OK its December now and that means we are well and truly looking towards 2015. Now is the time to start doing some planning in your business? It is easy to put off thinking about what lies ahead when we are busy and distracted in our business. Before you know Christmas and the madness of the holidays will be upon us. If you are based in Oz, then you know that most of January is lost to Summer holidays made even more difficult if you are juggling children. I have already started planning how I am going to run my business in January whilst giving my boys lots of my time and attention. I am having 2 weeks off over Christmas and New Year’s. In early Jan, my oldest is off to camp with a friend and my mum is going to help by having the boys for a week or two. That should make things easier.
One thing I know I need to do over the Summer is be prepared. I would hate to be thinking that in January I will start planning what 2015 will hold for my business. I have done this already (in fact I did it last week with my business coach).
Now if you are thinking that you would like to get a blog going in your business in 2015 now is the time to start planning. Getting a blog up and running is simple. Here is my guide to getting ready to ROCK the world with your blog in 2015.
- Get the mechanics in place
This means, do some work to find out how easily your website can accommodate a blog. Do you have the section set up? If not, can you do it yourself or do you need your web developer to help. Whatever needs to be done, take action now so this is not holding you back.
- Generate a list of blog ideas
Many people don’t even get started writing a blog because they have no idea what to write about. Honestly, I think coming up with topics is incredibly easy because I follow a few simple guidelines:
FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions. We all know when we meet with customers, we often get asked the same questions time and again. These questions are excellent starting points for blogs.
CASE STUDIES: Sharing a case study from your business is a really helpful way to give readers an insight in to your business.
HOW-TO: Taking people through a process is a really great way to give value to your readers. It shows you know what you are talking about and positions you as an expert.
PROBLEM SOLVING: This is as simple as defining a problem and presenting a solution. This obviously should be relevant to your business and your products and services.
CREATE A SERIES: If you have a lot of information to share, consider breaking it down in to a series of blogs that will keep your readers coming back for more.
- Flesh it out
The idea of writing fills many with dread and this means we often avoid doing it. Once you have created your list of blog ideas using the guidelines above, take each idea and jot down a few simple notes about what you might like to talk about within that topic.
- Get writing
Seriously, if you have completed the actions in #1, #2 and #3, you are almost there. A blog post does not need to be anything longer than 200-300 words (and 500 as a maximum). All you have to do is address each note and start constructing these notes in to nice, neat and readable paragraphs. Remember, use headings, bullet points and lists to break it up and make it more interesting to read.
- Get it out there.
To close the loop, load your blog on to your website and start driving traffic to it via social media and your email marketing.