The first step to having a successful blog is to become an expert in your writing. This is possible by being a thought leader.
There are plenty of competing blogs on the web that cover similar topics to your own, so what are you going to do to make your content stand out from the rest? It will require that you bring your unique selling proposition to the table.
You are in the business of building relationships and starting conversations with your writing style. Take your inherited knowledge and use it to influence and inspire others. It’s okay to be different take pride in being a leader and write compelling content to distribute on your blog and other platforms available.
The following article will discuss some ways of setting yourself as being an authority in your niche and create content for your blog that is memorable.
Do You Stand Out in a Crowd?
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The internet is pretty crowded and if you have a blog it can be impossible to get noticed. The great thing is that there are proven strategies that work for establishing yourself as an authority in your industry with your blog content. I know that you are probably thinking about how can your writing make such an impact on others but believe me it can.
Attract Readers with Compelling Content
One of the best secret weapons to becoming an expert in anything is to know your topic very well and not only knowing it but anticipating the needs of the people you will come across along the way. For example, your blog will attract a certain type of reader, some call this “the law of attraction” and what that means is that when people log onto the internet they have a purpose. Either they want to find information, connect with other people, or buy something.
Your blog is the first point of entry for them, if you do your job well they will come back repeatedly for more of what you are offering them in your written blog posts. If you do a poor job of providing value then the visitors you attract to your blog will leave and never return. The worst part is that they will tell everyone they know about how awful your site is.
Be Better Than the Next Guy or Gal
To stand out you must be better than your competition. Just remember that the very same people that you are competing with within your niche can also be great partners and resources at the same time that you are trying to build a loyal audience of readers and clients. One way to learn how to be the best is to study from those who are already doing what you want to do. Become a student first and then you can shine as a leader.
What Does it Mean To Be an Authority in Your Niche?
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The day you decide to start your own online business and set up a blog is the day that you have entered your specific niche. It could be anything from home and garden, beauty and fashion, food and cooking, or mobile gadgets and electronics. The key is that you will want to build a following, through your writing these will be people who seek you out for your knowledge.
Just remember you do not need to be on the TV, Radio, or even in mainstream magazines to make an impact on others in your niche. Yes it would be nice to become famous and have your face on the cover of books and interviewed on talk shows but that will be something you can attain eventually, but for now, make the most of what you have currently.
It is not necessary to be an expert in everything
The biggest mistake that bloggers make is that they try to be all things to everyone. You do not need to be an expert in every subject out there, because it is better if you narrow your focus to include the least amount of topics. Becoming an expert means that you have taken your knowledge and applied it to an area that is under-served meaning there is not enough content providing value to an audience of searchers on the web.
This is where you can shine, because if you fill that void then readers will look to you whenever they want to know something to help them with a problem. You will be surprised at how fast this can happen, once you get started. For instance, I was reading a blog where the blogger found success in providing information on what to have for dinner. I know it sounds simple but it works he takes pictures of his meals and provides recipes for quick and easy dinner menus. You can do something similar in your area of expertise.
Can You Make Money From Your Passion?
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This is a really hot topic right now because there are plenty of blogs that say you should write about the things that you find interesting or that you are passionate about. You will also see success stories of former corporate executives who started an online business with a blog and now make a six-figure income each year from blog writing.
It is easy to fall for this pie in the sky dream because who doesn’t want to get paid doing what they love to do most. The reality is that more people fail than succeed. It takes planning and a strategy to make a living from writing. Now I am not saying that you can not turn your knowledge into a profit, because you can. I am just saying that 80% of what you do is hard work just to receive 20% of the reward.
You would have to like if not love writing to stay in it for the long-term. If you can keep going day after day no matter if you made any money or not then you have the formula of success. The tricky part is finding something that you will not get bored with but will hold your attention enough to see it come to fruition.
Why Passion is NOT Enough
Having passion is just one part of the equation you also will need to do research and lots of it. What you want to determine is who your readers are and what they want most. If your content can provide those solutions and answers to their problems then you can start to see some benefits for your hard work. It helps if you know a lot about what you’re writing about because people will be able to connect with what your blog is about.
You will want to combine your knowledge along with information about the people who are searching for your blog content. This is where you will see people mention keywords and long-tail search terms to receive organic traffic from the webs engine. The interesting thing about this strategy is that it is important to be personable in your writing while using the technical aspects to your advantage.
