When I am reviewing the online profile of a fitness centre, personal trainer or a sporting business, one of the first things I look for is a blog.
If I don’t see one, my heart sinks a little.
If you are not blogging, then you need to start sooner rather than later. It is an important part of your brand and helps extend your online identity.
So if you are not blogging yet, or you want to brush up on your blogging skills, then this blog is for you!
What is a blog?
Let’s take a step back, first what is a blog? Well think of it as a public diary – it is an expression of your thoughts and opinions on a particular topic which you update on a regular basis.
So who can write a blog? Well everyone can. What can you blog about? Anything.
So why aren’t you writing a blog? I know, not enough time, I can’t write that well, is it really worth the effort?
Why you need to start blogging
So let’s run through some of the main reasons why you should be blogging:
- It positions you as a thought leader and an authority in your industry – and let’s face it, people want to be trained by the best, someone who has credibility and experience.
- It is a good way to warm up your leads – if people regularly read your blogs, they may be more receptive to your sales push so it can be a highly effective way to create new business.
- Before the world of blogs, to get your message out, you often would have to put together a media release or use a PR agency to get your story out to the public. But by blogging, you have found your own soapbox plus you don’t have to pay expensive retainer fees to an agency.
- A lot of people don’t blog so by starting to blog yourself, you are putting yourself head and shoulders above your competitors.
- Blogs are a much more powerful message compared to a paid ad – blogs are guaranteed to attract more people thus saving you big bucks compared to running an advertising campaign.
- Writing skills are invaluable – you use them all the time. By blogging more, like exercise, you get stronger and better at it.
What should I blog about?
Now that I have, hopefully, convinced you, to start blogging, what topics should you blog? Well you can write about anything and everything but eventually you have to decide on your niche.
To help you decide on what topics you should write about, consider these questions:
- Are you passionate about the topic?
- Do you know a lot about the topic?
- What is the competition writing about (or maybe not writing about)?
- Is there a need which is currently not being met in the industry?
- Is there a lot of confusion or conflicting ideas in the market about a particular subject?
Whatever you write about, remember content is king so make sure your blog is of the highest quality to encourage greater engagement and increase traffic to your blogs.
What should your blog achieve?
Obviously we want as many people as possible reading your blogs. To increase the chance of it being successful, you need to consider the reader’s point of view:
- Does your blog solve a common problem or need that people have?
- Is your blog relevant, timely and interesting?
- Does you blog contain quality content?
- Does your blog help people achieve their goals and aspirations?
- Does your blog tell people something new or something they didn’t know before?
- Does your blog entertain the reader?
If your blog covers any of the above, this will greatly help to build your audience over time.
Where does my blog go?
Now that you have written your first blog, what do you do with it?
Well there are heaps of platforms where you can place your blog, each has their own pros and cons. The most common ones are WordPress (probably the most well known and popular platform), Blogger (owned by Google), Tumblr, Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace.
Once you have your blog up and live, make sure everyone knows about it. Share it on all your social media channels, have it on your Web site, include it in your newsletters and send it out to your members, clients and leads.
How often should I be blogging?
Just like exercise, you need to keep it consistent to ensure you get the best results.
When considering how often to write and post your blog, whether it be daily, weekly or monthly, think realistically about what you can keep up with. If you think you might be able to post daily for a few weeks, but then you might run out of ideas or out of time, then consider posting twice a week or weekly instead.
Don’t go for long periods of time without blogging just because you don’t have time to write. It’s better for readers and search engines alike to see more frequent activity on a blog.
Choose a posting schedule you can stick with, even if it’s less frequently than you wanted in the first place. Consistency is best when it comes to blogging.
How long should my blog be?
This is a tricky one – it is like asking how long is a piece of string. I have read a lot of articles on this topic and I still haven’t found a definite answer.
You can make it as short as you want but try and keep your blogs at least 300 words so Google can find your page.
You can make your blog as long as you want – just don’t go overboard – no one has time to read War and Peace.
Think about what you want to achieve and how much time you have for writing your blogs – this will act as a good guide as to how long it should be.
Personally, I lean more towards longer blogs as it is often better for SEO (this basically means when people search for a particular topic, there is a greater chance your blog will be higher up in the rankings due to a greater use of keywords).
But don’t make your blog long just for the sake of it – make it long enough to cover all the points you want to get across whether it be 300 or 3,000 words.
And a couple of final points…
Once you find what works for you, stick with it and make sure to have fun with it, because that’s what blogging is all about.
You won’t develop a huge following overnight. Building a sizable audience of engaged and loyal readers takes time. Many of the bloggers you admire have likely been at it for years.
Always remember it comes down to what your readers want. Look at other blogs and get some ideas as to how to blog yourself. Experiment with different formats, lengths and topics and see which ones work best for you and your audience.