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Tag Archive: expertise

Blogging made easier, especially for you

Written on Friday 4 May 2012 by Alice

Click my logo to ask me a question!

The blogging world is generally considered technical, but in reality is not that complex – but then I would say that, wouldn’t I? But to anyone who hasn’t come across it before, or has tried it and found it confusing, not knowing what is going on would cause apprehension.

Over a quarter of a century ago I was in the same position. I was faced with all this jargon, coding, strange symbols and the American language. I still remember when I first starting using Apple Macs back in the 1980s it took me some time to realise that ‘quit’ meant ‘stop’! It was a word I just didn’t use. Blogging is full of American words, so not only do you have to learn how to do it, you need to have it translated as well!

It is also extremely male. I know I have to be careful when I make this statement, but the blog creator was an American called David Winer who “was fiddling with a project and organised a series of entries in a new way”.¹ This resulted in a new form of website that displayed its content in reverse chronological order, so obviously blogging terms reflect his nature at the time.

Many blog webmasters are likely to inform you that blogging is easy and what is the problem? Of course it’s easy for them, they live and breathe websites, coding, HTML and all that sort of thing. But to the more mature, British, female entrepreneur (like myself), suddenly faced with this concept that is totally alien to her, with words she has never seen or heard of before, it seems like it has come from another planet!

Having been there before, done it, seen the film and got the T-shirt, I totally understand my clients’ predicament. That was why the Fairy Blog Mother was formed, to explain all about blogging in a language that ordinary people could understand.

But now I’ve gone a bit further. Blogs have been around for a while now, and lots of extremely clever people have been working hard to improve how they work and to make the process of creating and maintaining them easier. Being the sort of person I am, I have researched into and used these new applications, because I want blogging to be easy. I don’t want to waste my time trying to fathom out how to do certain processes using coding, passwords and the like. All I want to do is to click on a button and have it all done for me!

And this is now possible. This is exactly what I do when I create a new blogsite. I have found the right tools to do this, not only because it makes it easier for me, but also for my clients. I want all my blog users to be able to continue looking after and improving their blogs without having to continuously ask ‘How do you do this?’ With just one click everything happens correctly and immediately with no fuss, bother or confusion.

Unfortunately there are some hosting providers that don’t use this option. This may be OK for the technical types, who know how to wade in, create the appropriate databases and upload WordPress onto their FTP systems, but unless you know what you are doing, the average blogger is still left in the dark staring at a c-panel and scratching their heads in bewilderment.

So if your business comprises of a lot of special know-how and facilities, spare a thought for your clients. If you don’t want to share your expertise to make life easier for them, at least explain it in a way that everyone can understand. Your clients should feel they can come to you and ask any question they like, and the explanation will be jargon-free, simple and relevant. This will ensure they more likely to use you again in the future, and even recommend you to a friend or colleague. What an excellent way to allow your reputation to go before you!

¹ Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

Blogging help, blogs and blogging, non-jargon, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs - Tags: blogging, blogs and blogging, content, expertise, explanations, jargon-free, language, process, reverse chronological order, technical, understand, websites - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

Focus on one thing at a time

Written on Friday 2 September 2011 by Alice

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Not all of us are multi-taskers. As a woman I’m supposed to be able to multi-task, but in reality it’s not second nature to me. I am very good at concentrating on one thing really well, sometimes to the detriment of all that goes on around me! I can put all my effort into making that performance as perfect as I can, and hate it when I get distracted by external stimuli that break the spell and force me to think of something else.

In business this can be a good trait – especially for small enterprises. The world is huge, and competition can be fierce, so being a ‘jack of all trades’ is not necessarily a good thing. It is unwise to ‘spread yourself too thinly’, to dabble in many things and become master of none. OK, it’s certainly good to read widely and extensively, to expand your knowledge within your chosen field, but sometimes it’s preferable to focus your expertise towards a particular area.

My tip for a small business is to find a niche. Something that is required by your target market (customers), you fully understand all the problems associated with it and you have the best solution possible. Alternatively, your niche is very lucrative, so concentrating on that particular venture will being in a good return and raise you above the competition.

By focusing on a small area, you will be able to become a true expert within that subject. Don’t get sidetracked by attractive prospectives that may persuade you to stray from your chosen path, they will only dilute what you have to offer, and make your niche less understandable.

