way, people will recognize you when they meet you. If they have come to like and trust you as a source of hassle-free information, help and ideas, you will have a leg up on the buying process. (You should have twigged by now to the value of social media in this “friending” process) For example, Merri writes a column for the local paper which I proof-read for her. The first thing I check for is that it sounds like her. It is not my job to critique her choice of topics, just whether it works as a communication in her “voice”. Punctuation and spelling is usually an important part of that.

Anyway, we will revisit this topic in more detail later but that, I think, takes care of three very important considerations. Most important, what do you think? Take the time to drop your thoughts in the appropriate box. More information please visit this site www.merrimacmarketing.net