Business Archives - Page 11 of 16 - Nadine MullingsNadine Mullings

October

06 2015

7 Surefire Ways to Build an Awesome Email List

As an independent business owner, coach or consultant, if you want to build your business online, then email marketing should be a part of your marketing mix. If you already use email marketing, you know the importance of continuously growing your email list with interested and engaged prospects, but building an email list can be a difficult task.

In this blog post, I will share 7 Surefire Organic Ways to Build an Awesome Email List:

[Tweet “7 Surefire Organic Ways to Build an Awesome Email List. #MarketingEssentials #EmailMarketing “]

Send an email invitation to your current database of contacts– You probably have a database of contacts with e-mail addresses. This is a great starting point to CREATE or GROW your opt-in e-mail list. Send an invitation to your ENTIRE database of email contacts INVITING them to opt-in to receive your e-mails. Be sure to let them know the valuable information you will be providing them so they will WANT to opt-in to receive your emails. One mistake I see a lot of people make is they just add their contacts to their e-mail list, don’t do this! Make sure they have opted in (you don’t want to be a spammer- someone who consistently sends e-mails to individuals who did not request it!)
Offer an AWESOME incentive for joining your email list (i.e. FREE report, e-Book, white paper, checklist, etc.). Everyone likes to get something for FREE, so provide information that will be VALUABLE to your contacts and use that as an incentive for them to opt-in to your e-mail list. Some people refer to this as your “lead magnet” because the right offer can act as a magnet for leads for your business.
Add a sign-up box on your website and on social media– A great tool that will help you grow your e-mail list is to have an e-mail sign-up form and place it on your website, blog, social networks, etc. You can use the same offer that you created in #2 as an incentive to sign-up for your e-mail list in these various places! Most email service providers offer an option and provide support on how to add an email sign-up box to your website, social media and your blog. Check with your email service provider to learn more about adding this function to your platforms. My email service provider is Constant Contact, they easily integrate with my website and blog with a simple WordPress plugin, and I’m able to connect my sign-up form with Facebook with a simple Facebook App.
Consistently promote joining your email list on all of your platforms– You have to promote joining your e-mail list on your social networks, e-mail, website, blog, etc. Create posts that will encourage individuals to sign-up to join your list. You can’t rely just on your initial list of contacts and the sign-up forms you have online, you have to continuously promote joining your e-mail list.
Promote joining your email list offline– The promotion of joining your e-mail list is not limited to just online; you can promote joining your e-mail list by including a QR Code (Quick Response Code) that links to your e-mail sign up form. The QR Code can be placed on your business card, brochures, flyers, etc. Check out my QR Code below:
Scan to join my email list!
You can also promote joining your list when you host events or have a booth or table at an event, be sure to have an email sign-up form at your table and ask people to join your email list. You can always use the item you created in #2 as an incentive to get people to join your email list offline too.
Use Text Message Marketing to promote joining your email list– Another way to promote joining your e-mail list offline is to offer a text to join feature. Make it easy to join your e-mail list by texting a special code to a shortcode, which will then allow them to sign-up via text. Most Email Marketing Service Providers offer this option to their customers. To see how it works, Text “JOINME” to “42828” to join my email list.
Add a pop-up box to your website– As annoying as pop-up boxes may be, they do work, so consider adding a pop-up box to your website. There are many different types of pop-up boxes. Some appear immediately once you land on someone’s website, others show up when you scroll down the page, and others appear when you are exiting the website. Whatever option you choose, pop-up boxes really work. There are several pop-up box tools available, but I use and recommend SumoMe. SumoMe has a free basic option that works well and has lot of other tools you can use to help to build your email list.

Are you growing your email list? If so, what methods are you using to grow your email list? Be sure to let us know by commenting below.

Need some help with your email marketing? Be sure to check out the Marketing Essentials Checklist of 21 Things You Must do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Business, Email Marketing, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants

September

22 2015

How Often Should You Post on Your Business Blog

One of the questions I get when its comes to blogging for business is how often should I post on my business blog?

