Workshop season is rolling along, and I’m enjoying all the hustle and bustle. The next stop on the workshop express train is Dungarvan, where I’ll be delivering a content creation workshop for small businesses. The workshop will equip people with the tools to put together their own blogs and social media posts. During the workshop, which will take place on Tuesday 20 September at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre, participants will come up with a plan for their blog and social media posts. They’ll also have a chance to draft up their first posts.
From working with businesses in the past, I’ve come to realise that before they ever write a blog post, three ingredients need to be in place. These ingredients will make it a lot easier for businesses to succeed with their blogs in the long term. During the workshop, I will be helping participants put those ingredients in place, so they’ll be motivated to succeed with their blogs.
1. Know Why You’re Blogging
Don’t blog because your web designer told you it was a good idea, or because other businesses are doing it. Define for yourself why you feel it’s important for you to blog. If you’re passionate about your business, blogging gives you a chance to share that passion with a wider audience. If you value your customer relationships, blogging gives you a chance to deepen those relationships by talking to customers directly. And if reputation is important to you, blogging will help you build your brand and establish yourself as a trusted source of information for your customers.
2. Be Willing to Invest Time
The great thing for small business owners is that blogging and social media are free to use. But you will still need to invest your time, and this can be in short supply for small business owners. You need to sit down and think about how much time you have available for your blog, how frequently you want to post and how long you want the posts to be. If you set a defined period of time aside each week for your blog, you’re more likely to keep blogging. If you really don’t have time, find someone in your business or your family circle who does.
3. Trust You’re the Expert
Another stumbling block to blogging success is confidence. You may feel you’ve nothing to say, or that you’re out of practise with writing. But you own the business. Nobody knows the business better than you, so no-one else is better qualified to blog about it than you. If the thought of writing intimidates you, keep it simple. Just write about the day-to-day happenings of your business and write as you speak. If you’re really stuck for words, base your blog posts on pictures. People love pictures, and they make your posts more visible.
What are your secrets of business blogging success? Why do you blog? And how do you find time for it in your busy day?
World of Writing 
I don’t have a business, yet, but I do blog a lot. I’m a young writer trying to publish books, so I blog about my stories.
I like blogging because it gives me a place to share my thoughts and feelings 🙂
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That’s great, and if you’re passionate about blogging, you’ll get a following, because the passion will show through in your posts. Good luck.
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Thank you =)
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Another reason people blog is because they’re told it’s a good way to get your name out there. In particular in the writing world, people are told they’ll get a larger audience for the book through a large blog following. Luckily nowadays the message has been changed to ‘if you have the time to invest in a blog and you’re willing to be a blogger as well as an author!’ Great post!
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Thanks for that. Yes, the “should” factor is a big obstacle. If you’re doing it because you think you should, you won’t succeed, because you don’t really want to do it.
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