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.
Related posts which may interest you
Strategies to get your blog noticed
Writing exceptional blog content is crucial (Take these simple steps to create exceptional blog content), the task involves more than correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. When it comes to effective blog content, one of the main keys is visibility and this is supported by SEO skills. In other words, it’s not simply a matter of writing something compelling. The best blogs are well written and structured effectively (e.g., using title and headline tags to the fullest advantage, linking with powerful anchor text, etc.) so that they can be easily found, indexed by search engines, and promoted by others.
Turn your blog content into great content that markets itself
- Write for people and search engines. Using your blog statistics (Blog statistics for business — What to monitor and why) you can learn what phrases and words people use to find your site. Use tools like WordTracker to learn about popularity of keywords and use those that will help you stand out.
- Consider your entire post (and site for that matter). Do you use pretty permalinks (like mine) or the default ones that don’t tell users anything (ones that look like this http://yoururl.net/blog/?p=123)? Are you writing useful titles and using <h1> or <h2> tags inside your posts or simply making some copy bold? Are your page descriptions “junked up” with the full name of your blog?
- Make it easy for others to promote your work. Though you don’t want your site overloaded with plugins, it’s crucial that you give readers easy ways to pass along your work. This includes ways to add your content to social media and bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Sk*rt, Digg, Delicious. I also encourage you to have features that allow your users to print and email your posts.
Since you all know that even these tips don’t guarantee that your content will be promoted widely, it’s important to have content marketing skills of your own. Read how Chris Mitchell got Seven Tips for Taking a Laptop Traveling, his post, featured to two big traffic sites.
Expert advice on search engine optimization for your blog
I have beginner’s SEO knowledge, so I’m going to share some links to others who have a lot to say on the topic. There will be some redundancy here, yet sometimes reading the same advice multiple times helps it sink in.
- Entrepreneur Yaro Starak gives you the scoop on how to wisely use your time for search engine placement The 80/20 Of Search Engine Marketing - Part 1 and The 80/20 Of Search Engine Marketing - Part 2.
- Stephan Spencer reminds you not to be foolish in his post, Twelve SEO Mistakes Most Bloggers Make.
- Shari Thurow clarifies her thinking about writing for optimization in her post When Content Isn’t King in SEO.
If you have tips to share that have helped you make your blog highly visible to the right people, drop a line in the comments section.
Related posts which may interest you
Save time when you blog with these free resources
“By labor we can find food and water, but all of our labor will not find for us another hour.”~ Kenneth Patton
Whether you’re blogging for your business or for your hobby, it’s important essential to use your time efficiently. I learned some awesome time saving blogging techniques and tools at the BlogHer07 conference held in Chicago at the end of July. Barb Dybwad (who blogs at Weblogs, Inc. at AOL, Joystiq, geeked., and Engadget) and Gina Trapani (who blogs at Lifehacker) shared these efficiency ideas. Now it’s time to pass on some of their pearls of productivity wisdom and time-saving links.
Tools that save you time when blogging
- Type your blog posts faster with these tools — TextExpander and Texter (easy text expansion for common blogging markup, like href’s and blockquotes); AutoCopy for Firefox (never Ctrl+C again!); and CoLT Firefox extension (copy entire formatted links with text AND HTML). If you don’t use FireFox, get it now.
- Transfer files to/from your site without opening new software by using FireFTP in-Firefox.
- Add a multi- “bookmark this” icon to your site’s front page or to every post using AddThis.
- Easily submit and promote your posts to about 20 social bookmarking sites with Onlywire.
- Get every other time-saving tool, tip, and trick that Barb and Gina shared (and a few, fun time-wasting ones too
).
Other resources for using your blogging time effectively
- “Just remember: you don’t HAVE TO do anything,” says Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek. Read Darren Rowse’s interview of Tim where time-saving tips are liberally offered.
- Anne-Marie Nichols, of The Write Spot live blogged Barb and Gina’s session at BlogHer. Get the links they shared as well as Anne-Marie’s notes.
- Learn 6 time saving tips for interacting with your readers from Patric-Herber.
What tools save you time when you blog? What tool would you like to find?
Related posts which may interest you
Speak to be understood
“Language is the means of getting an idea from my brain into yours without surgery.”~ Mark Amidon
Once you start blogging, it’s likely you’ll find more and more jargon slipping into your language. Though it’s fine to use this specialized speech with others “in the know,” be conscious of relying on it as your sole form of communication. Upon hearing the words “blog,” “podcast,” “YouTube,” or “MySpace,” some people will tune out because those words don’t mean anything to them.
Speak–and write–using the language of your ideal customer, client, or audience
- At a networking event — “Here’s my card, Joe. I think that some of the articles and tips on my website would help you get a handle on those schedule challenges you were talking about earlier.”
- In your email signature — “Learn how to build an effective and inspiring work environment — practical and proven tips available at your website/blog address.”
- On your voice mail — “For specific advice on how to market your professional medical practice, visit your website/blog address.”
- In a speech — “For those of you who would like more tips and techniques for staying sane as a single parent, visit my website. I’ve written over 100 free articles that are short and easy to read in under 5 minutes each.”
- On your blog — “Receive these informative posts directly in your email inbox by joining my subscriber list. You’ll receive 2-4 emails each week to read at your convenience.”
Personally, I think that each of these examples conveys to others (a) specifically what you’re offering on your blog and (b) why it’s worth their time to visit your site. For me it’s much more compelling than simply saying/writing “Visit my blog.”
What have you done to communicate your blog’s value in a way that your ideal audience easily understands?
Related posts which may interest you
- Links anyone? Effective linking makes win-win-win
- Planning AND flexibility are key to blogging success
- Choosing between a stand alone or integrated blog
- Take these simple steps to create exceptional blog content
- Beautiful blog design — help for the color clueless
- The Coaches’ Blog Book — use a blog to market your coaching practice
