…trying desperately to think of something to blog about.
…trying to sound intelligent.
…trying to market your small business.
…trying to build a platform.
…trying to write something that will capture readers.
…trying to be genuine and authentic.
…trying to establish your authority.
…trying to prove your expertise.
…trying to get more traffic to your site.
…trying to produce some of that valuable, helpful, relevant content.

Stop.

Don’t sit there and stare. You’re going to fry your brain with the light of a million tiny pixels.

photo credit: martinhoward

Do this instead:

Get a notebook, or a single piece of paper. Get a pen, or a pencil.

Go out of your office. Go sit on a bench in the shade of a giant tree, or go sit in a cafe, surrounded by conversation. Go walk the sidewalk until you see a ledge to lean against. Go sit in your car. Go to the library. Go to a restaurant.

Now, I’m going to ask you a few questions. I’m just a stranger (a friendly, kind of nosy one) that you met. We’re chatting. That’s all. Just write down your answers instead of saying them aloud.

First question: So, what’s your business all about?
Remember: I’m a stranger. We just met. I don’t know your background, your history, your career past, your education, or anything about you. Explain what you do. It would take 2 – 3 minutes if we were talking, which translates to 2 or 3 paragraphs of writing.

Second question: That’s intriguing. I always find it interesting to learn about how people got into the work they do. What drew you to this business? How did you get started, or get the idea?
I don’t want to hear your mission statement, I want to hear your personal story. This is a conversation, not an interview or a pitch to VCs.

Third question: How’s the business been for you? What do you find most challenging about it? Is it what you expected, or totally different?
Okay, okay, it’s three questions. But they’re related. This is how conversations go.

Now: if you wrote 2-3 paragraphs for each question, you have three blog posts. 2-3 paragraphs is long enough for a blog post. Go type them up, give them a quick edit, find an image, and schedule them on your blog. Expound on each one if you feel so inspired.

photo credit: Benurs – Learning and learning…

1. Publish a blog post a consistent number of times per week. It’s easier to make it a habit, and it’s better for your readers to know what to expect. Once a week on the same day, three times a week, five times a week, every single day… Pick a number and stick with it. Since you know it’s possible write a blog post in 15 minutes, why not blog five times a week?
2. Don’t over think it. Blogging is about communicating, not about proving your intellectual merit.
3. Find a starting point for each post: an event, a photo, a keyword, an insight.
4. Include an image with each blog post. Use your own, or hire someone to come in and take a bunch of digital photos you can then use at your leisure, or search for related Creative Common images (more on that tomorrow). Images catch the eye and add visual interest to a largely text-based platform.
5. If you’re not the one personally producing each blog post, assign blog management to a single person. Someone has to be the go-to, the buck-stops, the Captain of the blogging ship. The person in charge can always get help… but someONE must be taking responsibility.
6. Write in first-person: I, we, me. None of this corporate-speak “one must analyze one’s strategy” mess. Nobody wants to read that.
7. Give each post a read-through before you hit publish. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you want to catch any spelling or grammatical errors. Nobody wants to read those, either.
8. Choose specific topics over general ones. Focus each post on a single detail of your business, or a single feature of your product.

photo credit: Anirudh Koul

You’re a small business owner. You’re used to weighing the risks, counting the cost before you make a move. You have to. You can’t afford to do stupid stuff and waste your money.

So let’s just look at a few numbers as you ponder whether investing in a blog for your small business is smart or stupid. (We’ll assume a U.S. based business here, though global numbers are pretty staggering as well.)

• In 2012, the audience of internet users in the U.S. will expand by 3.1% to 239 million, representing 75.6% of the total population. (Source)

• 88.1% of US internet users ages 14+ will browse or research products online in 2012. (Source)

Say you have a total customer base of, oh, 10,000 people.

This year, 75.6% of them will be using the Internet.

7,560 of your 10,000 customers will be using the Internet. That leaves you 2,440 who aren’t using the Internet. Your blog will be of no use to them… But it could certainly be of use to the 7,560 of your customers who are online.

