I know any one of you can be an amazing blogger. You have all the tools you need, you just have to recognise that you have them – and I’m going to point them out to you. But I’ll warn you ... once you’ve read this post you’re not going to have any more excuses. You’ll actually have to (gasp!) blog!
Are you ready?
You are a subject matter expert
You didn’t get where you are because of that pretty face of yours. You have your job because you know property. The world wants your expertise! Type it out so the rest of the world can benefit. You probably don’t think it’s that groundbreaking because the information is second nature to you, but there are hundreds if not thousands of people to whom your knowledge is groundbreaking. Do us a favour and blog it, won’t you?
You’re a good researcher
Sometimes when you sit down to write a blog post even if it’s about something you know a lot about a question might pop up in your mind. One that you don’t know the answer to. Some people see these questions as indicators they should stop blogging, because they must not be qualified enough to write on that topic. But really, this is why Google was invented!
Most business bloggers can* very rarely* sit down to write a blog post without conducting some research along the way. Just because you don’t know the answer to everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be blogging, it means you’re like every other person in the world, and certainly every blogger on the internet.
You don’t actually have to write that much
People can get extremely hung up on word count. Great blog content does not have to be long. In fact, it’s usually better that it’s brief. Now, this isn’t to say you can write 100-word blog posts. Your content still needs to be helpful, otherwise your readers will stop showing you any love. Aim to keep most of your blog content at around 600 words so you have enough space to develop some helpful advice.
You probably already have a lot of the content
Material is everywhere. It’s just up to you to either repurpose it or, if it’s already looking pretty fly, to excerpt and re-promote that content on your blog.
It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare
In fact, it’s better if it’s not. Many peoples get caught up in the idea of being a writer, but blogging doesn’t have to be a creative exercise; it can simply be a documentation of information. Instead of trying to flower up your language, just focus on writing like you’d speak. You’ll find that content is not only easier to write that way most people don’t have much trouble talking, after all but it sounds more natural, too. That means your readers will enjoy reading it, because it isn’t some high falutin’ content that tries to sound all smart and fancy.
There are proof readers and editors in the world
Remember, you’re a subject matter expert that’s the biggest value you bring to the role of business blogger. So if you’re worried that you can’t blog because you’re not good at figuring out where in the sentence a comma goes, don’t let that deter you; simply recruit a grammar-savvy friend or co-worker (or even a Privateproperty.co.za editor) to look over your content for you before it’s published.
So there it is – easy peasy. I’ll be expecting some great content from y’all …
(With thanks to hubspot)
