Starting a blog for your business or creative work

Here's one of many videos on YouTube that will take you step by step through how to actually start a blog.  I'm going to write about why you should start a blog, not how to actually do it.  To learn any technical aspect of using a blog, social media or other modern technology, go to either YouTube or Google (or Bing if you're a Bingster) and search for a video or article to show you how to do it.  People all over the world make these videos for every type of tech, they usually do it for free, and it's available to anyone online.  This is how you learn new technology.  Self-education.  If this is a new idea to you, get used to it, this is an integral part of promotion or business these days.

Nobody knows how many blogs there are in the world, the highest number I've heard is over 440 million.  Blogs have been around since about 2000, and come in all kinds of varieties.  But basically it's a website the you add a new post two every so often.  

Why should you start a blog for you business or creative work?  A blog does a number of things.  First, it gives you a web presence, it's something that people can find when they search the internet for your business or creative work.  Second, a blog is a way to put out "content" to the world.  People now expect to find most anything they need or want to know with a quick search or by asking friends for links.  If you continually put out useful content (words, audio, and/or video) that's helpful, entertaining, or informative, you attract potential customers.  Blogs can also direct online traffic to your website or brick and mortar business.

Do blogs make money?  Some do, but not very many.  ProBlogger is a great place to learn how blogs make money, both directly and indirectly.  There's a big lesson about blogging in that last sentence.  I just gave all of you a link that will take you away from my blog.  Why would I do that?  Because if you find my blog helpful, you'll most likely come back to it.  So by sharing links that actually take you away from my blog, I'm adding value to my blog, and , hopefully, your life.  That helps me in the long term.  It's a kind of paying it forward in the online world.

Blogs can make money directly in some instances, and business owners, large and small, tend to think in terms of Return on Investment (ROI).  If a business person invests $100 in advertising and then has $200 more sales, it's easy to measure the ROI.  But the online world of blogs, vlogs (video blogs), social media, YouTube and other platforms don't work that way.  These operate an entirely different way than traditional advertising, and that drives traditional business people crazy.  If you're blogging for your own small business, big business, or building a small business like I am, I suggest you think of your blog as a gift to your customers and potential customers, not something that makes money directly.  What can you give your potential customers, for free, that would be of value to them?

If my blog is not going to make money, then what's the point?  The point is to provide free entertainment, tips, or helpful information to make a direct connection with people.  Some of those people will become customers.  Some of those people may refer you to other potential customers.  Some of those people will take your information, move on, and never buy anything from you.  That's the game these days.  Almost every kind of information is available for free today.  Like it or not, that's the way things are.  If you want to be a player in business in today's world, you need to freely give everything you can to your community.

What do I mean by "community"?
 As we transition into the Information Age, "community" doesn't just mean your neighborhood or city.  For a creative person or business today, your community is everyone, everywhere who is interested in what you do.  It's not just your customers, your community or "tribe" as Seth Godin calls it, is all the people out there, who know you exist wherever they may live, and interact with you in some way.  For example, I don't like the drink Red Bull, but I watch the action sports videos they produce all the time.  I'm part of the Red Bull community, though I never drink the stuff.  I actually wish they would make a product I could buy.

As a business or creative person, your job these days is to serve your community(ies), and make some money along the way.  There are two basic ways to find a tribe to serve.  Either you find one that already exists, and start adding your ideas and value to it, or you create your own community.  Or both.  In my case as I'm building my art and writing business, I'm doing both.  I was an active blogger in the Old School BMX bike community as a result of my blogging about the old days for the past decade.  So when I initially started trying to sell my drawings, the old BMX guys I was Facebook friends with were the tribe I tapped into.  Now I'm working on building a new community, starting with people in the local art scene here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and others I connect with online interested in art, business, and the combination of the two.

A blog is a great way to help build a community.
With a blog, I set up the initial blog, figure out the design, and then I create a post.  Posts start with a title, then usually include either an embedded video clip or photo, which makes a huge difference, and then text.  The point of a blog, as I said, is to serve your community, not pummel them with advertising, old TV commercials, or other crap.  CREATE GOOD CONTENT.

The best questions to ask before a blog post are: 1) What blog post would I like to check out?  2) Who are the people in my tribe? And 3) What can I give to these people that will be helpful, entertaining, and worth taking the time to check out?

Be yourself in your blog.
This is absolutely crucial, and really hard for many people.  Most people, especially sales people and managers, continuously put on a front or a facade they use to talk people into buying something or adapting their ideas.  As a blogger, you want to do the opposite.  A direct sales pitch is the death nail of a blog (or social media post).  Blog about what really matters to you, and, by extension, to the people who follow your blog.  Authenticity is a word you hear all the time in blogging and social media marketing.  If you come across as fake, you may be able to con people... for a while.  But YOU WILL be found out before long.  Remember, this is the Information Age we are heading into.  The information about you will be available to lots and lots of people.  If you're shady or screw people or pretend to be someone else, you'll get called out.  Then you lose trust. Trust is one of the most important things in the Information Age.  Once you lose a community's trust, it's real hard to get it back.

Here's an example.  This is the new blog I just started for Rachel, who owns Designs, Vines, and Wines here in Winston-Salem.  Rachel likes my drawings, thinks they'll be worth millions of $ some day (OK, hundreds of $) and hangs some in her studio space.  But, after years in the tech world, she hates sitting there working on a computer doing social media and marketing.  She'd rather be painting or helping other people create fun projects. 

So we're doing a trade where I'll do some blogging and social media to promote her business, and she'll hang my drawings to promote my work.  Here's the thing about authenticity.  Rachel and I come from different backgrounds, have different interests (outside art) and use different words, phrases, and speech patterns.  So if I pretend to be Rachel when I'm writing, her friends and community will know something just doesn't sound right.  So I write for her business, but I write, as myself, and put a "-Steve" at the end of each post to be honest with her readers.  I'll do a post on her blog introducing myself, and talking about our trade out.  Then there's no deception, her community knows, "Oh yeah, Steve blogs for Rachel, and does some art she has up."  When Rachel writes posts, she can add "-Rachel" at the end, and people will know it's her speaking in her own way.  It seems like a little thing, but we're all bombarded by media from all directions these days.  And if something feels fake to our way of thinking, we drop it and move on to something else.  In today's media saturated world, people crave something "real."  If you want your blog to stand out among the 440 million other blogs out there, you HAVE to be real.

There's a lot more to come on this subject in future posts here, so stay tuned.  And if you're in the Triad/Winston area, check out Rachel's blog and come down, check out her work, and do a project and sip some wine.  It's always a fun time in her studio.