Of those 7,560 customers, 88.1% will browse or research products online this year.

6,660 of your customers are online this year, and they’re using the Internet to browse or research products. Your products.

Or – wait – nope. You don’t have a blog for your small business yet. That’s right.

They’re browsing and researching your competitor’s products.

If you want to keep those 6,660 customers, you might want to provide a way for them to browse and research your products.

photo credit: Nanagyei

Okay, I get it. Sometimes you’re so involved in the business it’s tough to stand far enough outside, look in, and see what looks interesting. You know it all, inside and out. You live it, breathe it, eat it, sleep it.

One of my first introductions to the pervasiveness of small business was at family functions with my husband’s family. I was used to my family: when we got together, we would chat about, oh, sports, politics, weather, family stuff, the latest stupid reality show, church, so on.

But at the dinners and birthday parties and family get-togethers and barbecues on my husband’s side of the family, we talked about… the family business.Sometimes we took a break from that and talked about the competitor’s business. Then we got back to the family business.

Once I started working there, too, I got it. You’re in it, it’s important, it’s your livelihood, and it’s your day-to-day life. Of course you know all about it.

But your customers don’t know all about it.

Take a moment and think about the current crop of reality shows that millions of people are watching.

• Storage Wars
• Hoarders
• My Crazy Obsession
• Dancing with the Stars
• Truck Stop USA
• Ice Truckers
• Meat Men
• Hotel Impossible
• Say Yes to the Dress
• Top Gear
• Food Network Star
• Bachelor Pad
• Architecture School 2
• Alaska State Troopers
• Moonshiners
• Candy Queen
• NY Ink
• Extreme Clutter
• Dog Whisperer
• Dance Moms
• Basketball Wives

I’m not making these up. And I didn’t even get into all the shows about cupcakes.

If millions of people are interested enough in mini-storage, hoarding tendencies, random obsessions, b-list stars, truckers, butchers, hoteliers, fashion, chefs, interior design, students, state troopers, tattoo artists, dogs, and women as viewed through their family role…. then possibly, you think, maybe, some of them might be interested in your business?

What they’re looking for is the insider’s view.

They want to know the inner workings, the tips and tricks, the back stories, the quirks and quibbles, the stress and the drama, the decisions and dilemmas. They don’t want a shiny cover-story, a photo op, or a polished-to-perfection sales pitch. So drop those, and just take a photo and blog about it.

Be real, and people will care.

photo credit: aussiegall

Many times, what stops small business owners from blogging all boils down to the same excuse reason:

I don’t have time.

A couple of thoughts on that:

• First: no one has time, at least not adequate time, for all the possibilities.
• Second: I don’t have time, and I’m someone who writes and blogs for a living. So, you would think of all the things I would have time to do, blogging would be at the top. But you never just have time. You make time for what you have to do.
• Third: No one will ever have time to write that perfect blog post. If you’re trying to crafty something Nobel-worthy, blogging really isn’t the genre. Blogging is fast-paced, quick, spur-of-the-moment pitches, tidbits, opinions, thoughts, insights. It comes fast, it goes fast, and its freshness is its outstanding quality. Perfection? Not a component in blogging.
• Fourth: Blogging (once you get over the perfection) doesn’t really take that long. The most difficult part is getting started, and usually the most difficult part of getting started is figuring out what you want to write about and believing you have time to do it. If you think blogging will take you hours and hours, of course you’re not going to start, because you know you don’t have time to finish.

But you have 15 minutes, right?

Come on. You can find 15 minutes. No? Okay, find 5 minutes. Now repeat that 2 more times. There. You’ve got 15 minutes.

Get up 15 minutes earlier. Stay up 15 minutes later. Take a lunch that’s 15 minutes shorter. It’s easy to find 15 minutes. It’s not easy to find hours.

Now, with those 15 minutes, you want to produce a blog post. Don’t sit down at the computer just yet.

