better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Blogging For Beginners

3 February 2019

The blog you’re reading now, Better Business, is in fact my second blog. Now running for over 8 years, I have put pen to paper every Sunday, or to be more precise, finger to keyboard, and written on average 400 words.

I love writing and always have a head full of words and ideas and stories to share with the world. If you were to cut me in half, and please don’t, then I’m fairly sure it would say ‘writer’ across the middle of me. Bit like a stick of rock. So you might think that blogging is easy for me. Well, I’ve had to learn a few skills along the way, so have paid my dues, so to speak.

My first blog was called The Physis Gap. It’s probably still on Blogger, or whatever that has morphed into. I wanted to explore the world of Physis, not physics, and began with enthusiasm. After five posts I’d exhausted my knowledge and was at a dead end. That blog has fossilized ever since and I realised that the first thing about any blog is that it must be sustainable.

Too many people start a blog and then fizzle out after 6 weeks. Well done for trying though, but just make sure your website doesn’t contain obviously out of date blogs, as they can detract from a smart site.

Whatever you feel like writing about, it’s important to have enough depth and breadth in the subject, to keep the momentum up over the long term.

The second most important point, if you wish to attract readers, is to be consistent. Consistency counts, with regard to:

A) Length

B) Subject matter

C) Delivery

D) Brand

For a short period I was too busy to write 400 words and instead tapped out a nifty 50. People complained, and rightly so. They felt a bit short changed.

We need to stick to the subject. If I was to write lovingly about flowers, which I know nothing about anyway, then the reader would be puzzled. So would I. Flowers would be a different blog entirely. So, we need to be consistent.

We also need to deliver on time. I write on a Sunday and the blog gets emailed out on a Monday and posted into the world of social media. People have complained when a Rich-free Monday has, on rare occasions occurred, and I’ve listened to them. It’s nice to know I’m being read and now make sure to be in their inbox on time.

We also need to consider the issue of our brand. A blog is a piece of work and once on the net it will be there until Doomsday. Therefore, if we are tempted to dash it off on the train home, or speed type in a hurry …and do no editing… we must know that we’re running the risk of damaging our brand.

People can forget that blogs get picked up by search engines, and it would be a shame if the first time a potential customer engaged with us was through reeding a porely wurded peace of wurk.

And finally …at the end of the day a blog is ours to put our stamp on. We can ignore all the rules and be as creative and inconsistent and exuberant as we like. It’s our blog and ours to enjoy.

So, this week maybe have a go at a little blogging. Twitter is a micro blog site afterall. And what ever you do …make it yours.

Next week: Holding The Space