Why write if people aren’t going to read it?
It’s that little voice inside our heads, it happens to everyone. I hear it daily.
A blog I’ve recently started reading actually mentioned it “Inflation, and I don’t mean tire pressure”
We write posts for a number of reasons. The two biggest I see are…
- We write because we have an opinion. We want our voices or a message to be heard.
- We write because we want to be found in Google. File this under S.E.O. or Search Engine Optimization.
If you are writing for reason #1 and think you are not being heard, I’ll argue that maybe you are and just don’t realize it. My first question would be “How did you measure that?” Google Analytics? RSS Subscribers? Comments?
Times change.
Google Analytics doesn’t know I read your blog via RSS in my feed reader. I went there once, liked what I saw and now read every one of your posts without ever going to your blog. Maybe others are too? GA only registered my first visit.
Speaking of feeds, RSS and FeedBurner – if you are going by FeedBurner subscription numbers chances are they are off, way off! (read http://www.socialfish.org/2012/08/why-how-and-when-to-quit-feedburner.html). FeedBurner is broken and is no longer supported by Google.
And then there’s the utter lack of comments. These days between Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, commenting and discussion happens off our sites more than it does on it. I’m guilty as the next person. I may see something that interests me but my first click is usually on one of the social media share buttons. (Speaking of that, you should +1 this right now!)
Most regular bloggers write for a combination of the two (voice and SEO). I do, but I also write for another reason.
I Write for Questions
It doesn’t matter what your business is – there’s bound to be certain questions that get asked repeatedly.
To the Vegetable Grocer, “How can you tell if a melon is ripe?”
To the Loan Officer, “What is the difference between Rate and APR?”
To the Real Estate Agent, “What’s happening in the market these days?“
You know, those types of questions. If I’m asked a question more than once there’s a good chance I’ll be writing a post on it soon.
I write in order to create a reference library of “How To” articles.
When someone asks one of those questions – either IRL or digitally, I can now say, “I wrote a great article about that very subject! Here’s the link to it“. Of course there’s more to it than just that. It’s just the start of the conversation – right?
When someone asks a question like that, I think they ask you because they perceive you as someone knowledgeable about that topic. When you point them to a well written article on the subject, you are reinforcing their perception.
But it’s not just a single post. For me, I write a bunch of posts about WordPress, Facebook and Facebook Pages. Each is categorized so I can send people to just that complete category as well (go ahead and try those links).
How this could work for you
Start thinking about how to categorize your posts.
To the Grocer that might be something like: Judging Ripeness, Recipes, & Nutritional Facts to name a few
To the Loan Officer it might be Understanding the Refi, The Loan Process, etc.
To the Agent it might be Market Data Reports, New Listings, FSBOs, or articles for the Seller, the Buyer or Investor
Obviously, your first step is to have a blog. Yes I build quality WordPress Blogs and would be happy to build one if your need it – or modify the one you have. The next step is to setup the categories and create a plan of action for you. The third step? To borrow from that other inspirational quote…
Write like nobody is watching!
* Do me a favor and go leave a comment on Curtis’ post. If for no other reason than you’ll make him smile.
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He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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