Things to Write About on Your Business Blog
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Now that you have established yourself as an expert in your field, what should you write about? To help with coming up with fresh content for your blog you can follow industry trends by subscribing to trade magazines. It is important to continue to study and learn about the things that are going on with your competition as well as with the consumers.
It takes time to get a feel of what is happening in certain business markets, but eventually over 2 years of consistently providing information to your readers and building an email list to your webinars and training sessions you will start to see patterns develop. It is these movements that will help you to organically transform your content to meet the needs of the market.
Outline of popular writing strategies
- People like to read lists, create top 10 lists
- Tell a story to engage readers
- Feature current events in your blog posts
- Use guest bloggers to add fresh content to your site
- Interview specialists in your field
Be creative and look for ways to bring a new perspective to subjects that have already been covered by related blogs in your industry. People want to follow blog writers who bring something fresh, new, and different to the conversation. Use your knowledge to your advantage.
Be a Leader by Teaching Others with Your Blog
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One of the best strategies you can use as a business blog writer is to teach something to your readers that they can not get anywhere else. How you can do this is to provide a new outlook on a situation in your industry. Do you have an insight that has not been covered already? if so share it with your blog readers.
Make your content shareable
People like to link to and share blog posts that they find to be valuable and useful to them. Continue to create shareable content that people want to talk about on other blogs. I have seen this happen many times on popular blogs that discuss or talk about other content writers who make a difference on the web.
Do not fall into the trap of becoming a follower in your niche, what I mean by this is that sometimes it is easy to do the same things as everyone else. If you follow the crowd you will miss out on the opportunity to lead and become an authority.
Stop Following and Start Leading
Look for new ways to engage your audience, by being different. Avoid conformity and be prepared to fail. This is probably one of the reasons blog writers are afraid to lead and teach others because they think they are going to fail at it. That’s okay because each time you will learn something new and become better and better as time goes on.
Your blog is the medium available for you to become a success in your business. Establish yourself as the go-to person by creating a following of readers who want to share what you have to say with their network. Stand out and get noticed by writing compelling content that teaches and helps others find solutions.
Top Ways to Build a Personal Brand
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Establish yourself as an authority that people will look to for information, direction, and solutions. Here are some of the best ways to get noticed:
Become a published author – you can reach more people when you write a book expressing your knowledge and expertise. Self-publishing makes it easy for the average joe to get started creating and writing books for branding purposes.
Participate in Social Media Networking online with like-minded individuals is one of the key ways to get noticed and attract positive business connections. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are just a few places to start branding your business.
Use Public Speaking Look for opportunities to speak in front of an audience of business professionals, share your knowledge at conferences in your area.
Start a Radio Show Podcasts and online blog radio is popular and a great way to reach your target audience. Use the radio show to how your business can help consumers across the web.
Teach Classes You can utilize workshops as a platform for teaching and leading others in your industry. Partner up with learning facilities in your area and offer to share your knowledge.
These are just a few ways of branding and marketing yourself as an authority in your service-based business. Be creative and see what other ideas you can come up with to reach your readers.
Are You a Writer, Blogger, or Marketer?
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Are You a Writer?
It is interesting to note that some people who start a blog are not clear on what their main objective is going to be, for instance, if you want to be a writer it can mean that you like journalism and you want to cover a story from beginning to end while staying neutral on the subject. Or it could mean you’re a storyteller and you want to share your experiences with others who can relate to going through the same things as you.
Are You a Blogger?
On the other hand, if you are focused on being a blogger you will notice it is not the same as being a journalist or writer because now your main job is to talk about things that your readers can do and replicate. Now as a blogger you become a teacher who shows the audience things they can do to make their lives better.
Are you a marketer?
Then there is the job of being a marketer, some businesses use a blog to promote products that they have to sell. Being a marketer can allow you to be a writer and blogger at the same time but your ultimate goal is to sell products and services to customers through branding and content. You will want your readers to take action, opt-in to an email list, and purchase what you have either in the form of a teleseminar, webinar, digital download, instructional course, or physical product.
What is your blog exactly?
It is up to you to choose what you intend to do when you set up your website because blogging is just one tiny aspect of that process. If you have a static website it will be considered a sales page or colorful internet brochure. If you add content regularly it will be considered a blog and if you include multi-media sources such as Twitter, Facebook, and youtube videos then it has become more of a communication device on the web. Have a clear focus on what you want to achieve when you start writing to be an expert blog writer.
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Diane H. Wong.
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