Why do People Blog?

Before you read this, think about the question and answer it for yourself.

It seems that the vast majority forget the point of writing blogs, so let’s remind you what the point is.

Marketing is all about emotion. Every advertiser’s dream is to get you to feel something, every life coach’s main aim is to find out what drives you, whether that takes primeval therapy to get to the base reason for a positive or negative feeling, it is the raw energy of emotions that sell anything.

Ask yourself why you advertise your business?

If I was a life coach, (God forbid, but most of these Charlatans feel they can claim to be gurus just by asking questions), I would ask:

Q. Why do you do Marketing?

A. To get more traffic.
Q. Why do you want more traffic?

A Er, duh, traffic drives sales

Q. Does it really? I know people who are Number 1 on Google for all their keywords, lots of traffic, but not making a dime!

A. OK not all of it but some does

Q. OK Some of the traffic makes you money, fine so what does the money mean to you?

A. I can pay staff, company bills, go home have some for family

Q. Great now we are getting somewhere. So how does this net profit that you take home convert into happiness?

A. well watching my family grow, and prosper

Q. OMG how boring! …be more specific!

A. OK, OK, JEEZ! I love to take my son fishing on Sundays. We hire a boat and we just sit, and I have a beer and it’s just him and me and no phone; its bliss!

Me: Great, so each time you are struggling to find the motivation for a blog think of that feeling on the boat with your lad and you will start to get into the mind of marketers. Now here is my Bill for 500USD!

No, I am not that mercenary but my point is:

You must have been passionate to start your business, you must at some point felt you are much better than your competition. So keep in mind your core reasons why you do what you do, because blogging will test you to the extreme and sadly most of you will give up after writing two dozen or so blogs just before you start to see the direct positive impact blogging has on those who stay the course.

How to Blog:

Be relatable

Google tells me ‘relatable’ is not a word but If I must coin the phrase, I will accept responsibility, because you must put yourself in the blog. People have to ‘feel’ the writer on the other side of the page and feel that he or she is like them and can answer their problems. (Look up the word ‘Empathy”.) Blogging is your first contact for building rapport so your words must come from your heart and you should have some passion. Sometimes my best blogs come from a disagreement or a big misunderstanding with someone in business and I vent my feelings and hopefully I impart information.

Let them know you know

Your blog’s main objective is to showcase yourself as an expert by giving away tricks of the trade that highlight you as a thought leader. After they feel they like you and you relate to them, then they feel you know about your industry and the problems your intended audience face and you can help them.

Some people I have consulted with have asked:

Giving away secrets of the trade would be costly would it not? And there is no guarantee they will reciprocate.

I am not advocating giving away your patents but alluding to aspects that reveal your knowledge and experience always helps.

For example, many magicians reveal how certain tricks are done, and you then think how ingenious was that? You don’t think ‘Oh well I have seen everything now I need not go see them. On the contrary, what happens is you think, ‘If he does that trick so easily, I bet he has so many more and even more fabulous magic tricks up his sleeve!’ and you book to see the magician.

Feel felt found

An M.L.M. ‘r tried this on me recently and although I felt a ‘little invaded,’ that was more his bedside manner than the tact itself, I began to think of how I was taught this trick as a salesman back in the 1980’s. I say trick but it really is basic common sense when relating to people and its core reasoning is to empathize, relate and offer a solution.

As the car salesman would say.

“I know how you feel about the GTX model Mr. Jones. When I drove it on the test drive, I felt the same, but what I found is, when I dropped a gear and then steered through the corner it handled better.”

So dear reader, I know how you ‘feel’ about blogging, it feels like you write week in week out , and I ‘felt’ quite scared that all my work and time was for nothing. Then I went to a networking event one afternoon and got chatting to a chap. This was around 3 months after I was blogging 2-3 times a week, and I told him what I do and my website and he said “Ah yes I read a few of your blogs” and he liked what I did. We met and then I did a lot of business with him. So, I ‘found’ that it was all worth it in the end!

Find the emotion

If you sell mundane things then don’t write about mundane things, write about the peripheral effects and the positive impact your product or service has on people or society.

One of my clients manufactured manhole covers in the road, he was waiting to meet me at his office with a big smirk, and he sniggered to me:

“I can’t wait to see how you write about ‘Manholes!”
Well we mentioned manholes at the end of every blog post in his call to action, but the other 99% of his blog was about the important role his manholes had on the environment and the children that play nearby,  the safety of drivers on the road and the employees who work for the councils who go down the manholes. He is still blogging 8 years later!

If you sell screwdrivers, don’t blog about screwdrivers, write about the pride of putting up a shelf, the security of knowing it won’t fall on your children’s heads and the love your partner gives you for being such a good handyman. Drill to the core emotion your product or services gives to the customers and make them feel your product or service.

Takeaway

Find out your emotion to find your motivation

Be relatable, showcase yourself, feel your customer and drill down to the emotion and most of all be patient. Blogging is about time and patience and if you don’t have the passion in the beginning to know you are the best in your profession you will soon learn a lot about yourself!

For consultancy on content marketing and how to get more people back to read your blog via social media, contact us.