Canadian Small Business Women

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Why You Need To Blog For Your Business

As featured on MakinTheBacon.com

My Blogging Confession

I have a dirty little confession to make.

Well, I suppose it’s not that little anymore since I’m starting a blog post off with it.

I had mentioned before that blogging did make me get back into my long-lost writing groove. However, I failed to mention that I originally started because I had read online that a lot of people were blogging and making money doing it. So I thought I could do it too. My boyfriend (now husband) and I were house-hunting at the time.  We all know how financially draining/stressful purchasing a house can be, so I was constantly looking for more ways to save/make money.

Yes, you read right. My main reason for blogging was to MAKE MONEY.  But I had no strategy. No idea what I was doing.  No consistency whatsoever.  I didn’t take it seriously for a VERY LONG time. I was just basically blogging on the fly.

Originally, I wanted to share my story about how to save money because I felt I was relatively decent at it.  I had never initially planned on creating a consulting business from it. I figured it would be something I could do on the side while I worked full-time.   It wasn’t until the 5th year mark where I seriously thought about my personal blogging journey, how it evolved, what opportunities it provided and what it enabled me to do. Eventually, my own journey made me realize the potential journey it could create for small business owners.

I may seem biased because I am a blogger first,  a business owner second, but these days more and more people are realizing the value of blogging for business. Just Google it and you’ll find a whole myriad of information out there. There is a lot of research that is done on business blogging, hence there are a lot of stats to back this up.

You need A blog. You need TO blog.

If you’re a multi-level, multi-national company who’s been around for 20 + years, you probably could get away without a blog. You’d still need social media, but the blog? Not so much. However, if you’re a small business owner, you may want to look into blogging.  Don’t get me wrong. Offline networking is importantand I force my introverted self to do so, but there is also great value in online networking.

If I meet you offline, I almost always check your online profile. I’ll check your site, your blog, your social media, your feeds. EVERYTHING.  Now I’m not saying this to scare you and make you freak out about not having a blog or being active on social media. I’m just letting you know because most likely, other people who meet you are doing this too.  I’ve connected with people online initially through social media and blogging. Based on what they were putting out there online, it made me want to take the next step and meet them in person. Their online presence was THAT GOOD.

Why You Need To Blog For Your Business

There’s a good chance that I’m not searching for your website specifically.  I’m searching for something that perhaps your business or product can solve. The internet is loud and crowded. While I do believe there is room for everyone, you still need to claim your spot and let people know that you are here.  You need to get people’s attention.

Keepin’ It Real

While you are using it as a marketing tool to help promote your business, your latest service/product, etc – if done right, it makes the awareness and the whole buyer journey more organic. (Source:  Salesforce Marketing Cloud )

Blog posts give you additional content to post on social media. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. Aside from creating a post on social media, why not promote your blog post on social media. Who knows? It may even start a conversation on social media.

Having An Online Presence Matters

Not to sound creepy or anything but people are watching you. People can find you.  Ok let me rephrase that: people are seeing and reading what you put out there. If you have a decent online presence, people can Google you and find your stuff.  If you’re like me, I do quite a bit of research before I make a decision to purchase or make a decision about something. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this. It’s quite rare I act on impulse.

Unless I’m hangry.

While a lot of people have a blog, there are even more people who are on social media. Not everyone has a blog, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone is at least on one form of social media. The people who claim to not be on social media, i.e. my husband are most likely on Facebook and/or LinkedIn and don’t use it.

For the rest of us, we are using social media to communicate and share things with each other.  People are using blogs as a go-to resource. They consider them to be a trusted source of information.  People are telling their friends and family about blogs their reading (I would HOPE  you are telling your friends and family about mine).  They most likely aren’t sharing websites, but they’re sharing content from the blogs of those websites on social media because they find it be useful. Since it’s useful, they feel others should know about it.  It’s become part of the everyday conversation.

Blogging Creates That Awareness At the Top of the Funnel

How else are you attracting people online? Blogging can help capture peoples’ attention and get you noticed. This is especially important if you’re looking to expand your business and work with others who are not just local. If you are looking for a global presence, then you need to build that online presence.

Once you create awareness, you can create interest.

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

How To Get Over Your Fear of Social Media

As seen on MakinTheBacon.com

Get Over Your Fear of Social Media. STAT.

Social media is one of those things that is a necessary evil if you have a business. I had recently written a post about How To Fight Your Fear of Blogging. A lot of things mentioned in that post also ties into the fear of social media. Using social media can be considered a form of microblogging in that the posts are significantly shorter than a blog post. Comments are allowed and encouraged.

Believe it or not, I wasn’t really into social media until I started my blog back in 2012. Prior to that, I only had Facebook and LinkedIn, both of which I was barely active on. Even then with using social media, I was anonymous because I was anonymous with my blog.

It’s interesting that many people have a business and are social offline, but aren’t social on social media (For me, it’s the opposite – it must be the introvert in me, but I prefer one on one interactions vs large networking events). It is so easy to go down that rabbit hole of scrolling and thinking everyone’s life is better than yours (Yes, I have been there many times before). But you have to understand that we share what we want to share.

Ask yourself before you post something on social media:

Would this resonate with my audience?

Will there be any possible repercussions?

Your Business’ Reputation Is At Stake

Social media can be scary in that you need to be careful with what you say and post, but ask yourself this, will it help your reputation or will it potentially damage it?

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. –Warren Buffett

When referring to social media, it will take even less than five minutes to ruin it. Well, actually it can be ruined instantly.

But think about what COULD happen if you were more social on social media? If anything, you should look at what your competitors are doing/ sharing and the fact that they are constantly sharing stuff, so why aren’t you? Many products, events, businesses, services are found through social media.

Repeat After Me: Social Media Is NOT a Waste of Time

Another reason I believe there is so much fear and overwhelm because many people think that it’s a waste of time, but it really all depends on how you use it. Being social on social media for your business doesn’t mean always liking random pictures of ice cream and cats (unless your business is about ice cream and cats or your target market is people who are into ice cream and cats). It’s about explaining what you and your business are all about. It’s about finding and engaging with people who are in either in the same/similar industry as you or where your potential clients/customers might be.

When I say engaging with them, I’m referring to posting comments that don’t sound like something from a bot or a slew of emojis. “Great post” doesn’t cut it.

Taking It One Step At A Time

Having a fear of something often comes from fear of the unknown. I believe that the first step in getting over your fear is recognizing the many benefits it can have for your business.

The second step is taking the time to educate yourself on what platforms may be best suited for your business either through research on the internet (although this can possibly lead into another rabbit hole and then paralysis analysis), workshops, consulting services and courses. I strongly believe in social media education. There are so many platforms and there is a strategy for each of them. Updates and features are constantly being added. Algorithms are always changing.  Features of 3rd-party tools that are used in conjunction with the platforms themselves are constantly changing.

One has no choice (especially those who provide it as a service for other business owners), but to educate themselves on an ongoing basis. I recently attended Social Media Camp in Victoria, B.C beginning of last month and will be attending Social Media Week in LA next week. With anything that seems daunting at first, once you start to learn more about it and break it down into bite-sized pieces, you’ll realize that hey this is not so bad.

The third thing is to ignore all the bad stuff that you see on social media and focus more on the good. Yes, there is actually a lot of positive stuff on social media. Don’t be afraid to be part of the conversation. You may have some interesting insight and be able to help someone with your products and/or services!

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

10 Great Resources To Find Blog Post Ideas

1. Your Social Media Feeds

If you’re mainly following specific people (i.e. influencers and competitors in your industry) and not just random people and your friends, then your feeds could be a serious goldmine for ideas. Participating in the existing conversations could spark more ideas (Would that be considered Idea Inception?).

What are they saying?

What are they predicting?

What are they sharing?

Recall that some of the reasons we share things on social media are to inform, inspire, educate – we find the content to be valuable and want to share with our networks.

Surely you must have an opinion on it.

2. The Intelligent Conversations You Have With Other People

Fellow business owners, leads and clients, whether it is in person over coffee/lunch or virtually. There have been countless times where I have said out loud during the conversation, that would be a great blog post topic! Really. Sometimes the idea will just come out of nowhere.Different people lead to different conversations.

3. Medium

It’s an online publishing platform (an alternative to starting your own blog) that has been around for awhile but hasn’t reached the point of saturation yet. You can find and follow many interesting people on Medium.

4. Facebook Groups

This is where I’m noticing conversations happening. People ask questions, ask for recommendations on Facebook, ask for advice. There are a ridiculous amount of Facebook Groups out there.  I clean house here and there just because the out of sight, out of mind works best.   So just like with social media feeds, I would hope that some of the Facebook Groups you follow are where you would find valuable business advice or find your potential clients.

5. Other business blogs in your industry

What are they writing about? Perhaps you should be writing about these things as well and educating your followers about them.

6. Quora

I feel this platform doesn’t get enough credit and is not as widely known. It’s similar to Reddit, but I think the quality of questions is better and the topics are geared to people who genuinely want to learn or get advice from an industry expert. Although I have seen some not so intelligent questions being asked.

While there are many generic questions i.e. such as how to start a blog, how to grow my blog, etc. I have come across questions and been asked questions that are more thought-provoking. This is especially useful if you are looking for that answer to your super specific question and Google just doesn’t cut it. You can also request certain people to answer your question if you are looking for their opinion in particular.

7. LinkedInGroups

While you may not experience the same level of conversation and engagement compared to Facebook Groups, I would suggest poking your head in every once in awhile to see what people are posting over there. You can’t really predict where ideas will come from. So it’s best to keep an open mind and have many options available.

8. Newsletters

Look through some of the newsletters you subscribe to. Sometimes the newsletter contains different information that isn’t found on the blog. Is there anything that could be pulled from them and used for a blog post? What about the newsletters you send out?

9. Podcasts

Another great reservoir for content. Sometimes just listening to OTHER peoples’ conversations can give you an A-HA moment – i.e. I never thought about it that way before.

10.  Industry Events and Conferences

The previous blog post is the final interview in a Social Media Series, we chatted about Social Media Camp, a Canadian Social Media Conference that I attended this past May for the first time. There was a lot of valuable information and insight. The same was for Social Media Week LA. I made the effort to chat with people more before the conference and during the breaks.

So with respect to new content that should be able to fill up some spaces with blog post ideas in your content calendar for the next few months.

 

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

 

How To Create A Successful Blog

As featured on www.makinthebacon.com

A Successful Blog Can Create Success For Your Business

If you’ve been following my blog for the past year and a bit, you may have come across the popular blog post – Why You Need To Blog For Your Business.

So you know about the why. I’m going to share a little bit about the how (it’s not as complicated as you think)

First off, just start.

Seriously.

Your first blog post may not be pretty or polished the first time around. But just start with a simple plan and go from there.

Take a look at my first blog post back in 2012.  I like to think that I have come a long way since then.  Note that it’s hard to build credibility or a following with just one post or one video either. You need to have several blog posts. One isn’t enough. People will want to read more of your posts and may come back to your site on a regular basis to check for new posts.

There is a lot of noise out there that only focuses on how they gained 1,000 views in their first month of blogging or how they are making “X” amount of dollars from blogging. When starting out, it’s tempting to give up early on and you will be frustrated at times, may not think your blog posts are good enough.  We are our own worst critics.  The more you write, the more content you’ll have and the better you’ll get.  Remember, you’re not writing a book (yet). But keep in mind that blogging can often lead to writing ebooks and physical books.

Focus On A Different Definition of Success

If you treat your blog the same way you treat your business (i.e. you’re in it for the long haul and are focusing on growth and long-term sustainability), then that’s progress right there. You have to have grit and be willing to persist.

For the record, when talking about a successful blog, I’m not focusing on the making money part. Thanks to society and perhaps upbringing (mine), we were led to believe that money = success. More money, more success.

One of my Instagram posts, shown below here stated what my current definition of success is and I believe it can be applied to blogging.

As a matter of fact, my blog enabled me to achieve all of those things.

Keep It Simple Silly

When it comes to being productive with your blog, there are a few simple things to keep in mind.

1. Set a rough schedule for your blog. If the idea of a content calendar is too much, you can always start off simply by just making a note in your agenda to write a blog post this week or every other week, etc.

2. Remember it isn’t necessarily about the number of blog posts, it’s the quality. Business blogging does not serve its purpose if you are constantly producing sub-par content just for the sake of posting frequently.  You wouldn’t want to be known as the blog that provides useless information or poorly written posts.

You may think that you need to post every day, every week and no that isn’t always the case. At the same time, don’t be like the old me and write blog posts every other month.

3. And don’t be a perfectionist either. Yes, check for grammar and spelling but you don’t have to be the grammar police. Blog posts are meant to be more of a conversational tone than a research article. As long as you tried your best, reviewed it several times (I’ll even read my blog post out loud from time to time), just hit publish already.

The great thing about blog posts is that you can easily edit and update them. You can’t do that with video.

4.  Be willing to commit and make time for it. It’s not a matter of time, it’s a matter of priorities.

Remember that being productive isn’t about getting a lot of things done, it’s more about getting the RIGHT things done.

 

If they are the right things, the ones that will help your business and move your business forward, then that is productivity at its best.

New Blog Post, New Opportunity

Mindset is key. Know that each blog post you publish is a new opportunity to connect with your current and potential customers. Think of each blog post as an opportunity to share your knowledge/opinion/advice (recall that we are a sharing society) and promote your business.

People will come back to your blog because they know you are THE resource for the topics of x, y and z. They’ll want to share your content with their networks because they found it to be very valuable/entertaining/interesting.

You’re killing two birds with one stone in that you don’t have to come up with as much new social media content. Just pull stuff from blog posts or promote the entire blog post.

It’s a sign that your site is of good quality because it is being updated with new content on a regular basis.  According to Hubspot, Blogging helps boost SEO quality by positioning your website as a relevant answer to your customers’ questions .

 

“In addition to my love of writing, these are the reasons why I continue to blog. So keep going, keep sharing and keep putting yourself out there.”

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

 

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