Earlier this month I published an article about the 6 Things You Need to Know About Writing Website Copy and suggested that you take a look at your own website copy to see how many “I’s” and “you’s” where mentioned.

How many of you did this?

Well, Nic Oliver, who writes at www.Nic-Oliver.com, has been doing just that.  But not on his own site.  He’s been checking up on some of the big names in social media blogging.  And he’s included little ol’ me too

With all this talk about social media engagement, he found that – fortunately – the big names where all doing it right.  It wasn’t just a Social Media urban myth!  The talk is actually being walked (phew, thank goodness for that!!)

It’s a great article and you can read here – In Social Media, Size Matters!

And if you want to check your own website copy, get in touch with Nic. He’s got the software to do it quickly for you (rather than the “getting out the highlighting pen” process that I suggested!)

There’s lots of bad things you can do on social media, isn’t there?

You can sell to everyone all the time and create noise that no-one listens to.  You can automate your updates to the point that people wonder if you really a bot, rather than a human being.

You can get obsessed by numbers and spend your whole week focusing on getting more and more followers, irrespective of whether they are porn stars, get-rich-quick-system-sellers or C-list celebs.

You can even kid yourself that because you spent the whole morning replying to tweets and retweeting other people’s tweets that you are actually contributing to the profitability of your business.

But what is the worst thing you can do?

It’s getting started and quitting before you achieve anything.

Most small business owners throw themselves in social media tools, such as facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, create a profile, start updating their status and then after a few weeks, let it all peter out and give up.

It can actually be more damaging to your brand and business to have a twitter account lying dormant or a LinkedIn profile with a half-done profile than having nothing at all.

Sites like LinkedIn and Twitter are indexed so quickly by search engines that your online profiles can appear very quickly in the search results.  Go on, try it now – google your own name and see how many of your half-done social networking profiles appear.

And that’s what your potential clients will see too.

By all means, you need to have a play with many of these online tools before deciding how best to use them in your business – there’s a lot to get your head round, isn’t it?

But, start your social media marketing with purpose.  Have a strategy, know what you want to get out of using these tools and work out how you are going to incorporate them into the rest of your marketing.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, so don’t start until you are ready to achieve.

Most business owners find it incredibly difficult to put down in words why they are so great to work with.  Writing can be one of the most challenging skills to learn and master and it’s certainly not high on the list when you first start out.

All the focus in the first few months is around financing, cash flows, business planning and marketing strategy.  But one of the most beneficial skills to have as a business owner is often the written word.

Contracting writing out to copywriters can be expensive and often time-consuming. So when small business owners decide to get on with the writing themselves, without thinking about how to write effectively, they are can be costing themselves dearly.

And writing copy for your brochure, your website and your blog all need different styles and approaches.

Let’s take them one by one.

Writing for your brochure. Your brochure and leaflets are going to be printed so design and layout can be just as important considerations as the words you write.  Your headline needs to be eye-catching and stop readers in their tracks.  This is the time to be selling, to be focusing on what problem the potential client has and how you can make it all better.

Your style has to be strong, punchy and to the point as you’ve usually got limited space.  But you’ve also got to get all the facts in to enable your potential client to make a decision.

Writing for your website. Again, this is the time to be selling.  But just because you may have unlimited space and pages, doesn’t mean you can ramble on aimlessly.

Strong headlines are essential.  Use questions to stop your online visitor in their tracks quickly (you’ve got less than a second to make an impact!)  And sharp, clear benefit-driven copy to outline how it is you may be the answer to your potential client’s problems.

People read differently on a screen than they do from print so use short sentences, 2 to 3 word paragraphs and bullet points where appropriate.

Writing for your blog. Whilst your brochure and website is there to sell your business, your blog is there is to build relationships.  It is here you need to stop selling and focus on giving value, content and useful information.

Your blog is place to showcase your expertise, to share tips and ideas with your readers and build up a useful resource for potential clients to come back to again and again.

Your blog is one of the doorways to your business so welcome your readers and invite them to check out what is inside, linking relevant pages to your website where the selling can take place.  If you try to sell hard at the doorstep, your potential client won’t think about crossing the threshold.