Here’s what you should do instead:

1. 3 minutes: Find something in your business and take a photo of it. It can be a product, a sign, your employee (if he/she’s willing), your desk, whatever. Upload the photo to your computer.
2. 2 minutes: Get to your blogging platform and upload the photo into a new post. Resize it so it’s not enormous.
3. 7 minutes: Start writing. Describe what’s in the photo. Talk about it. Act like you’re talking to me, and I just asked you about whatever is in that photo. Don’t edit, don’t worry about how intelligent it sounds or if it appeals to your target market or if you’re incorporating SEO or whatever. Just write.
4. 3 minutes: Give it a quick read. Correct any typos. Delete anything redundant. Bold a couple of lines so it’s easy to scan. Hit publish.

There. You just created and published a blog post with an original photo in 15 minutes.

Now. Do you think you could do that again tomorrow?

(P.S. This post took me 14 minutes and 50 seconds.)

photo credit: HPUPhotogStudent

The motivation does matter. If you’re thinking a blog will save your dying small business, replace a marketing strategy, or provide personal fulfillment, maybe get some therapy instead.

You should NOT blog as a (sole) means of advertising and marketing.

A blog can be part of your overall marketing scheme, but a blog itself is not an advertisement. Let’s look at what advertising is.

“The true secret of advertising success is to say the right thing to as many people as you can afford to reach over and over again. Word-of-mouth advertising is the result of having impressed someone, anyone, deeply.” -Roy H. Williams

The problem with using a blog to advertise is this: a blog needs to provide valuable content which gives your readers new information over time, not the same sales message repeated ad infinitum.

You can use your blog as a piece of your marketing strategy. It’s a tool. It helps you establish credibility. It helps you connect with your customers. It can contain advertisements. You can lead people to it by means of your other advertisements. But it is not, itself, an advertisement.

You should NOT blog because you “need an online presence.”

If you need an online presence, you’d first better stop and figure out why.
Do you need a storefront?
A place for your customers to hang out and swap war stories?
A place to build community based around a common interest?
An informational website where people can find out more about you?

There are different ways to have a “presence” online. A blog is only one of them, and not necessarily the right one. If you have a genuine reason to produce valuable content on a regular basis, then a blog is a good idea. Otherwise, no.

You should NOT blog because Facebook isn’t working.

First, you should figure out why Facebook isn’t working. Once you do that, you’ll know if you need a blog or not.

You should NOT blog because your competitor has a blog.

Unless you can and will do it better.

You should NOT blog because you have no marketing money and so this will have to do.

See blogging as related to advertising and marketing, above.

You should NOT blog because “blogging is social networking,” because it isn’t.

Blogging is producing valuable content on a regular basis. Social networking is establishing connections with people via the myriad of social media and networking tools on the Internet.
You might network and get a chance to promote your blog in that social networking. And when you combine blogging with social networking, you can get something very good indeed.
But alone, no. Not the same.

You should NOT blog because YouTube scares you.

If you’re thinking about blogging because some other method of reaching your audience, such as YouTube, has been suggested to you and you just want to avoid it… because it scares you…
You might as well bite the bullet and do the thing that scares you first.
Fear is usually a sign of Resistance; your brain is telling you this is way over your head, but your gut is telling you this is what will work. So your self-defense mechanism kicks in, and scrambles for something that will make everybody happy. A compromise.

Don’t blog to avoid some other means of communication that will actually work better for you.

You should NOT blog because you need a way to express yourself.

No. No, you should definitely paint instead. Or write poems (but don’t blog them. Please). Or perhaps dance. Or, if you must, go ahead and blog to express yourself, but don’t call it a business blog.

photo credit: Incase.

Quit sitting on the fence, pardner. It’s time to make hay while the sun shines, or, um, build blogs while the Internet hums.

You should blog to establish authority.

Authority, or expertise, can set your business apart in a competitive field as the top-tier business, the one that really knows its stuff, the one that is best in all areas of the business.
Blogging can help you establish that expertise. It provides a way for you to regularly share valuable information, insider tips, insight, knowledge of your area of business.
It isn’t an overnight process, however. You’ll need to blog regularly and make sure your content is valuable to your readers. That means no fluff pieces, no personal rants, just informative, valuable content produced on a continual basis.

