Time to put your blog on a diet?
Widgets, plugins, advertising, blogrolls, images, videos, and more can be added to blogs to add functionality or just plain fun. There are thousands of add-ons to consider using on your business blog, and many of which will be beneficial to you or your readers. However, add too many of these added features and your blog will balloon from fun and functional to fat and flaky.
The problem with blog add-ons, plugins, and widgets
- They can distract your readers from your larger purpose — giving them useful, relevant content that they want
- They slow down your site loading speed — even though many people have high-speed connections, making them wait is likely to make them want to leave your site altogether
- They don’t always add value — while they may be cool or unique, they may provide nothing that your readers are looking for when they come to your site
- They don’t always work — if something in your sidebar stops functioning even temporarily, you’re left with a big blank space, or worse some gobbledygook that makes your site look bad
- They can lure your readers away — some widgets are so cool that your readers end up visiting the widget-creator’s site and leaving your blog entirely
Tips for putting your blog on an add-on diet
Ask yourself these questions to determine which widgets/add-ons to keep, which to toss, and 
which to limit in some manner. If you answer “yes,” this widget is good for your diet. Any “no” answers mean it’s time to wean yourself from the widget or not consume it in the first place.
- Does this add value for my readers?
- Does this add value for me?
- Is this the most simple/pretty/clean way to add the functionality I seek?
- Can the look of the add on be made to complement my blog’s theme?
- Do I get enough control of the widget to create a professional blog presence?
- Is this add-on being used by my readers now?
If you have other tips for keeping your blog svelte and stylish, please chime in. Or, if you have examples of blogs from either extreme, send in the URL so we can all go take a look.
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Quotes to make us better bloggers (and better people too)
In my books and other pieces I’ve written, I like to sprinkle in wise, witty, or worth-repeating words from others. Most of the quotes I tend to use deal with life, inspiration, leadership, love, communication, freedom, responsibility, and other subjects in the personal development or life enrichment vein. Below are some such quotes along with my reasoning as to why they apply to being a blogger. I welcome your thoughts–in agreement or difference–as well as any quotes you want to share.
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Know that when you’re in a blogging conversation–you write, others comment, you reply, etc.–you’ll likely have times when not all voices sound in accord. Learn to distinguish contradiction and alternative ideas from castigation and bullying. The former make for interesting and engaging conversation the latter make for unsafe territory that you’re likely to want to avoid.
“Enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share.”
~ Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, The Art of Possibility
- Not every post you write will inspire others to comment. That’s fine. However, if part of what you want to do is interact with others, find a way to light that spark, drawing others out from their corners of the world to your circle. Imagine yourself as an ancient story-teller, Shakespearean bard, or someone who brings people together for an exchange of ideas.
“The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their information, their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which, they simply pursue their vision of excellence at whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing.”
~ James A. Michener
- Write with passion. If you start a post that lacks energy as you type, save it for later when it truly speaks to you. If you have nothing you feel compelled to share, don’t just make up a post to fill space. Blogging can benefit your business, but only if you do it with heart.
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
~ Annie Dillard
- You are in this world for a reason. You have contributions to make and unique gifts to offer those with whom you come into contact. Let your blog reflect your larger life purpose. Show yourself as who you are at your core, not who you think you “should” be. Offer your authentic self–and give others room to do the same–and your blog will be one more place where you can fulfill the purpose for which you were made.
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What can a blog coach do to help your business?
There is no one definition of a “blog coach” and no solitary reason for which a business owner would seek blogging support. That being the case, I wanted to outline what I do as a blog coach and the types of clients with whom I work. Additionally, I’ve provided some suggestions as to the crucial questions to ask before you hire your own blog coach.
What I can do as your blog coach
- Translate technical jargon and more sophisticated features of blogging into simple, easy-to-understand concepts. Rather than getting stalled out because you don’t understand what an RSS feed, trackback, or blogroll is, I help my clients build enough general knowledge to become self-sufficient bloggers.
- Help you determine what design and organizational layout will best support your business objectives and your company brand. Many new bloggers don’t realize the flexibility that’s available in a blog design and therefore merely settle for the “standard layout.” I help you strategically think about what you want to emphasize on your blog and how to organize it to work best for you.
- Build a beautiful blog in WordPress that will strengthen your image, build your credibility, and support your key goals. Instead of just using a standard template that doesn’t fit your business or the goals you want to reach, I customize a blog design specifically for you and your business.
