Preserve your small enterprise on the high of individuals’s minds by way of running a blog. Get suggestions from different solopreneurs who’ve discovered success of their blogs.
We not too long ago requested small enterprise house owners about the advantages of running a blog in 2023. Whereas some talked about web optimization, internet site visitors, and gross sales (and people are essential!), most stated it went far past “backside strains.” In lots of instances, running a blog proved to be among the finest methods to create and keep a bigger sense of neighborhood round a model.
That might imply constructing momentum earlier than the launch of a brand new product. Or it is perhaps about constructing and rising a wholesome and engaged e-mail listing. For Morrisa Jenkins, the Proprietor and Founding father of the well being and sweetness store Freedom Apothecary, running a blog allowed her to attach with clients and share much-needed wellness suggestions through the pandemic and its aftermath.
Now, heading into 2023, the Freedom Apothecary weblog presents an accessible level of entry for folks to study self-care at house earlier than visiting the brick-and-mortar store in New Orleans. “Running a blog is important to our enterprise as a result of we’re all about training,” Jenkins informed us. “We like to make use of every publish as a software to begin a dialog that we will proceed in our retailer.”
With assist from 9 small enterprise house owners who’ve mastered the artwork of running a blog, we put collectively this information for solopreneurs. Their concepts will assist you to elevate your model.
Present Worth by Running a blog
Blogs are about extra than simply advertising your merchandise. Firstly, they’re about making your clients’ lives simpler.
“Writing blogs solely about your merchandise is a mistake,” stated Mfon Ekpe-Dancy, the Founding father of Ziggy’s Pudding, a vegan and cruelty-free skincare firm. “After all, we wish our clients to buy from us, so we wish to use our weblog to show them and promote them our merchandise. However on the identical time, essentially the most changing weblog is the one that gives a ton of worth and establishes your model as an authority in your area of interest.”
The Ziggy’s Pudding weblog, as an illustration, consists of latest articles on getting ready your pores and skin for winter, managing child eczema, and treating cradle cap at house. All of those blogs present options to issues potential clients have in real-time.
Collaborate and Cross-Promote
Together with how-to articles, interviews present evergreen weblog content material, so take into account reaching out to your community. Allison Ullo, the CEO and founding father of Leaves of Leisure, a luxurious natural tea model, runs a daily collection on her weblog known as Women of Leisure. Right here, she interviews fellow ladies entrepreneurs about their morning routines and recommendation for girls in enterprise.
“It’s a good way to attach with different manufacturers and uplift them,” she informed us. “In addition they often promote the publish on their very own social media or newsletters, so I get extra eyeballs. I marketed that I used to be beginning the column in some networking teams and received over 50 responses from ladies who had been excited to satisfy, chat, and be featured. A couple of of them even was bigger collaborations and partnerships.”
Use Your Personal Voice
Key phrases are useful, however they shouldn’t come on the expense of being readable and relatable. Write like an individual, not an algorithm.
“Add character,” advised Nicole Van Lun, the CEO of Gorgeous Confidence, a skincare model designed for busy mothers. “Your weblog shouldn’t be company and out of doors of technique. There aren’t any guidelines, so be your self, and don’t be afraid to have robust opinions.”
Topics that matter to you’re more likely to resonate together with your viewers. Current blogs for Beautiful Confidence, for instance, have lined all-too-relatable subjects like stress administration through the vacation season, travel-friendly magnificence suggestions, and the significance of treating your self.
Share Your Values
Fire Department Coffee, a veteran-owned espresso firm, has been running a blog for the reason that starting. Immediately, their blogs include articles overviewing their Espresso of the Month Membership and Spirit Infused Espresso Membership, plus basic espresso subjects and suggestions. However in addition they use their blogs to focus on the Fireplace Dept. Espresso Charitable Basis, which they created to assist unwell and injured first responders.
Blogs pose the proper alternative to share extra about your model’s story, mission, and values. In case your work helps a trigger that’s significant to you and your neighborhood, spotlight that.
Make Messaging Well timed
“It’s essential to plan weblog subjects prematurely round what shall be trending throughout a particular time—for instance, Giving Tuesday,” stated Derek Turner, the copywriter at Fireplace Division Espresso. If you happen to can schedule your content material primarily based on seasonal occasions and holidays, you’ll be extra more likely to entice clients after they’re wanting.
Welcome Suggestions
“There’s numerous room for creativity lately, and clients admire feeling a part of the dialogue,” stated Caroline Jones, the Co-Founding father of MadeKind, a UK-based pure cleansing model. “Giving suggestions that clients can make the most of, having a name to motion on the finish of the weblog, or including a feedback part retains clients concerned and reaches them on a private stage.”
Your weblog is in your clients, so allow them to have a say in what you cowl and the way you do it. Keep watch over what your clients are saying on social media. What questions do they most need answered? Contemplate a ballot or a survey to assist collect extra insights.
Incorporate Photographs and Video
As you develop your model, take into account new methods of connecting with and interesting your viewers. “If there are questions you reply for purchasers recurrently, flip these solutions into weblog posts, and supply as a lot useful data, photos, and movies as you may for them,” stated Greta Jines, the Head of Content material Creation at MIMOSA Handcrafted, a Louisiana-based jewellery store.
A few of MIMOSA Handcrafted’s hottest weblog articles have included a how-to information for cleansing and caring for bronze jewellery. It options video demonstrations and an explainer on gold-filled jewellery with academic infographics.
Contemplate authentic pictures, curated inventory pictures, or a mixture of each.
Set Lifelike Objectives
Solopreneurs are busy, so it’s essential to stay to a (manageable) schedule and set your self up for achievement. “Persist with subjects your clients wish to study and what is feasible so that you can create constantly,” suggested Johana Gutierrez-Griffiths, the Founding father of the stationary model and artistic studio JJ Paperie & Co.
“If you happen to begin off making an attempt to weblog 4 occasions a month, and also you aren’t an enormous author, then you definately may do it right here and there, however you most likely gained’t be tremendous constant. So as a substitute, I might give attention to what feels achievable for you. It’s okay if that is only one weblog publish a month.”
Repurpose Nice Content material
You’re employed laborious in your weblog, so be happy to make use of that content material on social media too. “You possibly can flip one weblog publish into ten social media posts and fifteen-plus Pinterest pins,” stated Poy T. Granati, the Founder and Designer at Summer Space, a handcrafted paper flower studio in New York.
“The weblog can embody the ‘large thought’ and discover it in depth. You possibly can then slice that data into digestible items to share on different channels. This could prevent time, and you may batch the content material. That manner, you may spend your time on different areas of your online business.”
Instruments like Creative Flow by Shutterstock make it straightforward so that you can design and format textual content and pictures to be used throughout quite a lot of codecs and social channels.
License this cowl picture by way of christakhova.