You should blog to reach more customers.

Blogs give you a voice, and that voice can say things that your customers, locally or globally, want to hear. You can broadcast your new product, your online service, your informational products, your designs, your small business in any form.
Blogs allow you to reach into spaces that you can’t physically access.
However, just blogging won’t do the job. You have to combine blogging with marketing to get your voice heard. If you can do both, you’ve got a powerful tool on your hands.

You should blog to increase customer loyalty.

Are your customers aching to know more about your product or service? Are you leading a tribe or forming a community? Then you can use your blog to provide the information your customers want, to interact, to allow them to give you feedback on how your business is doing.
A blog can be a simple and powerful way of increasing customer loyalty. You can provide answers and solutions that your customers need, can take their questions and comments, and can establish credibility and strengthen your relationship with your customers.

You should blog to increase sales.

If you blog to establish authority, reach more customers, and/or increase customer loyalty, then you’ll almost automatically be increasing your sales. Almost.
Your blog can easily point your customers to where and how to buy. You have to strike a balance, though. If all you ever post to your blog are sales pitches, you’ll lose your audience. People get sold to enough; they aren’t looking for more of that when they read blogs.

If, however, you are providing information that your customers want, and doing so in a courteous and continual way, they’ll accept non-spammy, well-timed promotions: perhaps an ad at the bottom of each post, or a weekly product highlight post, or graphics in the sidebar. How you promote sales in your blog is a matter of style and preference. You should definitely aim to increase sales with your blog, but you should aim to do so by making the blog content itself a free and valuable resource first.

photo credit: chedder

In proportion as you increase the value you give for a dollar, just so you will find it easier to get the dollar. – William Crosbie Hunter

There are, potentially, lots of ways to make a dollar.
Lemonade stand, best-selling book, gourmet cookies, high-tech innovations, gutter cleaning services. You can get a job and make money. You can start a business and lose OR make money.
You’re not quite sure which it’s going to be until you try.

There are also lots of ways to get a business making more money.

What’s the first thing people look at it? Cut costs! Spend less! Reduce expenses!

And one of the easiest ways to do that is to give less for what you charge. Shave a little off here and there. That’s how places get to offering “beef” that is 88% beef and 12% something else…

It is against the nature of the productive person to focus on cutting costs, because cutting costs is about reducing production.

Production is expensive.
Production requires energy and resources.

But production is where you make the money.

The person who would be freakishly productive needs to quit focusing on the cut-the-costs-to-save-a-buck mentality of doing business, and embrace the one that increases production which increases value which increases sales which increases profits.

That’s a lasting model, a sustainable one. It’s a good way to live and a good way to build a business.

Cutting cost methods that require you to reduce production and/or reduce value to your customers is a short-term fix. It is like shooting the ox to save money on grain during the winter. That’s great for winter, but how are you going to pull that plow in springtime?

• A great piece from Laura Vanderkam (one of my favorite writers) about this point: Beyond frugality: making more money.

photo credit: maureen lunn

Content is great until you’re stuck coming up with fresh, relevant, helpful, valuable blog posts, day after day after day after day.
What you have to do is capture the ideas before you need them (have you ever noticed how ideas leave as soon as it’s time to brain storm?).

Here are potential idea sources:

• Write down all the brilliant book ideas you have that “somebody should write someday.”
• Set up a Google Alert for your target keywords and check it regularly.
• Keep an RSS Reader set up for relevant blogs in your industry, from your peers and/or competitors, and those maintained by great customers, hobbyists, specialists.
• Read books. Books that are relevant to your topic are full of post ideas. It’s just about breaking that information down into post-sized pieces, putting your thoughts with what you’ve read, and sharing it.
• Read magazines.
• Read trade journals.
• Read the local publications (newspapers, news magazines, etc.)
• Listen to talk radio.
• Ask people what they want to know about your business/industry.
• Have a comment box or other feedback form? Every comment you’ve ever gotten is a potential blog post.
• Do a Google search on your most popular product or service, and see what comes up in the search results. What are other people blogging about that’s relevant to your products/services?
• What are the FAQs of your business? Each is a potential post.
• Check your employee training materials. Many of the step-by-step processes can be spun into a piece that’s interesting to customers, who crave insider knowledge.
• Keyword searches on Twitter can turn up a whole host of mentions and links.

