I may be getting in over my head but I just signed up for blogging coaching and strategy through my professional network “Indie Business Network”. I have been blogging here since 2007 and two years ago I started a second blog dedicated to my brand of skincare products, Colorado Aromatics. Keeping two blogs is a challenge and differentiating between the two is also challenging. Being part of the ‘Blog Your Brand’ group has several requirements including that
1. I post weekly to my blogs (yes, every 7 days!!)
2. Make comments on other blogs (should be fun)
Donna Marie of Indie Business Network has a lot of good reasons we should blog, including that it will develop entrepreneurial discipline. I’ve already learned that marketing and selling takes more of my time than to actually make products. I hired help to make products several years ago because I had run out of time to do both. Believe it or not, she also says it will make my life easier – I can’t wait to see how that will work. Sometimes life can be hard for an entrepreneur who wears so many hats.
Donna Marie says that blogging will help organize my thoughts which is something I desperately need. Thoughts are constantly whizzing through my brain at sonic booms speeds.
Blogging helps improve mood and decrease stress. Who doesn’t need that?
Most importantly she says that a blog increases visits to your site and increases search engine optimization; something that we all hope will translate into increased sales.
Perhaps the most important aspect of blogging is that unlike Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media platforms, we own our blogs and the content on those blogs. So whatever paths Facebook or the others decide to take (along with our followers), we will still have our blogs.
Have you ever participated in a blogging challenge? Tell me about it below.
You can read more about why Donna Marie Johnson of Indie Business Network things blogging is so important here.
Cindy,
Great reasons to blog, and with the visibility of Facebook declining, it seems every day, blogging is the way to go! Good luck and great article!
I agree–blogging provides us with such a great opportunity to tell our story, send out our message, with the freedom to do it in the ways that we want!
Good luck on the blogging challenge…I'm looking forward to reading more!
How funny – I'd much rather hire someone to do the marketing so I can stay in the lab and make things. (But, I'm also a control freak, so we do have to keep that in mind too. ^_^ )
You'll do great in the blogging challenge, I just know it!
Oh my gooodness! Well, Cindy, you have put it out there, and now I have to deliver! Whew. More discipline, an easier life, more time, SEO, translating into sales — whew, I had better pony up, huh?
And I didn't know you had two blogs, so with the weekly requirement, you can alternate if you'd like … because from one entrepreneur to another with two blogs, I can tell you that maintaining two blogs does NOT make life easier.
Thank you for sharing our new "Blog Your Brand" program with your friends and customers. You have already fulfilled the requirements for Week 1. LOL! (Well, one of them anyway.) Excited to work with you!
I've had a personal blog for nearly 10 years and just started my business blog a few months ago. For some reason, it's been hard for me to find things to write about on the business blog even though I can see the benefits.
I am so excited (and nervous!) to be accepted into Blog Your Brand. I'm hoping it'll give me the extra push I need to just write and to get more involved in the Indie Business network.
Best wishes with the blogging challenge!
Thanks everyone for your comments. Looking forward to blogging with you.