[Tweet “How often should I post on my business blog? #MarketingEssentials #Blogging”]

Some people would say it’s important to blog every day, or it’s important to blog at least three times a week. This may be a good strategy for a professional blogger, but your business is not blogging, you should be blogging for business as a part of your marketing mix, so you should take a different approach to how often you blog.

I feel the answer to that question differs for each business. If blogging is part of your marketing mix, you have to decide how much time you or someone on your team can dedicate to consistently posting on the business blog.

Depending on the decision that you come up with for your business, this will determine how often you should blog. However, as a rule of thumb, I would say you should try to put new content on your blog at the very least twice a month.

New content on your blog is important for various reasons:

It keeps your blog from getting stale– Nobody wants to visit a blog and the last post was from 3 months ago, so to make sure that your content stays fresh it would be important to post at least every two weeks.
You rank higher in the search engines when you have newer content. Search engines like to provide browsers with more recent information, so the more updated your blog is, and the newer the content on your blog, the more likely you are to rank higher in the search engines.
Promoting your new content helps to bring consistent traffic to your website. Having a business blog and promoting your blog posts is a great way to get traffic to your website. The more you post the more traffic you will get.
When done correctly, your new content can also help to create new leads for your company, so the more content you put out, the more leads you can expect to get for your company.

However, it’s not just important to have new content on your business blog, but it’s just as important if not more important, to promote the older content you have on your blog, so in addition to creating new content for your blog, you should also have a plan to promote the older content that you have on your blog.

[Tweet “In addition to creating new content for your blog, you should also plan to promote the older content on your blog. #MarketingEssentials #Blogging”]

For example, if you decide to post on your business blog at least twice a month, then after just one year of posting at least twice a month, you will have at least 24 pieces of content that you can repurpose and share on your social media networks, your email list, etc.

So no matter how often you post on your business blog, it is important to have fresh content (at least twice a month), and it’s important to promote both your new and old content in order to get more traffic and get more leads for your business.

Do you have a business blog? If so, how often do you post on your business blog?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized

September

15 2015

How to Stay Consistent With Your Business Blog

One of the hardest things about blogging is staying consistent. Many coaches, consultants, and independent business owners, start blogs but don’t stay consistent with their blogging effort. A great way to stay on task and remain consistent with blogging is by creating an editorial calendar. When you plan out what you will be blogging about in advance, and when you schedule your blogging activity, it becomes part of your routine.

In this post we will explore some editorial calendar options for your blog:

A wall calendar. Although it may seem old-fashioned, a paper calendar is a good way to stay organized and on task without having to use any technology and it works as well as technology. You can use a 12-month calendar to map out your entire year of blogging activity. For each month select the topic you will focus on for the month, then schedule out when you want to publish your posts. This advance planning will really help you to stay on task with your blog. I use an At A Glance Wall Calendar to keep me organized, and since it is posted on the wall, I am always aware of when my blog posts are due, and what I need to be working on.
Your device calendar– Almost all the devices (iPad, Smart Phone, etc.) have a calendar option within the device that you can use as an editorial calendar. The great thing about the calendar on your device is that your device is typically always with you, so even if you’re not in the office and don’t have access to your wall calendar, you can always know what you’re working on and what needs to be done by checking the calendar on your device. I use my iPad calendar to stay on track with when items need to be produced and published on my blog.
An online calendar– Another great option for an editorial calendar is an online calendar. The great thing about an online calendar is if you have a team or someone who helps you with your blog, having an online calendar makes it easier for everyone to stay on the same page and know what needs to be worked on. Many people like to use a Google Calendar for their online calendar and if you use Gmail you can check your calendar and your email right in one place, making it very convenient to stay on task. The Google Calendar allows you to color code different types of activity, so you can color code the dates a draft is due, then put a different color for the day that a blog post is published, etc.
An online editorial calendar– An editorial calendar is designed specifically for the task at hand, keeping your blog organized. There are tons of online editorial calendar software, but I choose to use Coschedule. If you use WordPress for your blog, Coschedule integrates directly with WordPress, so you can plan and post right in one place. You can also directly post to social media from Coschedule, so you can plan, post, and promote your blog from one tool.