I know a particular florist that started by providing beautiful, sumptuous and exotic bouquets. If you wanted to send a floral gift that was different, and not just an ordinary bunch of flowers, they were the place to go. Unfortunately, they panicked with the extended recession, and started to sell other items. Now their shop offers all kinds of unrelated additions, from garden implements, trinkets, figurines, cards and even clothes. There is no resemblance to the little florist that began its life only a few years ago.

I have no idea if this tactic has paid off, but it has certainly made me think whether they still provided those extraordinary floral displays for which I first knew them. The confusion has probably put off some custom because nobody is quite sure what they really sell. The pavement outside used to be decorated with wonderful blooms and exciting plants, now their windows show strange and weird gifts, mannikins sporting floral dresses and not a flower in sight.

Work out exactly what your real niche is, and stick to it. Don’t think that you need to know or offer everything. In fact, by becoming a true expert in your field, with the help of your blog, of course, you will attract more people because they understand what you do. They will know exactly what to expect, they won’t become confused or disillusioned, and they will feel safe either approaching you or recommending you to someone else. And eventually you will become the ‘point of call’ for that particular niche, even over your competitors!

blogs and blogging, increasing business visibility, marketing methods - Tags: competition, concentrating, expertise, focusing, multi-taskers, niche, solutions, subject, target market - 1 Comment - Why not leave a comment?

What should be your true reason for blogging?

Written on Thursday 14 April 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

Notice I put in ‘should be’ – because I can’t dictate what you created your blog for. But I can advise you on your blogging style, and how it will relate to your readers.

There are plenty of blogs and their posts out in the blogosphere yabbering away about how to make money. And that is one of the reasons why people create blogs – to make a fast buck. Some do succeed, but you’ll find there are plenty of different ways to do this, and some find it easier than others.

I could include affiliate and sponsored advertising, but then I feel this blog would become too commercial and my readers would be turned off. If you want to make money fast, then by all means go down this route, but it does depend on the kind of readership you may want to attract, on the subject matter you’re blogging about, and how much you post every day. The idea is to create traffic to supply the advertising, and sometimes the quality of the posts do suffer as a result.

But when you come across a blog like that, isn’t it really unwelcoming, distracting, annoying and disturbing? I hate the fact you have to glean the posted material somewhere amongst all that hype and irrelevant material – and let’s face it, much of the advertising doesn’t relate to the post’s subject.

So without these interfering interruptions, you need to be more canny about why you are blogging and how you go about it. Without the advertising you won’t make your immediate fortune, so you’ll have to rely on good content, a scintillating and entertaining style, relevant and required subject matter with excellent, pertinent headlines to compensate.

And another thing, don’t try and sell in your content if you’ve decided not to include advertising. Having established that your blog won’t be commercially cluttered, don’t spoil your posts with hard-sell tactics, as that is not the true nature of blogging.

Blogs are a medium for expression, education, entertaining and example. They are an integral part of social networking, and you don’t sell on this kind of media as it isn’t tolerated. Your blog is a place to explain your ideas to your audience for free, as a gesture of goodwill and an altruistic attitude towards helping other people succeed or have a better life. It is somewhere to expose your expertise, show off your knowledge and spread the word, a resource that highlights the all important answers and provides the solutions for nothing – except for a following, subscriptions, sharing on social media and recommendations to others to come and read your posts.

And of course you reciprocate by thanking them, commenting on their blogs and acknowledging them on social networking and bookmarking sites – once they’ve scratched your back it’s definitely time to scratch theirs!

Why should you have a blog?

Written on Thursday 31 March 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

Everyone should know that a blog is a medium for expression. It is somewhere you can download all the ideas and concepts you cannot add into your website, and of course a cluttered website that includes absolutely everything is not good practice.

This is where a blog comes to the rescue. Here you can provide all that extra information and material for your customers in a much more accessible format. A blog is perfect for communicating your vision, objectives, aspirations, focus and achievements in a friendly and informative method, designed to be more comprehensible to your readers. Remember to reach out to your audience on a regular basis, especially since consistent posting is an important factor that contributes towards your blog’s success.

Use your blog to write material that will influence the people within your industry; somewhere to publish examples of your expertise, knowledge, research and points of view. If you are asked the same questions over and over again by your customers, why not write your response in a post so more people will be able to read your answer. If you read a competitor’s report that sparks off a particular reaction, why not respond to it appropriately or provide your solution to the scenario, so that your customers get to see your side of the story.

