- A certain amount of internet literacy is required to blog. If you’re not on par with that, you’ll struggle. If you find navigating most websites bewildering, it’s not them: it’s you.
- When you have that internet literacy, the technical side of blog installation, design, and management can still be quite a challenge.
- That challenge is nothing compared to the challenge of what to write and how to write it. Most people are not prepared to do what it takes to stand out from the crowd, entertain, educate, and sell all at the same time.
- That challenge is made way easier when you know exactly who your ideal customer is and what problem you solve for them.
- Whatever you think is the most pointless waste of time is guaranteed to be the next craze that changes everything (Twitter, ChatRoulette, Farmville, etc.). Be careful what you bitch about, or you might just jinx it for yoursellf.
- You can do everything you’re “supposed” to do as long as you don’t mind not having a life.
- If you view blogging and marketing as a chore, I’d seriously question if running a business online nowadays is really for you.
- Blogging isn’t necessary for everybody or every kind of business, but I can’t think of one that couldn’t be improved with a blog and better online marketing.
- If you’re getting more traffic but your leads & sales haven’t increased, you’re building an audience, not a customer base.
- Don’t think you know what keywords to shoot for. Know. Do research. There are probably more articles online about keyword research than there are people in the United States (hint: it’s not the number of search results that matter, it’s the number of searches made).
- Platform isn’t as important as some folks make it out to be. Sure, self-hosted WordPress is king, but there are plenty of great blogs on Blogger and other systems, too. Don’t feel like you have to drink the WordPress Kool-Aid, but do listen to the stories of people who have moved to it from other platforms and why. Make up your own mind.
- Video sells. If you want to sell more, get over whatever barrier you think is holding you back from doing video and make it happen. A cheap video camera and a YouTube account are all you need.
- No stats matter as much as leads and/or sales. When you’re looking analytics data, remember what needles you’re really trying to move.
- When it comes to blog post frequency, quality is better than quantity, and consistency is better than frequency.
- If you took all your blog post headlines and imagined they were email subject lines in your inbox, would you open them?
- Your business blog is much more of a listening tool than a mouthpiece.
Have your own “dose of reality” you’d like to add? Put ‘em in the comments!
Frankly I would amend the first bullet to read “A certain amount of internet literacy is required to accomplish anything online. If you’re not on par with that, you’ll struggle. If you find navigating most websites bewildering, it’s not them: it’s you.”
Absolutely true. Since the topic of this blog is blogging, you could even
say I don't need to say “blogging” at all, let alone “anything.”
the longer you wait to get started, the harder it will be to close the gap with your competitors that have moved up the learning curve.
don't expect instant pudding. You have to be willing to make a long term commitment and stick with it even when you want to stop (and you WILL want to stop)
Bret, I like your addition, “Don't expect instant pudding.” There are only a very few who have 'made it' quickly, in a short period of time. Success comes from perseverance.
Great stuff, a partial “brain download”
I was out with family at the weekend and 90% of people didn't know what a blog was, several people asked me to explain Flash as they had heard about it being mentioned around the iPad launch, and it made me think even more about the separation gap of product/service creators and consumers. It's W—I—D—E!
These are great tips for anyone, some I should actually do myself.
Actually, platform IS important if you're running a business. Why? Because ultimately you have no control over your Blogger site. If they lose 200 of your comments, you don't necessarily have backups. I've tried to help people restore from Blogger backups or use those files to import into WordPress and sometimes important data never made it into the file even though they backed up religiously.
With WordPress (and other self-hosted systems) YOU are the one who gets to do the backing up, etc. If you're smart, you don't ever have to lose data. I helped one guy move off Blogger FTP (which was shutting down…another reason to have self-hosted WordPress you can just move from one host to another if necessary) and he lost 5k comments. That really sucked.
I think the rest of the post was spot-on.
I agree with you. I didn't say it wasn't important, just that to most people
it's not as big a deal as it might be to you or me.
For hobby bloggers I agree. It may not be a huge deal, but if we're talking about businesses then losing part of your site is a problem.