These are just a few options of how to stay consistent with your blog by creating an editorial calendar. Are you using an editorial calendar for your blog? If so, what calendar tool do you find the most useful?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Blog, Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business

September

08 2015

7 Essential Elements for a Highly Successful Business Blog

There are 1001 ways that you can market your business, but if you are a coach or consultant, blogging should be an essential part of your marketing mix. However, it’s not that easy to run a successful business blog. The blogsphere is very crowded with lots of blogs covering the same topic that you will be covering, so how do you stand out and create a successful business blog?

Here are 7 Essential Elements for a Highly Successful Business Blog:

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Show your personality– A blog, even a business blog, should have a personality that reflects the style and tone of the business. If you have a fun business, that should be reflected on your blog. If you have a serious business, then that should be reflected on your blog. What makes a blog stand out is how the personality of the business shines on the blog, so make sure that your blog is reflecting the true personality of your business.
Know your target audience– The most successful business blogs resonate with their target audience because they know their audiences needs, wants, struggles, and creates blog posts around those issues. In order for your business blog to be successful be sure that you are addressing the needs, wants, and struggles of your specific target audience.
Create amazing content– With so much information available on the Internet, it is important that the content you create and share with your audience resonates with them. It is important to create content that will inspire, motivate, inform, and/or educate. People love to learn, and when they know that your content can teach them what they need to know, you will create a successful business blog.
Have a strong call to action– Providing amazing content that resonates with your target audience is important, but in order for you to get business, you also have to have a strong call to action. You want to not only inform your audience, but encourage them to take the next step with you. The next step could be joining your email list. Having a strong lead magnet to encourage individuals to join your email list at the end of your blog post would be important, or if you are selling a program, product, or event, having a link to the sales page to encourage sales would be important. Whatever your call to action, it is important that you have one at the end of each blog post.
Promote your blog– In order to get traffic to your blog, you have to promote it! It’s not one of those things where once you write it they will come. Nope! Just like anything else you have to promote, promote, promote. That should include promoting the post to your email list and on social media. You have to get the word out about your blog post in order for people to read it and engage with it.
Be consistent- In order to have a successful business blog, you have to blog consistently. Whatever that looks like for your business. Whether it is monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, be consistent in how often you blog. Being consistent shows that your company is professional and reliable.
Remarket your blog– Promoting your blog should not be limited to when you first publish a new blog post, but you should remarket your blog posts. Select some of your most popular blog posts and promote it again on email and social media. This one exercise of remarketing your blog post can increase your traffic by leaps and bounds.

Are you blogging for business? If so, what essential elements do you feel makes a business blog successful, leave your comments below.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business

August

25 2015

How to Build a Powerful Text Message Marketing List

In my last two posts I talked about 5 Reasons You Should Be Using Text Message Marketing and How to Use Text Message Marketing in Your Business, so in this post, I am going to address one of the key factors to being successful with Text Message Marketing, which is building an effective Text Message list.

[Tweet “The key factor to being successful with Text Message Marketing is…… #TextMessageMarketing #MarketingEssentials”]

Similar to building an email list, you have to get people to opt-in (give permission) to receive information via text message. So in this post I will cover 5 ways to grow your text message list:

[Tweet “5 ways to grow your text message list. #TextMessageMarketing #MarketingEssentials”]

Encourage individuals to join your text list by offering a special incentive. (i.e. Text “SPECIAL” to “515151” to receive a 10% off coupon). People are more likely to opt in to join your list if they get an immediate benefit like a discount code or a coupon. You can place this offer in your emails, at events offline, on social media, etc.
Encourage individuals to join your text list by having a contest. (i.e. Text “Ticket” to “515151” for a chance to win tickets to an awesome event that is happening in town). People always like to have a chance at winning something, so this can be an easy way to build your text message list.
Encourage individuals to participate in a text poll. Polls are a great way to get instant feedback, but you can also use it as a way to build your text list. (i.e. Text “Yes” to “515151” if you agree with the question of the day, or text “No” to “515151” if you disagree). You can use this method of building your list on platforms online or offline just by promoting participating in the poll to your audience.
Encourage individuals to join your text list by offering a lead magnet. Now I am pretty sure you have heard this term used for online marketing activities. A lead magnet is a FREE download that would be of interest to your target audience. Some popular lead magnets include, eBooks, Checklists, Guides, etc. You can offer the same types of lead magnets to grow your text list, (i.e. Text “FREEDownload” to “515151”) and send the lead magnet as a link in the reply text message.
Include a “mobile phone number” field in your sign-up forms and add a disclosure on the sign-up form stating that you may contact them via text message (i.e. event sign-up forms online, event sign-in lists, etc.). Requiring individuals to add a mobile phone number is an easy way to grow your opt-in text message list.