- Assist you in creating a marketing plan with a strong blogging component. Instead of relying on blogging as your “magic pill,” I can help you determine what group of activities and tools will best serve your marketing needs.
Clients I work with as a blog coach
- Coaches, consultants, service professionals. These people don’t have much technical expertise, yet want to be competent at maintaining their site. They want to use their blog to give people a “taste” or them/their style/their process and potentially sell products from their site.
- Professionals with outdated, ugly, or poor-performing websites. These people want to change and want the switch to be easy, cost-effective, and effective. Generally they don’t have the skills or time to do the work themselves.
- Business owners whose web designers no little or nothing about blogs. These people want a blog that coordinates with their existing site and they want to know how to use it effectively as a marketing and communications tool.
- Professionals with no existing website who are ready to claim their own piece of online real estate. Some of these individuals intend to take full advantage of the blog’s capability while others simply choose to have a fairly static site created using the WordPress blogging system.
What to learn before you hire your own blog coach
- What is it like to work with this coach? Read their testimonials and ask for references. Though you might not have the same needs or wants as their other clients, talking with these people will help give you a feel for the blog coach’s strengths, weaknesses, and work style.
- What specific skills or experience does the coach have? Are they a graphic designer with a blog specialization or are they a marketing professional with web design skills? Learn what expertise they can bring to bear for you.
- What is the estimated cost and timeline for the work? Know ahead of time, what the coach’s services will cost, how they do their billing (e.g., deposits, payment methods, going beyond the estimate, etc.), and how long the work is estimated to take.
- What are your responsibilities? Find out what the coach needs from or expects of you. This could be anything from access to your web hosting account and finished graphics files or regular feedback on the design in progress and the ability to upload your own plugins.
- What’s the end result? Though this might seem obvious, make sure that your vision of the end result is the same as the one held by the coach. For instance, they might think they’re simply creating a custom blog design that you will put up on your site yourself, add plugins, and maintain the blog yourself. Your vision might be that once they’ve created the design they’ll install it, test for any problems, and get all your desired plugins ready to use. Better to clear this up upfront than to have a misunderstanding to work through later.
- What blog system will you be using? Learn what system your coach recommends and why. Then make sure you think it’s a system you’ll be happy using over the long-haul. I use WordPress exclusively for customized blog designs, though I have provided some generic education for clients using Blogger. Other folks you might consider if you’re looking for help on a TypePad blog are Mike Sansone and Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff (The Blog Squad).
Of course you don’t have to hire a blog coach. You may have the skills, time, and interest in learning the ropes for yourself. However, if you are like many of the people with whom I’ve worked, knowing you have a partner (at least temporarily) in the blog creation process may help you navigate these waters more quickly, more effectively, and with more joy.
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The Coaches’ Blog Book — use a blog to market your coaching practice
If you want to attract new clients, provide value to your current clients, and build new business relationships, blogging is a
great tool to use. Using a blog as part of your marketing strategy isn’t necessarily straight-forward, however, so it’s good to have a helping hand on your blogging journey. To make it easy for every coach to learn how to use a blog as a marketing and communications tool, I’ve written The Coaches’ Blog Book: The 8 Building Blocks for Blogging Success.
Written in non-technical language that’s easy to understand, you’ll discover how you can use a blog to:
- Reach more potential clients
- Share your knowledge and wisdom
- Create greater cash flow
- Promote your products and services
The Coaches’ Blog Book is a workbook that you use to find the right answers for your practice (it’s not a cookie cutter process). View a PDF preview of the book or visit my publisher to purchase your own copy today.
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Blogging for coaches — an economical, effective marketing tool
Last week I was at the International Coach Federation International Conference in Long Beach, California giving a presentation to coaches about “geek-free” ways to use technology to attract clients with ease. (Download the notes/handout from Geek Free Ways to Use Technology to Attract Clients.) Like many people who are relatively unfamiliar with business blogging, some of the coaches in attendance weren’t sure why a blog would be a good option for them to use to create their online presence.
Why blogs are a great choice for coaches
- Blogs generally cost less to create and maintain than traditional websites. All my blog customization clients use WordPress which is free, so the only costs they pay are for a domain name and hosting (same as what they’d pay for a traditional site) and my customization fees (customarily under $1,000).
- Blogs are easier for a non-technically-skilled person to maintain. No more waiting for your “web gal” or your designer to make those changes for you. You can update your blog yourself.
- Blogs are more attractive to search engines. If you want to attract new clients, you first need to get in front of them and the search engines (SE) will do that. . .if you’re where the SEs can find you.
