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- Professionals with outdated, ugly, or poor-performing websites.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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