Blogging that Makes Sense

Patsi Krakoff, PsyD; www.contentforcoaches.com

“The most frequent complaint I hear about blogging is ‘I don’t know what to write about,’” declares Dr. Patsi Krakoff in her blog WritingOnTheWeb.com. Dr. Krakoff specializes in helping professionals market their businesses online with blogs and other Web content. “This is because many business bloggers don’t have enough clarity about their blogging goals.” Here’s how she helps her clients solve this problem:

1. Define your business Ps & Q (3 Ps + 1 Q):

What Problems do you solve?

Who are the People you serve?

What Products and services do you offer?

What makes you uniQue?

2. Create an outline or table of contents of your expertise on these problems as if you were writing a book or teaching a class.

3. Make a list of key words, categories, and topics that should be addressed in order to solve these problems, and that you’re qualified to write about.

4. Make an editorial calendar for your blog that covers all the topics and categories you listed. Make sure your search engine optimization keywords are repeated frequently in posts and titles.

5. Set up a weekly schedule for blogging that includes writing the content, sharing it on social media sites, and formatting, editing, linking, etc.

When I’m working with clients on their blogs, I often find their content is all over the map. Quite often, they blog about whatever crosses their radar that day. It might be an e-mail from a client, something they saw online, or what they’re doing that week. It’s no wonder readers get confused and stop reading.

Clarity has to appear not only in your mind, but for your readers as well. When you blog according to an outline, you’ll have a sequence of posts that make sense for your readers. There will be an order. Brains love order.