These five ways are a great way to start to build a text message list. Once you have a text message list, be sure to check out the How to Use Text Message Marketing in Your Business Post so you can learn how to use Text Message Marketing to effectively reach out to the people on the list that you have created.

Have you started to build a text message list yet? If so, what have you found to be the most effective way to build your text message list? Be sure to comment below and let us know.

Looking for an easy text message marketing platform to use? Check out EZ texting, an online browser-based mass text messaging software that is affordable and easy to use.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Text Marketing

August

18 2015

How to Use Text Message Marketing in Your Business

I recently posted 5 Reasons You Should be Using Text Message Marketing, and got several inquiries and questions regarding text message marketing and how to use it in business, so today’s post is all about How to Use Text Message Marketing in Your Business.

The first thing I want to clear up is that I am talking about using text message marketing to market to individuals who have opted in to your text message marketing campaign. I do not support and I totally disagree with randomly texting individuals marketing messages who have not given you permission to contact them via text.

Once you have built up a text message marketing list, then you can use text message marketing in several different ways. Here are 7 ways to use text message marketing in your marketing mix:

[Tweet “7 ways to use text message marketing in your marketing mix. #TextMessageMarketing”]

Special Offers– An easy text message marketing campaign is to text your list a special offer. Special offers could cover several things (coupons, discounts, bonuses, etc.) The key to a successful special offer is that it needs to resonate with your audience. Make sure it is an offer they will appreciate and take advantage of.
Promote Events– Text message marketing is a great way to spread the word about upcoming events that you may be hosting (workshops, seminars, open house, etc.). Your text message can even include a link to the address where the event is taking place, making it easy for people to find the location.
Appointment Reminders– Send your clients a friendly reminder of upcoming appointments. This helps to keep everyone on the same page as to when their next consultation or visit is scheduled to take place. You can send out reminders one week out, one day out, and even one hour before. This also helps to eliminate missed appointments
Tips– Send out relevant tips to your clients via text message. Sometimes just sending helpful and timely tips can be awesome for your clients. The key is to make sure your tips are relevant and will resonate with your audience.
Flash Sales– Text messaging is great to get the word out about a sale that is happening in a very short amount of time. This type of sale usually occurs within hours (i.e. 9:00 am-1:00 pm, 1:00 pm-9:00pm, etc.). Because of the need to purchase quickly, text messages are a great way to get the word out about flash sales.
Surveys/Polls– Need feedback on a product, service, etc. Text messaging can be a great way to send a quick poll or survey to get feedback from your audience.
Welcome Notification– Welcome new customers, clients, members by sending them a welcome text message. This is a great way to stand out and show appreciate to your new customer, client, or member.

Are you using text message marketing in your business? If so, how are you using text message marketing in your business. Be sure to comment below and let us know.

Looking for a easy text message marketing platform to use? Check out EZtexting, an online browser-based mass text messaging software that is affordable and easy to use.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Text Marketing

July

14 2015

How to Decide What Content to Post on Social Media

As an independent business owner, coach or consultant, you know the importance of using social media in your business, but do you know what type of content to post to encourage engagement with your fans and followers?