Blogging is a highly suitable method of striking up a dialogue with past, present and prospective customers. There is no reason why your post can’t resurrect an old contact, reassure your customers they’re using the right company, or influence possible new recruits to check you out with a view to doing business. Using the interactive properties of blogging to engage in conversations with your readers will stimulate search engine indexing who view comments as valid new material.

Taking advantage of this wonderful medium, so ripe with possibilities for communicating, influencing, interacting, educating and entertaining, is an opportunity that should not be missed.

What is the ideal length for a blog post?

Written on Wednesday 30 March 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

The Fairy Blog Mother loves questions (just click on her logo to ask one), and this one was asked yesterday by Susan Perloff, so here is my answer below:

Ideally a blog is meant to be is fast moving and newsy, so posts should not be long, but there are some people (myself included) who get carried away and waffle on for ages.

This is not good. If you have written a long article, it is not best to upload all of it into a post in one go. Divide it up into a series, each post about 5-6 paragraphs, 250-300 words long or within 4 minutes of reading time (this is just a guide), and post them in succession over a period of days. (You can schedule them in advance to do this, read my Scheduling Posts e-course.)

The advantage of scheduling your posts, especially if you can add a cliff-hanger at the end of each one, is that it will encourage your readers to come back to your blog, or subscribe to it via RSS, so they don’t miss the next installment!

As posts are usually read at speed, it’s best to present them so it is easy to glean the jist or subject matter quickly. Once the reader has established this is a post worth reading, and they have the time to do so, then they will settle down to read it properly.

To aid this further, divide your post into subheadings, or use bullet points for emphasis; this breaks up the prose to help the reader digest your post while they read it. Using short paragraphs also makes reading easier, and keep to one subject throughout.

And finally there are some prolific bloggers who only write small posts, preferring to present their nuggets of information and expertise in bite-sized portions. This successfully makes it easy for their followers to read their posts, easy for the writer to produce his posts, and easy for the search engines to index the posts to a higher status. Win win for everybody!

blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs, Writing tips - Tags: article, bite sized portions, blog posts, bullet points, encourage readers, expertise, ideal length for a blog post, information, newsy, Questions and Answers, scheduling, search engines, subheadings, subscribe via RSS - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

Reveal your passion when you post

Written on Tuesday 24 August 2010 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

There is one thing that will get your blog’s audience going, and that is your passion for your subject. They may be inspired by your writing, revel in your enthusiasm, absorb your knowledge and be in awe of your expertise, but it will be your passion that makes them come back for more!

It will be your passion that will make you write more posts, which means more new material, and thus more information to entice the search engine spiders to visit to index your posts. This in turn will therefore publicise your blog to a wider audience. Your great content will also encourage more readers to subscribe to your RSS feed, which in turn can be fed into social networking sites, exposing it even further through viral marketing and sharing tactics.

Your blog needs to have a subject you really enjoy writing about. It needs to be as wide as possible to stimulate you to undertake relevant research for your readers, to transform this information into something new, taken from your experiences and expertise. If you find a subject that has been blogged about many times before, don’t be put off; write about your point of view, how you see the situation, what slant you can put on it, what you can recommend or what item you have found that you wish to share. This makes the subject far more interesting to read, rather than purely writing blandly about a much quoted theme.

Eventually posting passionately should become a way of life. You will learn to find new content wherever you are, something will stimulate a possible post, or your brain will be inspired to think in another way to express your thoughts or observations. This then needs to be reverted it into something relevant that will interest your readers, providing them with a passionately inspired post written with them in mind, designed to entertain them suitably to encourage them to either comment or return for more.

blogs and blogging, Writing tips - Tags: blog posts, expertise, inspiring writing, more material, passion, RSS feed, search engine spiders, social networking sites, wider audience - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

Why do you need a blog?

Written on Tuesday 30 March 2010 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

It’s amazing how many businesses don’t have a blog, or if they do, it lies neglected and forgotten. Only recently I helped resuscitate a website by rewriting the copy to bring back the customer focus. One of the links went to something that was called a blog, but hardly resembled one…

It’s great that they had a blog, but it’s certainly not good to misuse it. To them it was a page where reference points were listed, or articles were recorded. Hmm, apart from being very boring, it certainly didn’t encourage visitor interaction, which is what blogs are all about.

