Chibi Thor

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Are You Blogging To The Right People?

Are You Blogging To The Right People?
This blogging thing just doesn't seem to be getting you those prospective clients that could turn into customers. You know, those people who keep coming back, tell their friends about you and your business and eventually make a purchase.
The words are there, you know they're good and your message seems to be clear, but nobody is biting the bait.
You have a service that will benefit a large group of people, you may have even conducted some research based on friends and family to see if they thought you had a good service...
But the problem is that no one is listening (or in this case reading) and you have no idea what the next step is.
If this is occurring, you should turn around! No, don't look over your shoulder... turn all the way around and look at what you have done so far.
The business startup was a success because you have the website, money has changed from your first client's hands to yours and then you just start blogging about topics related to what you offer as a service.
See any problems here? You should!
People read all the books and try to dot every "I" and cross every "t" before they throw themselves out to the public (because as you know, YOU are the business-or at the very least the face of it). But, many people neglect some basic tenets of successful business planning.
The first thing you should re-examine is your ideal clients. You need to KNOW your customers (put that KNOW in even bigger caps and a bold font in your mind). This means you have to understand every facet of that person/those people you are targeting (your target market).
A business grows through many different types of marketing procedures (e.g., word-of-mouth, email campaigns, etc.), but you have chosen to blog as the starting point for your online marketing strategy. A blog can definitely work, it has for a great many people, but you have to know what you should write about to appeal to those you are targeting.
So how exactly do you find the right people who both need your service and will be also be attracted to your blog? Well, as was mentioned above, you have to KNOW your customer. So keep the following in mind when researching your ideal clients.
Your Offer
1. What do you have to sell to the public? Do you really understand what you are offering? Many think they do, but they really don't. Why?
Because you see the world through your own prism.
You understand the service from your own perspective, but you have no idea how others see it.
So break your offering down according to someone else's perception (or hopefully many other people's perceptions).
  • What is attractive about it?
  • What is unattractive to the majority?
  • How can you tweak it?
2. Who is going to buy it? Based on this research, build a persona.
  • What does your customer look like?
  • What do they like about the service and what do they dislike?
  • What will your service help them with?
  • How does this parallels with what you have already done above?
A persona is a marketing construct designed to give you an idea who your ideal client is. You can perfect this construct as people buy your services.
Your Words
Now that you know who will want your service, you have to understand what will draw them to your blog. You have to use the correct words and phrases to get their attention.
SEO: SEO stands for search engine optimization. This is a term that was coined soon after the first internet search engines were developed. People have a hard time knowing all the URL's available so they look to a search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) to help them find what they are looking for. Of course, this is common knowledge, since we have all used them, but do you, as a business owner, know how to use them to promote your product?
Find out what about your service is special and describe it in a few keywords and key phrases. Think of what words someone would use when searching for your service/product online.
Once you have determine those, also look at close representations of those words that people could use if they misspelled a keyword or were close to the key phrase.
Test: Marketing is all about testing the efficacy of newfound knowledge before you throw it out to the wolves. Since you are a small business owner and don't have a marketing department at your beck, you have to use what you have.
Run the words and phrases by your test group and ask them the following questions:
  • Are the words effective?
  • Do the phrases evoke a picture of the product being sold?
Start Blogging Again
Now you understand the very person you are talking to with your blog.
Tip: It is best to envision a single person that you are having a conversation with-Hey! You could even make a little doll and put it next to your computer as a representation of that person. Okay... this may be a little too much.
You also understand all the ins and outs of your service.
So, the only thing left to do is start blogging consistently again - just make sure your blog posts contain quality content and are valuable to your readers. If you do this, you will definitely be ready this time!
A few extra items to keep in mind as you go along...
1. Who reads blogs? Your first readers may be other bloggers. That's fine. As a matter of fact it's perfect. These people can be a big help. Sure, they may not buy your service, but they may be willing to tell others about what you have to offer. They have readers, so they are a great initial audience.
2. How well are you writing? Some people can write quality blog content that attracts your ideal clients and others just cannot. Where do you fall on the scale? It may pay to hire a professional, someone with copywriting and SEO experience, to write your blog posts for you.
3. Recheck the key words and phrases often. Google changes its algorithms daily it seems. One day you are on the first page of an inquiry (where you want to be) and the next you are on page three (no good). Make sure that your keywords and phrases are still landing you on that first page.
Blogging is great marketing tool, but you have to target your audience. Building a persona, using that knowledge to discover the correct keywords and phrases to use and then writing quality content will build readership and sales. Make sure that you conduct the research needed and find out who you are selling to before writing your blog.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8696043

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