I work with many different business owners from a lot of different industries.  One of the most common questions I receive from all of these people is:  How do I blog successfully?

There are so many questions that people have about blogging:

1. What is a blog?
2. Why should I blog?
3. What should I blog about?
4. How long should my blog be?
5. How often should I blog?
6. What do I do if I’m a terrible speller or writer?
7. Why aren’t people reading my blog??

The list of questions, of course, goes on and on.  In my Blog workshops I talk about the importance of leveraging a blog holistically as part of an overall vision for online success.  A blog will not, in and of itself, drive bottom-line results.

A blog can play a variety of roles within your business:  build your credibility, establish rapport, create trust, and demonstrate knowledge.  A blog can be leveraged to create new client opportunities or simply to improve your search engine optimization.

The approach you take with your blog needs to begin with your business goals in mind.

If you want to enhance your company’s Google results, for example, then part of your goal is to increase traffic to your website.  This means that you want to appeal to a diverse audience to maximize visitors.  To reach a very broad audience I might share tips on Facebook security.  Of course, this topic doesn’t guarantee that my target audience of business owners will read my blog.  So, from a targeted client building standpoint this approach would not be effective.

If I want to create opportunities to connect with potential clients then I need to understand the challenges, issues, and questions that this audience is likely to have.  When I write a client-focused blog my #1 rule is to always begin with the question in mind.  If my blog isn’t answering a question that my audience is likely to have then people won’t be interested.   A blog isn’t a marketing brochure and it won’t be successful if your only consideration when writing the blog is:  will this motivate people to spend money.  Your intentions must be in-line with the needs of potential clients.

The two most important things you can do to build a successful blog are 1) truly understand your objectives for leveraging a blog and 2) truly understand the needs, wants, desires, and challenges that your ideal clients face.  This knowledge will guide you down the path of creating relevant and focused blogs that help you achieve bottom-line results.

If you live in or around London, Ontario and would like hands-on instruction to learn how to make the most of a blog for your business then feel free to check out my upcoming blogging workshops.

Geoff Evans, Founder of Social Media Coach