In this blog post, I am going to review five steps to posting engaging content for your fans and followers that will also help to grow your business:

[Tweet “Five steps to posting engaging content for your fans and followers that will also help to grow your business. #MarketingEssentials”]

The first and most important step is to know your target audience. Before you will ever be able to post content that your fans and followers engage with, you must first understand your audience. Understand what their needs, desires and frustrations may be, and tailor your content around those topics. It helps to know your target audience’s demographics (age, gender, income level, etc.), but more important for social media is to understand their psychographics (dreams, desires, attitudes, tastes, etc. ). Once you understand your target audience’s demographics and psychographics, you will be better able to select content that will resonate with your audience, which will increase engagement.
Always remember that social media is “social”, so your goal, no matter what social media platform you decide to use, is to be social with the content that you post. Think about your posts as talking to a friend. If you were talking to a friend about a particular topic or subject what would that conversation sound like? Create conversational posts. Starting a post with a question can help to be more conversational. Another way to be social is to be entertaining. After all people are on social media to be social, not to hear you pitch your business, so think of ways that you can create entertaining posts. Some examples of conversational/entertaining posts can include:
1. Funny posts from Someecards
2. Inspirational Quotes
3. Videos
4. Questions that spark nostalgia or just a really good feeling
5. Filling in the blank statements
Individuals are very visual, so regardless of what platform you choose, pictures and videos tend to get the most engagement, so if you create pictures and videos that will resonate with your target audience, you will receive more engagement. Even if you do not create the pictures and video yourself, but you share it with your audience and it resonates with them, that is also a great way to create engagement.
[Tweet ” regardless of what platform you choose, pictures and videos tend to get the most engagement. #MarketingEssentials #SocialMedida”]
As an expert in your field, you also want to post content that educates your audience, and showcases your expertise. This type of content can include:
1. Blog Posts
2. Tips
3. Recommended Tools
4. Articles
5. Infographics
6. Statistics
Lastly, one of your goals on social media should be to get new business. If this is the case, you also need to post promotional content. This type of content can encourage people to get to know you better or work with you. This can include:
1. Special deals or promotions
2. Join your e-mail list
3. Attend your event

Are you using social media marketing in your marketing mix? Are you posting engaging content for your fans and followers? Be sure to download the 21 Top Social Media Marketing Tips and start using social media effectively today!

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Social Media

June

23 2015

How to Create a Simple and Effective Email Marketing Plan

If you plan to grow or promote your business online, then email marketing should be an essential part of your marketing activity.

One of the best ways to be successful with your email marketing effort is to create an effective email marketing plan.

Your email marketing plan doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective, in fact, in this post I will walk you through the outline for a simple and effective email marketing plan.

Step 1- Define the purpose of your email marketing campaigns

[Tweet “[Successful Email Marketing Plan] Step 1- Define the purpose of your email marketing campaigns! #MarketingEssentials #EmailMarketing”]

In this part of your plan, you should:

Identify who you are trying to reach (customers, prospects, partners, etc.)
Define why you are trying to reach them (to stay top of mind, to provide education, to create brand awareness, to get sales, etc.)
What are you trying to achieve from reaching this group of people via email?

Step 2- Define your email marketing goals

[Tweet “[Successful Email Marketing Plan] Step 2 – Define your email marketing goals! #MarketingEssentials #EmailMarketing”]

This part of your plan should cover your email marketing goals:

Start by listing your overall goals: more sales, relationship building, stay top of mind, communicate special promotions, get referrals, etc.
Then list the more specific goals you would you like to achieve through email marketing (i.e. get two new clients per month, get three referrals per month, etc.)

Step 3– Select Your Email Marketing Strategy

[Tweet “[Successful Email Marketing Plan] Step 3- Select Your Email Marketing Strategy”]

When it comes to email marketing you have several options on types of email marketing campaigns you can create. Pick the strategies that make sense for your business.

Your strategy could include the following types of email campaigns:

E-Newsletters- An informative e-mail that goes out to your contacts periodically. This could be monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, etc.
Autoresponders– A series of e-mails that automatically go out over a period of time based on someone joining your e-mail list or being added to your email list.
Drip Campaigns– A series of e-mails that automatically go out over a period of time for a specific promotion, or a specific event, etc.

The difference between an autoresponder and a drip campaign is that an autoresponder is a response from an action someone has taken (downloading an eBook, White Paper, Checklist, etc.). While a drip campaign is a series of promotional campaign emails sent to your list not based on an action they have taken, but solely based on a specific promotional campaign.