- Blogs can do anything a traditional site can do and more. Want to sell products? You can with a blog. Want to add audio or video to your site? You can with a blog. Want to have static pages and regularly updated pages? You can with a blog.
- Blogs can simply serve as a static web presence. If you don’t really want to use the article-writing capability of the blog system, you can still use it to create your coaching practice’s static website. While you won’t get as much value from using a blog system in this way, it can still be a great option.
Still wondering if a blog is the right choice for your business (whether or not you’re a coach)? Contact me for a complimentary consultation.
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Blogs aren’t about control
It’s tempting to think that you are in charge of your business. It might even look like you’re the one calling all the shots. What we often fail to remember, however, is that, at most, we control just one thing. . .ourselves. We are responding to the situations we find ourselves in and doing our best to create the situations we want to be in.
When thinking about blogs perhaps it should not surprise me that people often worry about how much control they’ll have.
What if I don’t want people to comment?
What if someone leaves a comment I don’t like?
What if someone links to my blog from an inappropriate site?
While you do have choices about what happens on your blog, you can’t control the other person and what they do elsewhere. Sure, you can disable comments (or not post a comment), yet that doesn’t stop someone from leaving that same comment somewhere else. To me however, that seems like saying to your audience, “Please do business with me someplace else,” rather than seeking to engage them directly on your blog. Obviously there may be some people who you choose not to interact with or do business with, but that’s an entirely different matter.
Read great thoughts about business, control, and social media
- Wendy Piersall seeks to answer the question, How Can You Keep Control of Your Brand with a Blog & Social Media?
- Valeria Montoni suggests that, You’re Asking the Wrong Question
- Geoff Livingston describes how, Fear Kills Social Media Efforts
“Social media involves conversation and conversation involves moving away from controlling the message. That’s a big shift for a lot of people.”
~ Valeria Maltoni
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Pencasting…the next wave in the blogosphere?
While scanning through my incoming links today I landed on a great site I hadn’t visited for some time. Once there, I happened upon the idea of pencasting, as coined by the author. The definition is this: publication of manuscript content to the world-wide-web as scanned images of pen-and-paper text. While I generally think that pencasting is more appropriate for blogs of a personal nature, I could see them being used in a business blogging context (e.g., holiday greetings, special announcements, or maybe even just a portion of a post such as a quote or important line of text).
Take a look at some of the pencasting examples at Mandarine’s site as well as the tutorial for how to pencast.
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How high a priority should blogging be?
As a business owner, you know that marketing is an activity that needs to be done frequently and regularly to keep the funnel filling with potential clients/customers. There are hundreds of marketing strategies you can use, just one of which is blogging. So, where does blogging fall on the list of prioritized “to do” items AND how do you make that choice? I’ll share my recent experience and then open it up to your ideas, experience, and wisdom.
When blogging wasn’t even on the back burner for me
In November 2007 I’ll be one of the featured presenters at the International Coach Federation Annual Conference. I’m co-leading a session titled, “Geek-free ways to use technology to attract clients with ease” where I’ll be speaking about blogs, podcasts, and other online ways to promote your company. I wanted to provide a resource for coaches in attendance to continue their learning about blogs after the conference, knowing that 90 minutes is insufficient for covering the topic except in a broad, overarching way. As an author of two books, I decided that a workbook would be the best way to offer this post-conference value, so I set about the task of turning my ideas and advice into a book.
Given my timeline, the book rocketed it’s way into #1 professional priority. Other “to do” items would be tucked aside until the book was finished. It was simply the only way for me to complete the book AND still enjoy a quality of life at the same time. Of course, it’s strange to be a blogging coach who doesn’t blog, yet it’s important to me to show people that even if blogging is a good thing, it’s not everything. Yes, it’s important to blog on a regular basis. Yes, it’s important to provide your readers with value. Yes, it’s important to create sustainable blogging habits. And just as important is our ability to know when, despite these other truths, blogging needs to take a backseat to other important things in your life.
I welcome stories of your own experience, your advice, and your tips for appropriately prioritizing blogging as one of your business marketing strategies.
Related posts which may interest you
- Best reasons to have your own blog — part 5
- Isn’t a business website the same as a business blog?
- Three simple steps to planning your blog
- The Coaches’ Blog Book — use a blog to market your coaching practice
- Blogging for coaches — an economical, effective marketing tool
- Blogs work for every business, including yours
