6 Tips for Promoting Your Business With Your Blog
April 27th, 2011 by MornaDo you have a blog? Blogging can be fun and creative. It can add to your business growth and lets you connect with your tribe. I think that’s the primary reason for blogging: building your community. Blogging lets you create lasting relationships, and when people know, like and trust you, they are more likely to become your customers. Here are six tips for using your blog:
1. Take your customers on a tour of your studio or shop. I admit that I love to tour other quilters’ studios. In fact, I enjoy it so much, I created a lecture to share the studios I like and feature a studio in each issue of The Professional Quilter for the same reason. And, I love to see the shops I want to visit ahead of time, or maybe just put them on my wish list.
2. Provide information. This can be “how to” or just sharing the latest information on an upcoming show or exhibit. It should provide value for the readers. This helps to establishes you as an expert, the “go to” person on a topic. You can also make offers on your products or provice coupons, etc., but the primary goal should be to provide information.
3. Share yourself, your staff, other professionals. People want to know who they are doing business with. This is your chance to share something about yourself. Let your personality shine. Customers or potential customers also want to know the people that work with you. And, if you have friends who blog, take a turn blogging on each others’ pages. It will help each of you increase your audience.
4. Take advantage of technology to further readership of your ideas. You can connect your blog to Facebook and tweet about your blog. Many of our blog posts originate in this weekly e-zine. They then post to our blog and then to Facebook. I found it interesting that I often get comments on the blog or on Facebook from artists who originally read the material in the ezine.
5. Participate in blog events. Here are just two ideas. Sponsor a blog contest. It could be as simple as asking for input on your latest quilt design, perhaps helping you name it. For a prize, you can offer a copy of the pattern. If you are a book author, create a blog hop. In this case, you find several other bloggers and ask them to review your book. They in turn ask for comments on the post and offer a copy of your book to a random commenter. Each blogger advertises the blogs where your book will be reviewed, so more people learn about other blogs.
6. Be consistent. Bloggers are more successful who keep a constant schedule about blogging. Readers start to rely on you for specific information and will return to your blog for that type of information. Along with consistency comes frequent postings. The more often you post, the more your readership, and in turn your business, will grow. Of course, you have to figure out what works for you. In general, two to three times a week is a minimum.
7. Remember that blogging is one part of a social media strategy for your business. Look for other ways you can connect with your customers, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and your e-zine (online newsletter).
Please share your tips on blogging here on our blog.
The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.
Tags: blogging, community, Internet, Internet marketing, Marketing
Annie Smith said:
I imbed the link to my podcast, Quilting Stash, at the top of my blog. Listeners and visitors can click on the link directly from the blog. I add an entire blog post and pictures, with links to pertinent sites within the post also.
I review a lot of Quilt Industry products and do a give-away whenever I do a review. I’m behind because I took four months off for family time and now I’m catching up. I’m doing a Give-Away-A-Day until I have give away everything I need to pass on. The great part is, all of my old listeners are back and I’m getting new ones.
While I was “away”, I read this on The Pioneer Woman’s blog: “Whether you write a sixteen-paragraph essay about the cosmic implications of a free market system, a one-paragraph description of what happens to your soul when you walk into your godforsaken laundry room, or a simple photo and caption, consider your blog a precious bloom that requires daily nurturing. And watering. If you water a plant once every two weeks, it will shrivel.”
It made me realize I had been away too long. Keeping up the momentum for a blog or a podcast is the toughest thing of all. There are days that we just won’t feel like writing anything positive and no one wants to hear our troubles – they have enough of their own. To combat this, I keep a notebook with ideas for podcasts and blogs so when I don’t feel inspired, I can pick a topic and leave my troubles behind!
Karen Ponischil said:
Other blogging ideas:
-show what you are working on,
-tell us about problems you’ve had working on a quilt and how you solved it,
– i’m a pet lover–show us your special pet and what they do to help in your studio–my cats keep all the fabrics toasty warm by napping.
Morna said:
Annie, love the gardening analogy, though I’m not so good at watering my plants. 🙂 And the idea of the notebook is a good one. And, also the point of linking back to your biz. Glad you’re back to blogging, too!
Karen, thanks for adding to the conversation with good ideas. And, cats! Last night during a bad storm, mine came and burrowed into the closet with the fabric. I was afraid she might get buried under all that!