Setting up is hard to do…. but then what?
…In Which Your Author Compares Business and Blogging
One way in which business and blogging can be very alike: you spend lots of time and effort getting things set up – in blogging, you write quality posts, in business, you prepare a quality offering – then you wait for customers/readers to show up and partake.
The very idea of “Build It And They Will Come” has been made mock of so often that it’s almost a cliche – but it’s a hard attitude to shake.
You put in the effort – on your business (if you operate from home) with your website, your business cards, your brochures and flyers… and nothing happens. Hits on your business site average a few a day, but there’s no phone calls, no emails, no comments, no inbound links.
Obviously, you need to do something.
1. Tell people you exist. If you’ve probably got an online presence somewhere – facebook, myspace, whatever, then talk about your new blog/business on there. Let people know about what you’re doing.
2. Tell your competition. In business, your competition can be your best source of leads – if they respect what you do, then it’s possible they’ll refer overflow work to you (and you can do the same to them, of course). In blogging, well, we all need fresh content ideas – some of the best ones come from other bloggers.
3. Who’s got a related business? People who are in the same overall space as you, and offering complimentary services can be great sources of leads – a makeup artist could talk to hairdressers, a wedding photographer to wedding venues. In blogging, look around the edges of your chosen niche – who’s related, but not competing?
4. Integrate it. Don’t force it, but bring it up in conversation. If you email a lot, your website or blog URL should be in your email signature. Carry business cards, hand them out if you have the slightest provocation to do so. There’s a line between acceptable self promotion and boring people to death – make sure you stay on the right side of it.
5. Advertise. The classic model – put advertisements in relevant publications/media. Make sure they represent you well. (I’ve just done a bunch of advertising work for Traits and will be very interested to see what comes of that).
6. Participate. Find related blog directories or carnivals, industry or regional groups, related clubs, whatever you can find – get involved.
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