The most successful email marketing plans have a combination of types of email marketing strategies. The e-newsletters work well to stay top of mind because they are consistently going out over a period of time, but the auto responders and drip campaigns work well too because they are usually tied to a specific product, promotion, or services that you would like to generate some business for, so decide what types of campaigns will work well for you business.

Step 4: Create an Email Marketing Calendar

[Tweet “[Successful Email Marketing Plan] Step 4- Create an Email Marketing Calendar! #MarketingEssentials #EmailMarketing”]

The next step in your email marketing plan is to create a calendar that maps out all of your emails over an extended period of time. The time period could be the next 60 days, 90 days, 6 months or even a year. Your calendar should include the following:

Month/Send Date– What month and date will this specific email be published to your list?
Email Topic– What is this specific email about
Type of Email– Is it a newsletter, or part of a series of emails for an autoresponder or drip campaign.
Email List– Who will this email be sent to (prospect list, customer list, partner list, combination of lists, etc.)

Taking the time to strategically think through your email marketing effort will help you to create successful email marketing campaigns.

Are you currently using email marketing in your business? Do you have an email marketing plan? If you need assistance creating an successful email marketing plan, contact us to schedule your FREE Email Marketing Success Strategy Session.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, Uncategorized

June

09 2015

The #1 Reason Businesses Struggle to Get Results from Email Marketing

I recently sent out a survey to my audience, which included the question, “If you are using email marketing in your marketing mix, what do you struggle with the most when it comes to your email marketing?” The responses varied, but the #1 thing that most business owners, coaches, and consultants said they struggle with was staying consistent.

It’s easy to start sending emails to your list, but it’s hard to stay consistent, and only when you are consistent with your email marketing will you get results, so I decided to put some tips together on how you can stay consistent with your email marketing.

Create an email marketing plan– in your email marketing plan you will outline your email marketing goals, types of emails you will be sending (e-newsletter, autoresponders, drip campaigns, etc.), how often you will send your emails, when you will send your emails, your email flow, specific topics, etc.When you have a plan, you are better able to execute and to stay on task with getting your emails out.Many business owners, coaches, and consultants, skip the step of creating the email marketing plan, and then they don’t have anything to refer back to and therefore, they become very inconsistent with their efforts.
Select a specific day and time that you would like your emails to go out– this can be really helpful in staying consistent with sending out your emails. For example, my monthly e-newsletter goes out the second Wednesday of every month, because I know that it goes out the second Wednesday of every month, I plan my activities around that time frame to make sure that the e-newsletter goes out.In addition, after a couple of years of testing days and times, I figured out that on average I get the best open rates on Wednesdays after 3:00 pm, so now I schedule my e-newsletter to go out the second Wednesday of every month at 3:30 pm.Knowing the time and date my email needs to go out, helps me to stay consistent.
Put it on your calendar– if you put your publishing dates on your marketing calendar you will be forced to make sure you get your emails out, because you now have a deadline that you have to send out your emails. If it’s not on your calendar, you will tend to forget to send it out, or because you don’t have a deadline, you will continuously put it off, so place it on your calendar so you can stay consistent.
Plan your topics- included in your email marketing plan should be what topics you plan to write about and promote in your e-newsletter. The information you will be sending in the series of emails for your autoresponders, and/or drip campaigns should also be included in the plan. When you’ve planned out your topics and information, it makes it much easier to create your emails and to stay consistent.

So, if you create an email marketing plan, set a day and time to publish your emails, put it on your calendar, and plan out your topics in advance, these four things can help you to stay consistent with your email marketing.

Do you have an email marketing plan? Do you need help with creating your email marketing plan? We can help, contact us for a FREE email marketing success strategy session.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized

May

26 2015

8 Mistakes to Avoid when Blogging for Business

As an independent business owner, coach, or consultant, you already know the importance of creating a platform, and being known as an authority or expert in your field. When people view you as an expert in your field, you start to attract more clients, instead of having to find clients, clients are finding you.

One of the best ways to become known in your field is to consistently create or curate awesome content, and the best platform to do that is on your own blog.

