Before you talk, know why you’re talking.

If you did a good job defining your blogging audience, then your blogging purpose will, at this point, be readily apparent.
And you may have in your head some statement like, “I want my blog to help people,” or “I want my blog to give me a way to interact with my customers.” Neither of those really defines a purpose for your blog that will give you good direction in how to run it, who to reach with it, and what to talk about on it.

FINDING THE PROBLEM YOU SOLVE

On your reader profile, question #9 should give you the jumping point. What are the main problems that your ideal reader deals with daily?

These need to be important problems; I’m not talking about random, I-have-a-sudden-itch-I-can’t-scratch problems. People may search Google for those problems, and they may read a couple of posts on your blog, but they’ll be here and then gone.

You need to get to the real problem, the problem that your ideal reader grapples with daily, the one that, if you can answer or provide a solution for, will make her your customer – your friend – for life.

If you can accomplish that purpose with your business blog, then every reader who comes across it and has that problem will want to come back. You will be solving a problem – a big problem – and that’s how you build a blog, by finding the problem and solving it, over and over and over again.

So, what’s the #9 for your ideal reader? What’s his or her problem? What’s weighing on the brain, wearing them down, keeping them up, stressing them out? Figure that out and you’ve figured out the purpose for your blog.

And here’s the really cool part:
If you’ve really identified the people you want and need to reach with your business, then the “solution” to the problem will be exactly what your business is all about. You’re not forcing value here. You’re really the right fit and you have a genuine answer, a way to help, a solution. You’re not making it up. It’s right.

FINDING THE SOLUTION YOU OFFER

Now we need to take it a step further and define your purpose a bit more specifically.
Are you about reaching new customers or building loyalty with old?
How are you solving problems? Are you providing information? Connecting, Selling a product, selling a service, or all? And – how are you going to do this? If your solution is in simply providing information, then how does that benefit your business? Will people come to your blog and get your info and smile and say thanks and then trip off to forget you now that their problem has been solved? Possibly. And that’s where a little strategic thinking comes in.

Your blog is to serve your customer and your blog is to build your business. If you think it through and do it right, you’ll end up with a blog that does both.

RELATING YOUR BLOG TO YOUR BUSINESS

Start by remembering the problem you solve with your blog. Then take it a step further and think about not just how your blog solves this problem but how your business solves this problem.

And that is the key – what you want to promote on your blog. Your blog provides information, helpful content on, say, dealing with credit card issues, debt, personal finances. You are going to create some super helpful informative articles on these topics, because that is the main problems of your readers and it’s what your business addresses.

So you need to get to creating the content but you need to remember that part of your blog – and the blog’s purpose – is not just to create great content bu to continually point customers to how your product/service solves their problems at an even deeper level.

Maybe you’re a financial consultant, and the goal, really, is to get people from reading your blog to calling and making an appointment and having a consultation. You can get them there, and you can it without grabbing or pulling or pushing or persuading. You can simply offer and see people signing up.

Remember this: people want to 1) feel important, 2) solve problems and 3) see results.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE YOU BLOG

1. ALL ABOUT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

2. ALL ABOUT YOUR BLOG’S PURPOSE

-What is the result I want to see from my blog?
-What problems do I see that I can solve?
-How does my business solve a problem?
-How does my blog solve their problem? (Can’t be just “promoting my business” – needs to be a separate, effective answer itself.)
-How can I move them from being blog readers to being business customers? (Conversion)

Image courtesy of Jakob Montrasio.