I spoke to a lovely girl today who had been given the task of running the social media for her company. She wasn’t in marketing and was a bit apprehensive about writing her first blog. I have heard the same thing many times from people who aren’t marketers, it’s like writing a blog is quite scary and if they could just write their first one…
Exactly! If you could just write your first one you’d realise that it’s not that scary at all and in fact if you’re writing about a topic that is close to your heart ( which you should be) then once you start it will just flow out. Yes you’ll probably need to do some editing afterwards but it’s usually writing too much that is a problem with blogs, so just be ruthless.
As long as you know what you’re talking about and can offer advice to others then you can blog. Yes marketers know how to edit and tweak words, yours may be a bit rough around the edges but blogs are meant to be personal.
If you are thinking of diving in then here are some tips for you:
1. Make sure your blog has a point
If your blog is on a business site then it needs to have a key message you’re trying to get across.
2. Give yourself a limit
As I said earlier it can be a problem knowing when to stop, if you hit 400 words then you should be wrapping it up – nobody wants to read war and peace. Need to say more? Do another blog – 400 words is plenty to get one key message across.
3. Keep it positive
You can put negatives in there and start on a rant but always make sure it’s to introduce a point that you can give advice on. Your blog should make someone’s life easier/better.
4. Spell check!
I’ve edited many a blog that has spelling and grammar mistakes in it – get spell check on and give it a thorough read again an hour later. That way you can have some distance from it.
5. Don’t waffle
Waffling is self indulgent and your blog should not be so get your point across as simply and succinctly as possible. Editing helps this as we can waffle mid flow – leave an hour and then look at it with a fresh eye.
6. Collect topics
You may not always feel inspired when you need to so every time you see something that does inspire a topic, write it down somewhere for later.
7. Get writing…
Stop putting it off and have a go, no-one is going to point and laugh so what have you got to lose?
