Friends, did you know my 'day job' is helping small businesses and creatives build blogs and editorial plans that help get them noticed on the interwebz? Yes.
(And when I say 'day job' I mean 'major source of self-employment income.' Because a girl cannot live on ebooks and $45 blog ads alone.)
I plan to start writing once a week over on my portfolio site about small business blogging. What to write about, how to create content people read, how to promote yourself and your products in a way that's engaging, non-annoying, non-sleezy. Yes! It's possible!
Soooo, I wanted to see if you small business-owning, self-employed, entrepreneurial readers had any questions you wanted me to answer! What do you struggle with the most? What questions are burning a hole in your proverbial pocket? Leave your questions in the comments or drop me a line at sarah (at) yesandyes (dot) org. I can't wait to hear from you!
original image (without text on top) by olive hue designs, for sale here.
CONTENT - I definitely have questions regarding rules/norms/restrictions regarding content.
ReplyDeleteI spend the majority of my time writing 100% original blog posts that solely reflect my products or personal life. This means I spend a hell of a lot of time taking my own photos and have precious few finished posts at the end of the week.
I want to diversify my content (and save some time!) but I'm wary about referring to other people's articles or linking to external content and ideas. I attempted this -once- and ended up with a page of footnotes! help!
I'm assuming bloggers research and use that in their posts (and that it isn't all 100% from your head) but I'm unsure how to do this without stepping on toes or getting in some serious trouble.
I write a mean research paper.. but dang I fail at blogging.
A couple questions!
ReplyDelete1. On a business blog, should I stick to shop talk, or is some (appropriate) personal stuff acceptable?
2. What's a reasonable post rate to give yourself for starting out?
3. So how DO you get people to notice you in the great wide web?
Thanks for the help!
I would like to learn about the best way to deliver content. I have a good grasp on social media distribution, but what about e-mail subscriptions? Should it be a weekly summary of previous weeks posts (I post 3/week) or an e-mail with each post?
ReplyDeleteHow do you come up with so much content? I struggle to find good things to write about that haven't been done before
ReplyDeleteHow important is your personal life for blogging? My life is very mundane (no traveling, no friends, just working day in and day out) so I don't have awesome travel or a day in the life posts. Is it important to have a cool life?!
How much self promotion is acceptable before it becomes nauseating? How many times can I point readers here! And here! And here! before they get sick of me? How many times can I tweet the same blog post to Twitter in a day without seeming self involved?
How do you weave 'this is my latest project' with 'hire me to do this for you' without seeming desperate or inexperienced?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to second (third?) the personal life vs. business life dichotomy. How much should your personality influence your business? I've read stuff from both schools, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAlso - I jumped over to your site to find your blog to add to my feed and couldn't find it. Am I oblivious? Help, please!
My biggest struggle is developing content that is applicable for my audience (20 somethings wanting to live a life they love), inspiring, but also fun for me to write. My coaching business is still a baby, so I can't use the tip that every suggests of "blogging about the questions you are asked most often" and I feel like the popular topics are all too forced.
ReplyDeleteJasmine,
ReplyDeleteYou're not missing anything! I won't actually start that blog till I get back from my trip and revamp my portfolio a bit - so probably early October. But don't worry - I'll post a link to each blog post here on Yes and Yes :)
I'm just starting my small etsy business. My question is: where do I start content-wise? What kind of initial blog posts will get people jazzed up about the product and the business?
ReplyDeleteHow can we get more audience to read our blog?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete