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Blogging about You, Without Talking about You…

The saga continues…you need to write new content for your website consistently through a blog, but it seems to take an unreal amount of time and it doesn’t seem to be generating any new business for you. So you’re wondering what you’re doing wrong or if you’re wasting your time…you're not! But you might need to refocus your content.

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Why Do I Need a Blog Again?

There are several reasons that blogging is helpful for your business, website, and online marketing strategy. Personally, I believe one of the biggest advantages is that Google’s Panda is designed to find businesses that are updating their websites regularly with fresh, new content. You can do this by updating any page on your website, but a blog seems to be the best way to do this consistently – if you want Google’s bots to find your site and deem it worthy, you need ongoing fresh content on your website that is updated frequently.

Beyond helping you list higher on Google search results, a blog can be a great sales tool for you. Combined with social media, you can reach your customers and make your business the first they think of when they need a product/service that you sell.

What Do I Say?

Talk about you, without talking about you.

Sounds a bit confusing right? Similar to the infamous Humblebrag, you want to say great things about your business without coming right out and bragging about yourself! Show people how knowledgeable you are about your field without coming right out and saying it.

You do this by writing on topics in your industry that are helpful to other people. You need to give readers something they are interested in that will make their lives easier – this information will make them keep coming back for more and place you on their list of people they know, like, and trust.

Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now!

Now that Red Hot Chili Peppers is stuck in your head – here are some examples of content you can give away that is helpful to your readers:

How To Posts: “How to unclog your sink”, “how to decorate your living room for $100”, “Eco-friendly ways to clean carpet stains” – whatever your industry, think about what advice you could give away to your readers that would be helpful to them and make them think of your business when they have a problem or project too big to do themselves.

How To Videos: Same idea as the posts, but spend some time creating a fun short video (60 seconds or less) to share on your blog. Everyone loves a good how to video!

Share Your Experiences/Struggles: Not every business has a clear direction on what kind of advice to give away – sometimes it’s more difficult, especially for some B2B businesses. Another great source of content is sharing your own experiences/business struggles with your readers. Sharing what you did wrong in the past and how you do things differently now helps a reader connect with you. An example is this post from our CEO who shared about the failings of his band, but how he learned to lead a company because of those experiences.

Sharing your work: This one steps into talking about yourself, but I think it’s still a clever way to show people what they want without blatantly talking about your product/service. Show your work to readers through before and after posts, case studies about a specific project, a big makeover reveal etc. West Elm does a great Before + After section on their blog. We do one too.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Remember, its quality over quantity. You don’t have time to write bad content just so you can mark off “write blog post” from your to do list – make time to write a new blog post once/week or once/every other week that really gives readers the information they are looking for – it will come back to you in customers!

Final note: don’t worry too much about how many people read your post – it’s about getting the right people to read it who will buy from you in the future.

Happy posting!

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One thought on “Blogging about You, Without Talking about You…

  1. Great article. Sometimes we just need to think in a slightly different way about something we are doing and bingo – a great blog post.

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