Here are some ways to capture those ideas:

• Nothing wrong with good ole pen and paper. Take notes as you’re reading, copy down quotations and passages, or just jot down title ideas inspired by the material at hand.
• You can do the computer version of the above simply by having a dedicated word document.
• Evernote. It’s a blogger’s best friend.
• Google Docs.
• Use your reader and star the posts you want to come back to later.
• Highlight and/or annotate your books and keep the stack close by your computer. Bad idea, though, if you’re taking advantage of your library’s books.
• Use your Kindle’s (or other e-reader’s or tablet’s) highlighting/annotating features, and share it to yourself.
• Use a voice recorder on your phone, tablet, or computer.

All quotes below from Small Business, BIG Vision by Adam and Matthew Toren. Read my review.

1. You need a vision, because otherwise you will burn out before you even get started.

2. Entrepreneurism isn’t for weenies.

“Turning your initial vision into a viable businss has everything to do with your level of passion and ability to keep moing forward, even in the face of challenges.”

3. Success has many different (wildly varying, personal) definitions, but almost all of them involve Freedom/Choice.

And the best/easiest/fastest way to get that freedom? Financial success, which allows you to have financial independence & stability, which allows you to live a life of freedom.

“Success means putting yourself in a position that allows you to monetize your passion. …True success comes when you wake up each day with the freedom and flexibility to do what you want, when you want, and how you want to do it. I feel like I’m in control of my own destiny, and that I positively change other people’s lives as well.” -Dan Schawbel of Millennial Branding, LLC, in the book.

4. Giving up half-way through = FAIL. Hang in there.

“The many successful entrepreneurs we’ve interviewed from a variety of industry sectors, backgrounds, and areas of the world have almost all credited their PERSEVERANCE as the most significant element of their success. They claim that their ability to maintain their vision and a positive mind-set in the face of adversity has been the X factor that has made all the difference in their eventual achievement or failure.”

5. Planning is important, but not in the way you might think. A full-blown business plan won’t help you as much (at all?) as an action-oriented goal-oriented plan that will guide your daily action. (Action is the key word.)

“One way to avoid, or at least reduce, the pressures that can dampen your entrepreneurial spirit is to stick to a plan as closely as possible. This isn’t your business plan; rather, it’s about a daily action plan that keeps you focused–not only on the details of your day, but on the big picture as well. A great way to devise such a plan is to ask yourself what you HAVE to do daily to achieve your long-term objectives. Once you’ve answered that question, design your daily plan around those activities, and delegate or hire others to perform as many of the other tasks as possible. “

6. You’ve got to commit. You can’t succeed as a half-hearted entrepreneur.

“Be very aware that you are not capable of being ‘half pregnant’ when starting a business-meaning that you have to literally be ‘all in.’ Somebody else will be all in, and they will beat you. If you’re interested in work/life balance in the first 36 months of starting your own business, you will lose.” -Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV in the book.

7. You CAN take over the world… or at least part of it.

“It doesn’t matter what your area of expertise is–you can turn it into a revenue stream, and even an information empire, if you choose to take it there. Your reach is practically infinite if you use the Internet and rapidly mounting popularity of social media.”

8. Your knowledge is valuable.

“In short, I became a rapid content creator and educator. To stand out as an expert in any field, you must do two things: (1) create content that educates and entertains people, and, (2) always keep learning. To be a good teacher, you must first be an excellent student.” -Shama Hyder Kabani of the Marketing Zen Group in the book.