An interesting tweet appeared on Twitter last week. It was a Technorati survey that indicated a full 75 percent of us self-employed folks believe that we have greater visibility in our industries because of our blogs. Mind you, that’s the perception. Reality? Seems to hold true. The survey revealed that bloggers have seen 68 percent of prospective clients visiting their blogs actually buy something from them. Music to my ears.
But what you talk about is the important factor, in my opinion. I talk here about writing. This blog started as a tool to show prospective clients my level of expertise and understanding of writing and editing. It’s evolved into a great community of thinkers and doers and friends. And it’s now serving as a means to another end – it’s trying like mad to show writers they’re worth more than they think. What purpose it serves depends largely on what’s going on in our profession (and frankly, my mood that day). I know I’m not getting tons of traffic from clients here, but that’s okay. I have a purpose or three that I think goes beyond just marketing. Being true to those goals means being true to myself.
I was talking with a colleague last week when the topic of blogging came up. She said she’d never write for free, even for her own blog. That’s great if you have a well-established career and reputation, as she has. But for a writer wanting to develop a strong foothold in an industry, a free blog is easiest way to start.
Mind you, that’s writing for free for yourself. I would never advocate, nor recommend, any writer supplying articles to a blog that writer did not own. (The exception is guest blogging occasionally, which is a great way to extend your audience.) But writing that targets your intended specialty can open up a new channel of prospective clients who have been waiting for a specialty writer.
The thing about blogging, though, is you have to devote time not just to the writing, but to building a blog network/community among others who write about similar things. So many of you came here through other folks’ blogs, just as I found others in the same way. You have to extend yourself to others and invite them in. Otherwise, yours is simply a blog with no audience and nowhere to go.
How many of you have specialized blogs? And whether you specialize or not, have you seen an increase in clients due to your blog?
It annoys me when people say "I don't have time to blog". It's part of the job, and you schedule it in the same way you schedule in your other assignments. It's a commitment to your career and your readers. When you start saying you "have no time" , what you're telling your regular readers is that they are not a priority.
And for writers, especially fiction writers, our readers NEED to be a priority or we don't have a career.
And, let's face it, unless you're doing a heavily researched topic on your blog (which should probably be a paid article instead) it takes 15 minutes to write a blog post. If you don't have 15 minutes for your readers . . .
I have my main writing blog and then I run a couple of other, specialized blogs on different topics. I've definitely landed paid work because people found one or another of my blogs and hired me because they liked both the style and the content.
I also find it a useful brainstorming tool I learn about my process via public dissection.
I haven't seen an increase in clients to my blog, but I just started it like a month ago.
I find that I have a harder time working on my own blog then I do for my clients. I will spend hours, sometimes, on a blog post, because I'm never satisfied with it. My own writing seems to be getting weaker and weaker. And I don't know why.
That's what tends to keep me from posting every day, like I originally intended to do.
What is interesting about blogging for me is that before I ever even knew about blogging I always had what I though was writer's block. When I began blogging and posting on a regular basis I realized that what I was doing was procrastinating.
I blog about things I enjoy like writing, photography, art, music etc… I don't specialize in one theme but rather create posts on a few different themes. I have a following and know their likes and dislikes so I do try and strive to post on topics they will enjoy as well. When I post more than once a day I see a significant increase in visitors. I do post daily unless I am traveling. It is just something I have to do on a daily basis and do allow a certain amount of time for blogging.
I've gotten a few clients from blogging and have been able to become a blogger for other clients. It's been a win-win all around.