Hello and welcome to my birthday, anniversary, or whatever other term fits when you reach a milestone such as the one I’m celebrating today.
I’ve mentioned before, that in one place or another, I’ve shared small business marketing content via a blog a lot since 2006 but I wasn’t very consistent. One year ago I made a commitment to my readers and myself that I would make time every week to share ideas with them to help improve their marketing and today is my 52nd consecutive post.
Every Tuesday I am up early and writing for my readers (this includes YOU) and I’ve learned that there are at least 3 things worth sharing with you about the experience.
1) Blogging has become an invaluable way for a marketer to share their work and build a following.
When I started this blog, I had just had my 2 previous years of work on a different domain destroyed by Google’s Penguin update. I had lost all of my high rankings and all of the ways I had used to manipulate the search engines had come to naught.
So I started fresh on a domain that bears my own name and that was in part to remind me to play within the rules this time. The old expression that not even dogs will poop where they eat, comes to mind.
Something is definitely working as I’ve now started reaching hundreds of readers per week and have a rapidly growing subscriber base too. Starting with zero, some days now top 100 readers and I have had visitors from 70 countries.
The reason I’m sharing this with you is NOT to brag, but to NAG you to do it too. No marketing vehicle available to you at any cost will help you to connect to people who you ultimately want to offer your products and services to.
2) Readers are real people who have real emotions. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have reacted or responded to one of my posts with comments, questions or in some cases criticisms of what I’m doing.
In my view, this is so great because they prove that they’re reading and that they’re engaged in the message. It also goes to show that when you invest the time to develop an understanding of who you’re trying to reach and then write to them, one-on-one, they will respond to it.
There have been so many conversations started around the ideas I have on marketing, and how they can be used to grow your business and I’m gratified for the chance to lead such a discussion.
3) Consistent blogging allows you to be positioned as an expert on a topic. I’ve made the point about a dozen times this past year that people do business with people that they know, like and trust.
All things being equal people will choose someone to do business with that they perceive to be an expert in their field. Writing on this blog for a year has allowed that to happen for me. I can make two points about that:
First is that, if it can happen for me, it can happen for you too. So stop waiting and start sharing the thoughts in your head on your blog and see who shows up. I think you, like me, will be pleased with the result.
Second is that in spite of the slow recovery, recession or what ever you call it – my business is growing. Moreover, I’m attracting new clients mostly through the work that is written on this blog and shared through my social networks.
You write, people comment, some ask questions and somehow, magically readers begin the feel like they know you. Eventually they inquire about the investments needed to work with you. No matter how much money you throw at running interruption style advertising, you can not build relationships with people like you can by sharing consistently through a blog.
So what’s next?
I have been working to encourage readers who like what I’m doing to subscribe. If you haven’t done it yet – why wait? It’s free and you’ll get access to stuff I’m doing that those who read on the web simply don’t see.
For example, I’m working on a whole series of affordable small business services that business owners like you have asked about.
Things like:
- Continuous blog content
- Social media updates
- Landing pages
- Lead nurturing campaigns
- Email newsletters
- Professional web presence
As I’ve gotten to know you, I see a pattern that repeats itself over and over. It’s that so many business owners are so busy running their business that the marketing doesn’t get done consistently. They’re too small to hire a full time person for the position, and the rest of the team don’t have the training to support getting the job done right.
They have fairly small budgets but realize the importance of getting the marketing done. I hope to fit our new services into that space between you rushing around trying to figure it out with limited training and tools you struggle to use and the decision to hire an expensive ad agency to get it done for you.
If this sounds like you, we should talk because I believe we can help you.
To wrap this up, I want to thank you for visiting my website. Know that I am grateful to share something with you that is helpful to you in accomplishing your goals. Please get in touch with us so we can talk.
