Posts Tagged ‘workshops’

At the recent ‘Effective Online Marketing’ workshop that we held at the Working Women’s Network, blogging, like Twitter, was another topic that came up as something that people knew something about but weren’t sure exactly how to make full use of.

If you’re a technical kind of person (like my husband!) the history of blogs is quite interesting. Blogs, short for web logs, began in the late 90’s. There are several types of blogs such as personal blogs, corporate blogs, video blogs and more. You can learn all about it on Wikipedia if you really want to! However, from a business perspective, how you can make the most of a blog to get your message across and attract new business is far more interesting.

There are a few reasons you would start blogging to help your business. Firstly, having a blog on your website provides you with the opportunity to create fresh, frequently updated, keyword-rich content, all of which Google and the other search engines love.

Secondly, it gives you a way to communicate with your audience, however large or small, about topics that relate to your business in some way. This gives you the opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your area and raise your business profile.

Thirdly, as I do, you may blog on sites other than your own if your topic isn’t relevant to your specialist subject matter or you have an interest in a similar topic and can establish yourself as a regular contributor to a popular blogging site. This again allows you to elevate yourself as an expert and drives traffic to your own site from a well, established and popular site. Again, something that Google and his friends are particularly fond of.

All of this is great, you say. But what on earth do you write about on a blog? How often should you post a blog and how do you promote it to the wider world out there?

Working out what to write on a blog is definitely the hardest aspect of the job (believe me, here I speak from experience!). When you’re first starting out it’s a good idea to jot down several ideas and make a start by writing your first few posts before you’ve even introduced your audience to your incredible wit and charm. This means that when you do start to publish the posts you have a few up your sleeve and you feel less pressure when it comes to writing one (oh, if only I followed my own advice on that one!).

Knowing what to write about will get easier as you become more of a veteran and you are more comfortable sharing your opinions with the rest of the world. Mixing up the topics is probably a good idea. You can cover achievements in your business, new customers who have found your services to be of benefit, short case studies where you have had a situation arise with a client and it provides an excellent way to showcase how you can solve issues that people have, topics that are popular in the news that relate to your business, products and services.

You can also use your blog to raise customer service issues, either that you have experienced as a customer or as the service provider, and how the issues were resolved satisfactorily or otherwise. Basically, since blogs are a vehicle for people to express their opinion on a topic, either as the author or a reader, the subject matter you write about is limitless. Relating it to your business and keywords are the key points to remember.

Here’s a good place to point out that blogs are not only useful if you write them. Making comments on blogs that relate to your business is also good to help establish your brand, especially since you can add a link to your website when you leave the comment, again helping your Google ranking.

There are many blogs out in the blogosphere that will give you pointers and tips on how to make your blog effective. But, if you want a comprehensive guide to blogging you really should visit Darren Rowse’s Blog – ProBlogger. Darren is, by all accounts from my Melbourne Twitter friends, a great Aussie bloke from Melbourne. He is also one of the World’s leading bloggers and his site will give you countless tips. I recently started his 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series, which gives you practical excercises on how to improve the content of your blog and promote it to the world. He has created a workbook out of this series and, if you’re serious about making your blog work for you I highly recommend it. By providing a step-by-step guide to daily (or weekly if you prefer to extend it) tasks it is great value at under $20.00.

And, when it comes to promoting your blog and getting people to read it, there are several options. Again, Darren has a comprehensive list of ways to do this here.

Some truly amazing things are happening in my world at the moment! Wow, that’s a pretty bold statement. But it’s true. All of a sudden, I’m rushed off my feet with new projects and interesting work. So much for a recession! I’ll admit it isn’t accidental. I have been beavering away behind the scenes so that I get myself out there, make connections and stay in touch with clients.

Over the last six months I’ve been selectively networking at some key events, such as the Flying Solo Live! conference and Carolyn Stafford’s Connect Marketing breakfasts, and I’ve made some pretty amazing connections with some driven business people, not least Angela Raspass from Ideas into Action and founder of the Working Women’s Network.

At the same time I have started to put plans into place to expand my business and what I offer my clients. Part of this process has been to attend courses, seminars and workshops and spend time researching and learning new things to push the business forward.