So when thinking about writing, consider the different platforms for your writing.  Know when to sell and when to give value.  And a blog is place where you will sell more but selling less!

What have you done differently in your brochure, website and blog copy writing?

There is no doubt that the growth in social media tools over the past couple of years has been enormous.  Everywhere you go on the internet there seem to be references to business’ Twitter accounts and facebook pages.

Follow us here, subscribe there, join online now.  It’s easy to feel that everyone is tweeting, poking or blogging for business.

But what results are they getting?

And is it actually bringing in clients to their business?

If you are dipping your toes in the social media waters and working out whether you should dive in completely, here are some pointers for you to consider.

1.    Get a plan:  It doesn’t matter whether you want to do a leaflet drop, an email campaign or set up a Twitter account, the better you plan, the better results you’ll have.  And the first step of every plan is deciding on what results you do want.

Do you want to increase your number of newsletter subscribers?  Do you want to promote a new workshop or book?  Do you want to increase the number of international clients?  Whatever it is, make a decision and build your plan around it.

2.    Get focused: The more focused you are on what it is your offering, the easier it will be for people to “get you”.  Online audiences are far more impatient and quick to react than offline ones, such as magazine readers and exhibition visitors. And this is especially so with Twitter users whose attention is focused on just 140 characters at a time!

People click in and out of web pages fast and furiously and if you don’t explain what you do and the results you can create quickly and clearly, you’ll end up with lots of hits – but very little clients.  Be niche, be clear, be focused.

3.    Delegate the set-up: Don’t let the excuse of hating technology stop you from setting up social media tools.  Find someone who you can delegate your account set-ups to and let them worry about the “how-tos”.  There are plenty of virtual assistants and online business managers out there who offer their services, usually by the hour, as a cost-effective and quick way of getting set up on Twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.

4.    Systemise your weekly actions: If you ask most successful social media users about systems and automation, they usually shudder and frown.  But most of these people have been early adopters.  They have been dabbling in these tools for years so it’s easy to add another feature or platform to their tool-box.

If you are coming in now, the amount of stuff you can do can feel overwhelming.  So, to get you kick-started I recommend a systematic daily and weekly action plan that gets you going, until it begins to feel more natural to you.  It will also stop you from been distracted from working on other parts of your business!

5.    Measure your results: Taking the time out at the end of each week or month to work out how close you are to achieving the results you were expecting is critical to your long term success.  It will stop you wasting time on things that are just not working and it will help you do more of the stuff that is.

6.    Join the party: and finally, get stuck in.  Social media tools, like most other marketing tools, have absolutely nothing to do with selling.  They are there to start and build conversations, grow relationships and help position you as someone who knows their stuff.

People will “talk” about you as you “talk” about others.  Share links, recommend other businesses, show your human side.   The more you join in with the party, the more likely the party will come to you!

So should you be on Twitter?  Can you really get more clients using facebook? Who would actually watch your YouTube video?  All those answers will never be found until you decide to give it a go.

Every business is different.  Every target client is different.

And to help you find out whether social media will be successful for you, get a plan, get focused and get stuck in!

(P.S. If you are want someone to hold your hand and show you the way, check out my Social Media Training Programmes – click here for more information)

Still umming and arring about whether to get a blog going for your business? 

Thought you may like to read an email I received last week from one of my newsletter subscribers.  I think what Jean has shared here, demonstrates how important it is to showcase yourself as an expert in your field and have tools that help build potential clients’ trust in you – before actually speaking or meeting you.

Here’s what Jean Davies from Whiskers Pet Care had to say:

“Blogging works really well for me.  I’ve picked up some new customers recently who’ve found their way to my blog and been reading it – and they’ve said that it’s because of what they read in my blog.

They’ve got to know more about me than just my website provides, and I find it gives a real insight into my personality, values, etc, and in my business, where I’m working with people and their animals that’s so important. 

I only post something when I’m in the mood as it’s important it comes across with the right energy and impact, but so far I’ve not struggled to find something to say!! 

This is my blog if you would like to check it out:  www.whiskerspetcare.blogspot.com.”

If you have a success story to tell about your blog or any other marketing tool, email me or leave a comment below.  It would be great to share your stories, too.

Two of the most popular topics I get asked about are blogging and email newsletters. Having published this email newsletter for almost 5 years and blogging for 4, it’s not surprising that these topics get asked of me time and time again.

But one question that really stands out in popularity is the “Should I be blogging or sending out email newsletters?”

So, if you are a little confused about what to focus your efforts on and which to get up and running in your business, here are some points to consider.

1. Different delivery:  OK, this may sound obvious to some of you, but I know there are many of you who still don’t read blogs, nor understand how they really work.  So, let’s start with the basics. 

Blog articles are delivered via a website (your blog) and people can read your articles by either going to your website directly or reading your articles in a blog reader – think of it like an online magazine that you choose what articles you want to be given to read.

Email newsletters are delivered via email so are read in someone’s inbox, along with all the other dozens, if not hundreds, of emails someone would receive each day.

(Now I know some of you are going to tell me that you read blog posts via email if the blog owner gives you an option to subscribe this way – but I’m trying to keep things as simple as possible here, so to avoid information overload, excuse me if I can put this fact to one side!)

2. Different subscription: Blogs are subscribed to via the RSS feed – it’s the little orange button with the white dots & lines in that you often see on a blog – where as email newsletters are subscribed to by someone adding their name and email address to an opt-in box. 

The big difference here is that you know exactly who has subscribed to your email newsletter as you have access to their email addresses.  But your blog subscribers are anonymous – unless of course they subscribe via email, but I’m ignoring that for now :O)

The plus side of knowing email addresses for you is that you can use your email list to proactively send out promos and sales letters depending on what it is that you offer (balanced with quality of content, of course as you don’t want to annoy your subscribers!).  The downside is that some people may not want to hand over such a private detail as your email address (for fear of being overly sold to, perhaps) and may prefer the anonymous nature of blog subscription.

3.  Different platforms:  Your blog needs to be managed through a blogging platform such as wordpress, typepad, squarespace or blogger.  The content you write and publish is housed within this website.

Your email newsletter needs to be managed through a newsletter management system such as constant contact, aweber, mail chimp or 1shoppingcart.  This newsletter system will manage your subscription list and enable you deliver multiple email broadcasts simply and easily.

So you will need two different tools to run both.

4.  Different purposes: Typically a blog is used to showcase yourself as an expert allowing you share your tips, advice and recommendations on topics that you specialise in.  You may post 2 or 3 short articles a week and by regularly adding content, you are keeping a website active – which keeps Google very happy.  A blog’s purpose is usually the gateway to your business, inviting potential interested clients to take action: either leaving a comment, signing up for an email newsletter or even getting in touch with you directly.

An email newsletter is there to build up your database of interested clients.  By collecting email addresses, this allows you to proactively communicate with your readers and possibly even send them back to your blog to give them more articles to read and hopefully comment on.

Your regular and consistent email communication will help to build familiarity and trust with your readers.

5. Different readers: Because of all of the above differences, you will find that you will also have different readers.  Yes, some email newsletter subscribers will be avid readers of your blog, too. That’s great! But most will only have the time and the inclination to do one or the other.

And this leads me to answering the original question.  Blogging or email newsletters: which one should you be doing?

Neither are mutually exclusive and actually work exceptionally well together.  The same content can be delivered in both – no extra work needed there. And one can drive interest to the other – with the initial aim of increasing your subscribed database of email addresses of potentially interested clients and the ultimate aim of creating a successful long term relationship and turning readers in to clients.

So actually, the answer should never be to decide on one of the other, as running both along side each other works incredibly well.

But, a word of warning! Don’t go trying to set up both at the same time.

Start with one and spend a couple of months getting that going before you embark on the other.  Believe me, one of these projects is plenty to be doing at any time!

If you have been struggling to get your head around how blogs and email newsletters can fit within your marketing, I hope this has helped a little. 

And if you have any other questions, you are very welcome to either tweet me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/CanDoCanBe  or leave your question as a comment below.

Do you write articles to help promote your business? 

What do you do with them once they are written?  Leave them safely saved on your PC hard-drive, never to be seen again?

Well, the great thing about writing articles is when the hard work of writing is actually done, the easy bit can begin – over and over again.  An article shouldn’t be used once and once only.  An article can be used time and time again, attracting new web visitors to your website 24/7.

