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Do You Need a Blog?
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Shannon Evans
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Do authors, speakers, and entrepreneurs need a blog? Sure you do! A blog, or Web log is an incredibly low cost form of marketing that can result in a high rate of return on your dollar for dollar investment.
An author needs a blog. Authors who maintain a blog in addition to their personal website enjoy higher Amazon and Google rankings. For most authors, your success is based on your efforts then the efforts of a publisher (unless you are J. K. Rowling!). You could hire a publicist, use a mailing list, or contact a professional service to do your work for you. Unfortunately, most authors are on a shoestring budget and a publicist is quite probably out of reach economically. Blogging is cheap, has staying power and builds upon what author's do best...writing!
What can you do with a blog? You can be creative, mission oriented, innovative and demonstrate how your company is different from the rest. Your company can create a uniquely branded profile that promotes you as an authority in your industry.
The great thing about blogs is that it is so easy to do and the learning curve is minimal. Blogging requires little or no programming/html knowledge. Basic writing skills and a commitment to writing 100-200 words 3-5 times a week is all it takes to create a visible blog that search engines love.
Blog content can be updated frequently and distributed quickly. This immediacy results in a highly engaged audience who can quickly respond with comments and feedback.
Blogging can be a terrific community resource for your customers as well as a great way to provide something of value to them that does not cost them a dime. When you demonstrate that your business model is different from the typical business model and you offer valuable information to the customer just for participating, then you begin to create a branded community.
Blogging is branding. Branding allows your audience to see your expertise through your own unique blogging personality. It also shows your business' uniqueness in the market place and clearly demonstrates how you are different from your competitors.
The value of blogging:
• Builds a sense of community
• Positions you or your company as informed about the community and their unique needs
• Provides a great platform for introducing new ideas or material
• Gets your name and contact information out there in yet another visible location
• Provides a forum to present all that great content you had to cut from your book
When customers become familiar and comfortable with a particular brand they gravitate toward it when in need of that good or service. By creating this helpful community in your blog, your company and your name become known for its value. People buy from those whom they know, recognize, and make an emotional connection.
Shannon Evans, senior editor and owner of http://www.mywritingmentor.com lives with her best friend Rick on Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound just a "ferry ride from Seattle." She maintains two blogs:
http://www.authormarketingtools.wordpress.com
http://www.mywritingmentor.wordpress.com
She works with her two Labrador assistant editors, Mocha and Luke, and her feline copy edit assistants, Caesar and Yoda. Shannon is widely recognized as one of the top writing coaches for non-fiction authors. With over 17 years editing for native and non-native English speaking authors she knows how to help writers make every word count.
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