I am a huge advocate of the power of Blogging. The ability for us to be able to get our thoughts out into the world and self publish is astonishing to me. I have been doing it since 2002 and I have to be careful sometimes when I come across closed minds that don’t want to Blog.
Don’t want to, don’t know how to or don’t think anyone would be interested in you? These are three very different challenges. I will treat the two separately.
Don’t want to?
If you fall into the category, don’t want to, then the challenge for me is to motivate you in the opportunity that exists for you.
When I Google my name my Blogs are a large part of the entries. Google loves Blogging as it is about sharing knowledge and conversation. By Blogging I am present and relevant. I can control the words that I write and the brand that I want. I can share the knowledge that I want you to understand that I have and I can position myself as a thought-leader in my field by stretching the opinions and legacy that I believe in to a limit that might challenge the reader. I can also create conversation.
Don’t know how to?
That is a technical challenge. For me the best places to Blog are inside Communities like BNI and Ecademy. There is a level of traffic that is already visiting these sites regularly and there is a relevance of the audience, all are business owners or work in smaller businesses, sharing similar challenges and with similar needs. ON BNI I have become a Guest Blogger, this is a wonderful feeling, like being asked to run a column inside a newspaper, BNI do all the technical work on loading it and making sure it is read. ON Ecademy, just by Subscribing I can be one of the Bloggers, easy to upload and with great features like ‘sharing on Twitter’. You can also run your own Blog using tools like WordPress, this is an excellent tool that is used by many developers and Graphic Designers, getting someone to create one or going on a Training Course is not hard
So that has overcome the technical barrier, now for the toughest one….
Why would anyone be interested in your thoughts?
You are a unique person with unique experience of life. Your ability to combine your knowledge, your emotions and your experiences makes your thoughts fascinating. What is very boring about you is your expertise! If you drum on an on about a subject that I am not interested in I will glaze over or worse still just close the browser and stop reading. When you share your life experience, share stories and show the human side to you, connecting your head to your heart, then WOW, I really get to KNOW you and LIKE you, and I might chose to stay in touch with you, in other words FOLLOW you.
When I am helping people to become great Bloggers I ask people to discover what matters to them, something that they believe in that they might want others to believe in. Their passion, their opinion and their purpose. Many people say they fear sharing their inner thoughts that drive them on and I say “get it out there’ while you might attract some debate you will also attract others that feel as passionately as you do. Then you will be a Leader, leading thoughts.
Finally, be brave and bold, and remember this mantra that has got me through my Blogging Blockages
“There are no statues to the critics!”
Be someone of substance and opinion and enjoy the journey, once you have critics you know that you are making your own unique sound.
Penny Power has dedicated her life for the past 13 years to the potential of the internet and digital tools for SME’s by helping them connect through and understand the ‘social web’. In 1998 Penny founded Ecademy, the UK’s first social network for business. 
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for posting Penny
Yes, the SEO benefits of blogging are immense, indeed many of my own blogs appear on page one of Google for the topics they embrace – and this was at no cost to me as they are integrated into my website.
Whereas people could be paying a fortune on pay per click advertising to reach the same spot.
I love this article. I wouldn’t be where I am today, without utilising the power of blogging to showcase my credibility and knowledge.
Thank you James and Heather, you are certainly are great Bloggers and people for others to follow if they want to learn how to share and engage.
Two phrases captured it all for me:
“Share your life experience”
“What is very boring about you is your expertise!”
Blogs have often allowed me convert prospects much more easily, because they start talking about me and them (and already know something of me)
Great article.
Penny
Love this article. You’re spot on – we all have something interesting to share – for me it was just a case of wanting to do it.
I’ve finally come around – as a new blogger, I’ve set myself the challenge of writing one every two weeks: three months in, and I’m keeping up no problem!