Thursday, September 17, 2009

Blog or Website or Both?

I think I'm over the whole Dr. Seuss thing - visit my website and you'll see what I mean. Time to grow up - put on my "Big Girl" pants and really tackle this business of being in business. Don't get me wrong...I've been tackling, wrestling, jumping, cursing, joyful, sweaty and exuberant about my business for 4 years now. But I have been struggling with exactly who I am. Big no-no in the world of branding. I am listening to my clients, prospects and mostly (gulp) my former clients - most who have left because I efficiently worked myself out of a job, by the way - and now I realize what they need most is a coach. Face it, marketing is the fun part of owning a business. No Excel, Quickbooks or calculators needed! Just creativity, tenacity and guts! I enjoy teaching and our small business community seems to really enjoy learning.
So now that I am sure I have the right formula to take my business to the next level I need to decide what to do with my website. I think I'll chuck it.
I love the idea of a blog instead because it's conversational. It's what I do for a living - I have conversations with my clients about their business - I help them strategize and plan. I like this.
I found this great article by Darren Rowse (www.problogger.net) about the benefits of a blog and i have to agree:

1. Blogs give Individuals, Companies and Brands ‘Voice’ - 5 years ago I was a guy with a ‘voice’ that reached a few hundred people on any given week - today what I write and say is sneezed out to hundreds of thousands of people on any given week. My blogs are the vehicle for this.

2. Blogs are Conversational - both in the style of writing, the way they interact with one another and the way that they are designed with comments at their heart blogs are all about the conversation.

3. Blogs build Trust - as a result of being a relational/conversational medium a blogger can build trust with their audience (something that most businesses would kill for).

4. Blogs build Profile - looking to become an ‘expert’ (or at least be perceived as an expert) in your field. Blogs have the ability to showcase your expertise and help you become the ‘go to’ person in your field. Just today my blog brought me the opportunity to appear in Australia’s national newspaper - the result has been numerous other opportunities.

5. Blogs are Immediate - blogs are a great way to communicate with people because they are so quick to use. Have a thought, write it down, hit publish and within minutes it can be being read and commented upon by your readers.

6. Blogs are a doorway to Search Engines and Social Media - one of the great things about blogs is that they are indexed so well by search engines which love sites that are focused upon a topic, updated regularly etc. Social media sites (particularly bookmarking ones) also love blogs.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Small Business owners are largely forgotten. Thats why I only focus on them. I have experience several members of my family file bankruptcy due to small business failures. I also I suffered through 2 destroyed businesses due to failure however, in my failings I have learned some of the secrets to success. (Who can say they know it all?)
What I like about small business owners is that they are not afraid to take huge risks and lay it all on the line. But, I agree they do need a lot of help with their marketing. I think having them go the social media and email route is not only the least expensive but its also the most effective. Thanks for the stats!
www.onlineuniversalwork.com
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somaie said...

Small Business owners are largely forgotten. Thats why I only focus on them. I have experience several members of my family file bankruptcy due to small business failures. I also I suffered through 2 destroyed businesses due to failure however, in my failings I have learned some of the secrets to success. (Who can say they know it all?)
What I like about small business owners is that they are not afraid to take huge risks and lay it all on the line. But, I agree they do need a lot of help with their marketing. I think having them go the social media and email route is not only the least expensive but its also the most effective. Thanks for the stats!
www.onlineuniversalwork.com

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