Blogs are all about increasing the visibility of your business online. It is an extra place on the web that allows a different and wider audience to find out more about you. It is an extremely flexible medium that enables a business to express themselves outside the rigid format of a brochure website. Within its pages you can show off your expertise, explain areas of your business in either greater detail or in a more sociable and communicative method to encourage visitor response. You are able to let your hair down, take off your tie or kick off your heels, and really show social media what you’re made of.

Now we’re entering the second decade of the millennium, the way business is done online is changing. Social networking is rising, and business practices are taking it on board within their marketing strategies. Gone are the days of stiff presentations, say hello to more social interaction, making way for customer’s and reader’s comments, feedback, suggestions, questions, even their own content. A blog is certainly one method of achieving this, using technology that is improving all the time to increase the easiness of use, friendliness of action and encouragement of participation.

So my next task is to carefully educate this website’s business to start using their blog again, making them understand its true purpose so it can perform effectively. It’s lack of knowledge about social media that result in poor management of online marketing tools, and this blog aims to rectify this as soon as possible. Watch this space…

blogs and blogging, increasing business visibility, online marketing - Tags: articles, blog, businesses, customer focus, expertise, increasing business visibility, other social media, social networking, visitor interaction, website - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

What is the difference between an article and a blog post?

Written on Monday 3 August 2009 by Alice

An article is a lengthy piece of writing, written in an expert’s point of view, aimed at explaining a topic in great detail. A blog post is a shorter piece of writing, usually in a ‘conversational’ style, aimed at updating or educating your readers, or to spark ideas and interest in your business.

Articles are produced to promote the author’s expertise and prowess at writing and research, hence why they are long. A blog post should take one subject and explain it succinctly within a few short paragraphs, written from multiple view-points to gain the comprehension of the reader.

Articles can vary in length, and even though they are online, are designed to be printed out for leisurely reading. Blog posts are meant to be read immediately. The subject should be introduced within the headline and first sentence, and the concept within the first paragraph. As most blog readers only read the first 25% of a post, or spend an average of 96 seconds, getting the jist across at the very beginning is important to achieve your post being read in full.

Twitter has minimalised this even further (hence why it’s called micro-blogging). There are just 140 characters to get your point across and capture your reader’s interest, but you do have the advantage of interaction: a tinyurl link can be added to direct the reader to a blog post or article for further reading.

blogs and blogging, marketing methods - Tags: articles, blog posts, blogging, blogs and blogging, educating, expertise, experts, headlines, links, readers, research, subjects, succinctly, Twitter - 1 Comment - Why not leave a comment?

What do you use your blog for?

Written on Thursday 16 April 2009 by Alice

Hi Alice

I have a business blog: http://pensarmarketing.blogspot.com

I am not sure how to use it, I have heard different things from different people. My posts vary from personal to business as this is what I have been told works. To be honest I do not use it very often because I am unsure of how to get the best from it.

I would like to use my blog for business more than I do and possibly earn a small revenue from it eventually.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated!

Thank you, Sara
www.pensarmarketing.co.uk

–oo00oo–

Hi Sara

Took a look at your blog, and I’m afraid my first reaction is why do you use a black background? It makes my eyes go shimmy and I find it very difficult to read.

Blogs are to provide your customers with another insight into what your business is all about. Fill your posts with valuable content to raise your expertise status. Keep them fairly regularly spaced apart (they don’t need to be done very frequently), bt regularity is the key: spiders will soon learn this and visit your blog accordingly.

Increase the search engine optimisation (SEO) by including categories and tags for your posts. The categories are like chapters which provide a place to store your posts for future search, and the tags resemble keywords that give the spiders food to help with getting your post into the search engines.

Add an RSS feed to increase your readership, especially within the social networking sites. Without one your blog is very lonely as it cannot be regularly followed whenever new content is posted.

How to make money? Each post should have a purpose, whether it is to increase your expertise and your following, link to your website for more traffic, guide your readers to sign up to an event or direct them to a squeeze page to pay for a service or product. Don’t blog aimlessly, it may be nice to read but not good for you.

Want to know more? Join up to my blogging newsletter from my blogging pages to keep in the loop! Or listen to my teleseminar on 14 May – watch this space!

Alice

blogs and blogging - Tags: blog, blogging, call to action, comments, customers, expertise, feedback, gain business, increased traffic, information, interaction, keywords, links, marketing methods, newsletter, RSS, SEO, social networking - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?