And, it’s really paying dividends, way more than I could have anticipated or hoped for. I am really excited at the prospects for my little old business. And, I have to admit, more than a little scared. That’s right, I’m out there in the open telling you all I’m scared! And for a number of reasons. All of a sudden it looks like my business could actually turn into what I have planned for it, and that means that I really need to be on the ball to make sure that I keep it progressing forward. It also means that I need to make the right decisions to seize the opportunities that are presented to me. And, wondering if I will recognise the opportunities and then make the right decisions is a fairly daunting prospect. Sometimes it’s enough to keep me awake at night!

Getting direction for your business is vital to its survival. And making sure that you don’t just start chasing your tail instead of having a clear path to follow will make the difference between being successful and being overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.

I’m looking forward to Linda Hailey’s presentation, Your Business Your Future, at the Working Women’s Network event on Tuesday 26^th May. Linda is a small business consultant and author and will be speaking about how to recognise where your business sits on the business timeline and how to plan accordingly. It’s come at a time when I really feel that I’m approaching a cross-roads and need some signposts to point me in the right direction. I’ve already taken the business timeline test so I’ll be ready to hear what she has to tell me. Then, watch out world ‘cause I’ll be armed and ready for that next vital step in the life of my business.

Hope to see you there. I suddenly have this crazy vision in my head of us all walking out with our own personal signpost to success!

Until next time.

Karen

Karen Morris is the Working Womens Network media officer. She runs Inscriptions, a copywriting and PR Consultancy, is a contributor to Flying Solo and is a wife and mother to three active boys. She loves life and work and has an insatiable appetite to learn all things new, especially all things 2.0.

Inspirational and motivational! That’s me this week. Why? You say. Well, this week I am organised. I know, something we all aspire to but never seem to get there right? And, you ask, how have I achieved this zen-like status?

A couple of things have propelled me there really. The first was finding a system that can keep me organised and on track on a daily basis, and the second was attending the Working Womens Network Workshop for April on Priority Management presented by Katrena Friel of BSI Learning, who showed us how to recognise procrastination and habits that hold us back from achieving what we want to.

On Easter Monday, whilst my delightful husband was having quality time with our three boys – elsewhere – I got to work catching up with timesheets, accounts and invoicing. I know, I know, Public Holiday, but after three days at home without turning on the computer I was beginning to get the shakes, and the boys love nothing more than a day out with their Dad. Win, win! And, because it wasn’t technically a “work” day I could work on things that weren’t revenue-producing without feeling like I should be doing something else.

Once I had it sorted, I signed up to an online project management and timekeeping service called Projjex. I have been searching for something like this for some time and of everything I have seen this was the least complex, simplest to install and is very cost-effective. Now, we’re all about sharing at the Working Womens Network, and this is just my own preference, so I’d love to hear about any other products or services that have helped you achieve the same. Just leave a comment below and share the love!

Once set up, I now have every project I’m working on carefully entered and logged down to the smallest detail. How can being tied to deadlines make you feel liberated? Well, I no longer have to rely on anything in my head when it comes to delivering what I’ve promised to people. This frees up my headspace for creativity and delivery of what really matters.

It has also simplified one of my most hated tasks, timekeeping and invoicing. With a simple click I enter my times against my projects, I can even log it against specific tasks within a project and then I can forget about it. More free headspace!

All of this tied in beautifully to what Katrena discussed in the workshop and brought me back to my desk with total enthusiasm and immense productivity. My afternoon produced results I couldn’t have predicted and gave me a real sense of achievement for the day.

So, inspiration and motivation is what I’m working with this week, which will put me in the right frame of mind for the next Working Womens Network Event, Inspiration, Motivation, Health & Well-Being with our key note speaker Di Westaway of Wild Women on Top. I’m looking forward to building on what I’ve taken away from Katrena’s workshop and learning how to set and achieve my goals, while being inspired by her incredible story.

Share your business and networking thoughts with the Network.

Until next time.

Karen

Karen Morris is the Working Womens Network media officer. She runs Inscriptions, a copywriting and PR Consultancy, is a contributor to Flying Solo and is a wife and mother to three active boys. She loves life and work and has an insatiable appetite to learn all things new, especially all things 2.0.