Here are 7 ways that you can use one article and make sure you get it working harder for your business – so you don’t have to!

1. Email Newsletter:  Send it out to your subscribed database and share it via email
2. Article Submission Site:  Upload it on to one of the hundreds of article submission sites out there for free.  There are stacks to choose from covering both horizontal and vertical markets so do your research if you want to attract your target clients.  But to make it is easy for you, the Big Daddy of them all is www.EzineArticles.com.  If you want to keep things simple, submit just to this site and you won’t go far wrong.
3. Blog it:  If your article is around 300 words or more, split it down to make 3 or 4 blog postings.  And if you don;t have a blog, find someone who does blog in your marketplace and offer yourself as a contributor for a link back to your site in exchange.
4. Create an e-book:  Add another 9 or 10 articles to it and hey presto – you have an e-book.  Offer it as a free give-away or sell it and make some income.
5. Offer it to other businesses to use:  If you send out an email newsletter, you know the work needed to come up with fresh content can be tough at times.  So if you know other businesses in your field who send out an email newsletter, offer them your content for free if you are able to get a link back to your site.
6. Publish it:  Just like the email newsletter example above, think about the publications in your marketplace.  Which magazines or newspapers would love to get some free content [or may even pay you for it!]?
7. Make an e-course:  If you don’t want to do an e-book, why not add the other articles and create a 7 part e-course.   Again whether you use this a free give-away or a product to sell, decide which is best to help you achieve your business objectives.

How else can you use an article?  Share your ideas or thoughts below and submit a comment.

Have you found it hard to get back on to the blogging bandwagon?  Perhaps you haven’t started yet and it’s proving tough to get going.

If you have taken a break from your writing or you are starting from scratch, you may have found it hard to get going.  Your first blog post can feel daunting and, to be honest, a little intimidating.  What will your first message be to the world?  And who will be reading it?

You may have noticed that I have left my typepad blog behind.  After 3 years of blogging on Typepad [which I have to say is a great blogging platform and one that I would highly recommend - I just want every thing under one roof now which is why I have moved everything over to wordpress], my blog has been empty of postings for many weeks whilst I get going on my new one, here.

But I have to admit it’s been hard to get going again.  There is nothing worse than a blank sheet of paper or screen to dull your creativity!

So I thought I would share a few tips on how I have got going and hope they may be useful to you if you find yourself in this dilemma.

1.  Print off a calendar for the month and give each day a topic. For example, if you are a nutritionist you may want to have Monday as your detox day, Tuesday as your veggie focus, Wednesday as your portion control day and so on.  Giving each day a focus makes it easier to come up with article titles.

2.  Come up with article titles.  Once you have your daily topics, write down an article title in each of the days in your calendar.  You don’t have to write the article – just write down the title of the post

3. Set aside a couple of hours of writing and schedule the week ahead.  Once you start writing, keep going.  Make full use of the scheduling function in your blog and time your posts to come out over the coming days.

Once you get going, the writing becomes easier and easier.  That first one is always the hardest so start taping away on your keyboard now and watch the words flow out

Have you got any writing tips you can share?  Leave a comment as I know others would love to read your thoughts.

I was speaking at a networking lunch this week sharing some tips and ideas on how to use blogging in one’s business.  And the same old question came up “But doesn’t all that stuff take a lot your time?”

Let’s get this straight. All marketing takes time!

Driving to a networking lunch, spending 2 hours eating, talking and sharing business ideas, driving back from to your office, following up any contacts you met and sending them the info you promised – this all takes time!

Is it time well spent?  Well, hopefully yes especially if you met some interesting new contacts and some of those new contacts told others about you and your business.  Networking is an incredibly effective marketing tool.

So, why wouldn’t using tools like blogging, twitter, facebook and all the other social tools out there take time to use, too?

And if the time you spend on twitter, facebook and writing your blog is used effectively – it will be time well spent too!

PLUS! anything you do online has the added benefit of being there forever.  Blog posts, twitter links and facebook photos can be found today, tomorrow and forever more.  So, yes blogging and social media does take up your time but before you use a lack of time as an excuse not to use these tools in your business, ask yourself how effective your marketing time is at the moment?