“If you took all your blog post headlines and imagined they were email subject lines in your inbox, would you open them?” That is a fantastic question! I always try and come up with an exciting title that I know would catch my eye. Just a great set of tips here man.
You're absolutely right about rethinking things if you find blogging a chore. I love blogging, and am a solid medium sized blogger. But I've started blogs that I just didn't have the passion for. The subjects were solid, but I had limited passion for them. In the end, they failed.
Michael, I know you're trying to be nice about Blogger vs WP, but puh-leeze. No comparison. Especially for business blogging.
I liked the last two points most. Those are both ideas I had not considered before. They are both provocative notions. I think the point about titles as e-mail subjects is very helpful. That's an easy trick to quickly remind yourself to come up with more catchy blog post titles. Your point that a business blog is a place to receive feedback is very thought-provoking. It definitely inspires me to make sure I'm not just blathering away, mired in my own writer's ego, but to actually consider the mindset of my readers.
“Whatever you think is the most pointless waste of time is guaranteed to be the next craze that changes everything.” I totally agree!
G'day Michael,
More good stuff; my two bob's worth is this:
If you're going to have tutorials or some form of instruction as part of your web business, find and pay a first rate instructional designer to help you. And remember: if you use PowerPoint merely to show the words you're saying, you're sending your listener/reader to sleep.
As someone who has taught PowerPoint for many years, I can attest/agree to
that!
Certainly a huge advantage of Internet or tech literacy is the ability to move quickly. If you have to hire someone to add a button or even change a typo in your blog, it takes time. Of course, on the other hand, when you can push all the buttons and tweak the CSS yourself, it's easier to spend too many hours doing that when you should be writing compelling content that is useful for your audience.
That's a great point. Some folks develop good relationships and workflows
with VAs to mitigate that delay but your point is well taken.
“quality is better than quantity, and consistency is better than frequency.”
We are always 'afraid' subscribers and regular readers want new content on time.
However a good / high quality blog post can reach much further than 10 average blog posts.
“That challenge is made way easier when you know exactly who your ideal customer is and what problem you solve for them.”
Dead on, brother! I'm surprised how few bloggers, freelancers and businesspeople in general take the time to accurately describe their ideal customer. Stop the presses. Figure that out first before you write another blog post.
Hi Michael, nice list! The one that really resonated with me is this line: “When you’re looking analytics data, remember what needles you’re really trying to move.” It's way too easy to get caught up in all sorts of data. Numbers aren't as impressive to me as having the “right” kinds of #'s. Sure I can buy followers on Twitter, but that's not going to help boost my business (in the way that I want it to). So I'm going to take some time to think about what those specific “needles” are for me. Thanks!
Very wise advice Grasshopper. I'm a sucker for bullet points. Any time a blogger can compile massive amounts of information into short bullet points, I will surely read them.
“Whatever you think is the most pointless waste of time is guaranteed to be the next craze that changes everything (Twitter, ChatRoulette, Farmville, etc.). Be careful what you bitch about, or you might just jinx it for yoursellf.”
The twitter-predictions are like the new Nostradamus end-of-the-world prophecies. Everyone has an opinion that starts with a “Twitter is…” and is big and heavy like “Twitter is going to die” or “Twitter is going to be the new internet” and are always complete random guesses. I think of Twitter like a tool that works for spreading information now, and who really cares (other than Twitter investors/employees) what's going to happen to it in 6 months, 1 year or 10 years? It helps me now, so I use it. The end.
“Whatever you think is the most pointless waste of time is guaranteed to be the next craze that changes everything (Twitter, ChatRoulette, Farmville, etc.). Be careful what you bitch about, or you might just jinx it for yoursellf.”
The twitter-predictions are like the new Nostradamus end-of-the-world prophecies. Everyone has an opinion that starts with a “Twitter is…” and is big and heavy like “Twitter is going to die” or “Twitter is going to be the new internet” and are always complete random guesses. I think of Twitter like a tool that works for spreading information now, and who really cares (other than Twitter investors/employees) what's going to happen to it in 6 months, 1 year or 10 years? It helps me now, so I use it. The end.