However, starting, maintaining, and keeping up with a business blog can be difficult. In this blog post I cover the 8 mistakes to avoid when blogging for business:

Mistake #1- Not creating a blogging plan

I know I say this all the time, but no matter what type of marketing activity you choose to participate in, you must create a plan for that activity, so if you decide you are going to start a business blog, you have to have a plan for your blog. The plan should include answers to the following questions:

Who is your target audience?
What topics do you want to cover?
How often will you blog?
What will your calls to action be?
What are your blog goals?

Mistake #2- Not having a specific audience in mind

If your blog is for everyone, then it really is for no one. You have to be specific in who you are talking to, and who you are trying to reach with your blog posts, that is why selecting your target audience is the first thing in your blog plan.

Mistake #3- Not choosing specific topics

Random blogs aren’t successful unless maybe you’re a celebrity blogger, but even celebrity bloggers keep their blog topics around what they are known for or what they enjoy.

When creating a business blog, select up to five main topics that you want to be known for. All of the topics should fall under or supplement your business. For example, I blog about Marketing. There are 1001 ways you can market your business, but I mainly focus on my four key topics, blogging, social media, texting, and email marketing. If I blog about something outside of these topics, it always falls under my main topic of marketing.

Mistake #4- Not being consistent with how often you publish your blog

This is something that a lot of independent business owners, coaches, and consultants struggle with. They decide to start a blog, and at first they are pretty consistent with blogging, but as the weeks and months go on, and things get busy, their blogging becomes inconsistent. The weekly blogging turns into monthly blogging, the monthly blogging, turns into every other month.

When you decide on how often you are going to blog (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.), you must stick to that schedule. Figure out what works best for your business and stick with it. Blogging daily is a difficult task for the average coach or consultant, weekly is a little more realistic, but can still be hard to keep up with, bi-weekly is a good schedule for starting out or if you feel that’s the most amount of time that you can dedicate to blogging for your business. Once a month is the least amount of time that you should commit to blogging for your business.

Mistake #5- Not having strong call to actions

I have been guilty of mistake #5 for the first few years of blogging. One of the goals of your blog should be to have your readers not only view you as an expert in your field, but to also have them take some type of action. Having strong call to actions with each blog post helps you to achieve your goal. If your goal is to build your email list, then you should have strong call to actions within your blog post and/or on your page about joining your email list. If your goal is to promote an upcoming event, then you should have strong call to actions throughout your blog post about the event (the event should also relate to the blog post topic). If your goal is to promote a product or service that relates to the blog post, then you should have strong call to actions throughout you post about the product or service.

Mistake #6- Not having goals for your blog

Having a blog is great for many reasons as already mentioned, but not having a goal for your blog is a big mistake. Is the goal of your blog to create brand awareness, if so, how do you measure brand awareness? Do you measure brand awareness by the amount of views on your blog posts? Is your blog to showcase you as an authority or an expert? If so, how do you measure becoming known as an authority or expert? Establishing and setting goals will help you to achieve the results you are aiming for with your blog.

Mistake #7- Having someone else write your blog who doesn’t understand your company voice, story, or goals

We are all busy, so it is okay to have someone write or contribute to your business blog, but if that person doesn’t understand the tone or voice of your brand, this could be a huge mistake. You want the feel of your blog to stay consistent, so if someone is writing or contributing to your blog, they have to understand the tone of your blog, the voice of your brand, and the goals of your blog. Otherwise they could do more harm than help in your business.

Mistake #8- Not promoting your blog posts

Just because you write it, doesn’t mean they will read it! You have to promote your blog posts on your other platforms. If you have an email list, you should promote your blog posts to your email list. If you are on social media, you should promote your blog posts on social media. You need to promote your post several times to get the exposure you need, and for people to actually read your posts, so be sure to promote, promote, promote!

Are you blogging for business? Have you made any of the mistakes listed above? Be sure to comment below and share your blog with us, by listing it in the comments below.

If you need help with coming up with a Blogging Plan, we can help! Be sure to contact us for a FREE Blogging Success Strategy Session

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized