Business Blog
Copywriter - Copywriting - Blog
As you no doubt know, marketing is absolutely essential to the lifeblood and success of your business. Afterall, if you don’t have new leads, you won’t have customers – and if you don’t have them, you don’t have business.
Now, I know whenever somebody mentions the M-word, as a small business person you’re probably going to say, “It’s too expensive!” Fortunately though, the fact is that the best marketing tools seem to be those that cost the least amount of money.
What am I talking about here?
Business Relationship-Building
It’s all about doing business with people we know and trust, and as humans, that’s something we have a tendency to do. Why go online to try finding a local painter for instance, when we know somebody personally who has their own painting business?
We take our business to places we know and trust – to people we know and trust. And that’s why big, expensive advertising isn’t the be all, end all in our marketing.
In fact, we can create the success we want without spending thousands a year, a month or a week on big-time advertising!
We can do it for free – all by ourselves – thanks to forums and blogs!
Forget Yellow Pages advertising (people aren’t looking to the Yellow Pages much anymore anyway), and forget forking out bucketloads of cash on traditional advertising methods. Right now, because you’re on the web and browsing this website, you’ve got everything you need to start serious networking on forums and blogs.
Here are some steps to get started:
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- Set aside time each day for your blog and forum networking: Treat your networking as a job and get serious about it. Commit to a certain amount of time each day to blog commenting and forum networking.
- Understand exactly who your target market are: If you sell a fishing product for instance, your target market are anglers. Where are the anglers likely to be found on the internet, talking about fishing? Easy – fishing forums and blogs. Hit Google up right now with the search terms needed to find these sorts of blogs and websites.
- Make a list of good blog websites and forums to be a part of: Choose active, professional blog and forums to be a part of. By ensuring the site is active, you know that anything you post as blog or forum comments will be seen by enough people to make it worthwhile.
- Only give real value and information to readers: So many people go to blog websites with the mission to spread the word on their business, product or service. Unfortunately this results in people posting spam-like comments (which will be deleted) or comments that are pointless, e.g. in relation to a blog article, posting a boring comment such as, “Great article!” with nothing else. Only post blog responses and forum comments that contribute to quality discussion.
- Start quality discussions on forums: Don’t be afraid to start discussions on forums. Post your own topic, but ensure it is about something of value to that online community. Never post blatant promotional material on forums or on blog websites. This will immediately put you on the wrong side of the site owners – it may even get you banned.
- Engage others personally: Don’t be afraid to send a personal message to somebody you want to connect with via a forum. Always approach them with a view to making meaningful connections, and avoid selling anything at all times. Emphasise how you value business relationships and would love to connect. You never know where it might go – this person could be your next joint venture partner!
- Use your personal name as your username and not your business name: This shows that you are interested in networking and building real relationships, rather than just hiding behind a business name. This is so impersonal and not as effective in the networking process.
- Ensure your blog and forum signatures are correct: There’s nothing worse than seeing somebody on a blog or forum who you want to connect with, and not being able to contact them. Ensure your signatures easily direct people to you. This will also help internet users find you online. After all, ever forum and blog comment you make is another gingerbread crumb, leading back to your business online!
- Never speak badly of your competition: This is a no-no and will make you look totally unprofessional. There is more than enough business to go around, and you know you’re great – so there’s no need to speak badly of competitors.
- Never engage in nasty commenting in blogs or on forums: Because blogs and forums use the medium of the internet, it can be impersonal in nature. This often results in people saying things they wouldn’t say to an individual in person. Keep this in mind, and do not be tempted to engage in fighting or arguments in forums or on blogs. This will do your business image more harm than good. Be nice!
And finally, remember it takes time!
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we all know that. Likewise, nobody ever became a successful business person by posting on a few blogs and forums for a short period of time. Getting your message out there is a public relations activity in itself, and these always take time. Stick to it though and keep giving great information and value to those you network with online, and you will see results in the form of more leads and more sales.
Start your blog and forum involvement today – and enjoy the ride!
For those of my readers who already have, what have your experiences been like?
I have found that my involvement has resulted in me making great connections – even clients! It has been invaluable for me, but it is very much a case of you get back what you put in.
Let’s get the discussion going!
Social networking…wow! I must admit over this weekend I have really been encouraged and excited by the uptake in followers on my Twitter account, but one thing is really clear in the Tweeter world. People are taking shortcuts. They’re doing things the easy way, and frankly, I don’t think the easy way is the best way.
Here’s a bit of background to state my case, and you can agree or disagree with me – it’s your call.
People just seem to send you the same old, boring old stuff.
Make no mistake about it. Copywriting isn’t a brand new thing at all. In fact, it’s been with us for as long as the art of selling pretty much. The only thing is, so many people – particulary here in Australia – don’t know what copywriting is at all.
Many people think it’s somehow related to underwriting in the insurance industry or copyright relating to intellectual property.
So, what exactly is copywriting?
Are you getting the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to your website?
Are you waking up every morning and seeing at least one lead from your website from the night before?
If not, it’s time to take some serious action to turn that around. After all, you’re in business. You DO have something to offer and there ARE plenty of prospects out there who – when they find out who you are and what you do – will contact you with a view to doing business.
photo credit: jekert gwapo
Chances are you already produce content to promote your business, or you are seriously considering it, right? Well if that sounds like you, this is an article you simply must read.
The paid advertising so many of you might be spending your money on right now, isn’t the best way for you to generate new business – regardless of what your advertising manager may tell you. Sure, you might be getting a few leads from it – or maybe the odd sale here or there. This said though, you CAN do a lot better.
And content is where it’s at.
photo credit: www.theedinburghblog.co.uk
