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How do you feel when you are out of shape and over weight— you aren’t at the top of your game — you aren’t performing well.
You know what your supposed to do — Exercise. There is absolutely no substitute for it.
You cannot take a pill, or eat walnuts for six weeks or rub a cream on your skin to replace exercise.
Blogging will whip your business website into shape
Blogging is the equivalent to exercise for your website in more ways than one. In fact, when I began to write this post, the similarities were frightening. Almost as frightening as the realization that I had spent many minutes of my life watching Fat Albert.
But I digress… below are the similarities I have found between an exercise regiment for your body and a blogging regiment for your business website.
Exercising is the healthiest activity for your body… Blogging is the healthiest activity for your website
I could go on for hours about the search engine benefits of consistently adding good content to your business website. Let me boil it down to these bullet points in an effort to keep this blog post a tad shorter than the “A” volume of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
Blogging on your company website will:
- Create a group of loyal fans of your business
- Establish your company as an expert in your industry
- Generate more search engine traffic
- Generate more referring site traffic
- Generate more direct traffic
When your business begins to provide free information to your target market that solves REAL problems and provides great value, you will create a group of loyal fans that will not only buy from you but will go out and tell everyone they know about your company. It is very powerful.
The by-product of creating valuable content for your customers for free on your blog is that you will position yourself as an expert in your industry. You will come to dominate (or brand) your business in that space.
If you would like an explanation of the last three points, look for a series of blog posts on this blog describing the traffic generating benefits of business blogging. An in depth explanation this is beyond the scope of this post.
Exercise requires a plan… Blogging requires a plan
If you simply grab your tennis shoes and head over to the gym with no plan you will most likely fail with your exercise regiment. A good exercise plan includes details concerning how often you will exercise, what activities you will do as well as goals.
A successful blogger will tell you that there must be a plan. Creating a publishing plan is extremely important to the success of your blog. Here are the basic parts of a blogging plan:
- Posting frequency – How often will I post to my blog?
- Target audience – Who do I expect to read these blog posts?
- Post topics – What will my blog topics be over the next week?
- Marketing – Where and when will I market my blog posts?
- Goals – What are the goals for my blog?
Your blog plan does not have to be set in stone any more than an exercise plan needs to be. However, I should note that when I deviate from my plan — I can sometimes falter and continue to deviate. You have to know yourself and how you will react if you don’t stick to your plan — will you right the ship and get back on course if you skip one blog post?
If your like me — the more you force yourself to stick with the plan — the better off you will be.
Exercise is hard to keep up with … Blogging is hard to keep up with
How many times have you set out on an exercise regiment and stuck with it for a couple of weeks — then… you blew it.
Why?
- You weren’t seeing results fast enough
- You were having trouble finding the time
- It was too much work
It takes the same kind of discipline to stick with your blog and, if it fails, it will be for the same reasons your exercise program fails.
Your business blog will not show results in a couple of weeks and typically not in a couple of months. It takes consistent work just like those sit-ups do.
It takes a significant amount of time and effort to put together a blog post. There are no short-cuts to creating compelling content for your audience.
There are no short-cuts in exercise… There are no short-cuts in blogging
There is no shortage of drinks, pills, machines, creams, elixirs and whatever else that promise to get you into shape without having to exercise. Most of us realize that these don’t work… the rest of us keep these scam artists in business.
There are also thousands of “get rich quick” scam artists all over the web promising zero work and big money. The outcome is exactly the same — your gut will still be flabby and your website will still be a ghost town if you don’t get to work.
Exercise helps you meet new people… Blogging helps you meet new people
I know… I know… I am starting to reach a little bit here. I do remember Mrs. Comptons 8th Grade Composition class where I was taught to put my weakest argument last. So, here it is…
Whether your exercise includes playing pick-up soccer, participating in a 5K run or exercising at a gym — you are meeting new people. You meet people that are interested in the same things you are — soccer, running or staring at your lats in the mirror.
Blogging will introduce you to new people as well — new customers and colleagues will emerge to become your audience. They will comment on your blog or send out a tweet to their Twitter followers or shoot you an email. You will do the same on their blogs.
In fact, this is what blogging is all about… creating a community of people that find your content interesting and relevant to their needs. In essence, meeting new people.
Wait a minute… that wasn’t a weak argument. That was rock solid!
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