Writing a blog helps your business, but many business owners are put off by lack of time.

“I’m worried that I don’t have the time to maintain a blog properly”

Why Blog?

My favourite reasons are:

• Show your expertise by helping potential clients
• Develop relationships with clients and potential clients a they get to know more about you and the way you think
• Increased visits to your website, helping your Google ranking
• Give prospects a reason to purchase from you

There are lots more, but this is about writing not why to write

Time saving tips

I find that there are times when I can write easily, and times when I can’t. There are some things that help me write more quickly and others that make it worse.

1. Have a blog bank: Before publishing any, build up a bank of 5-6 blogs and aim to keep them topped up, rather than trying to type just before a deadline.
2. Know when you’re more creative: For some people it’s first thing in the morning, I get creative when walking the dog so I tell myself a story and write down brief notes on it in the park. Writing when you’re creative saves time.
3. Use stimuli: When you think of things during the day, jot down a couple of sentences about them. That way when it’s writing time you simply need to expand the notes. In fact I tend to expand the notes and might write the final article another time. Click here to read “What should I write in my blog and how do I get the ideas” for more on this.
4. Have a list of subjects: Planning the things you want to blog about can help you spot things and think of ideas much more quickly. Click here for an article called “What should I write in my blog and how do I get the ideas ”

Use headings

Writing down 2-3 key points as headings often allows you to be clear about your main message, then it’s easier to fill in the sections.

Keep it short

It’s quicker to write on one short subject than write a comprehensive paper on several things covering the entire spectrum. I normally write about 450 words; Heather is much quicker with many 300 word articles.

With that in mind I’ll sign off! Do you have any other time saving tips for writing blogs? I’d love your feedback.

Could I?

Should I?

What would people think about me?

How quickly would I do myself an injury?

These were all the thoughts going through my head when I saw the new skate park. I’d be eyeing up the old one for months and just never been brave enough to have a go on it with my scooter.

So what was the problem?

Stating the obvious, I’m not a spotty teenage boy! How many mothers of 2 do you know who take their scooter onto a skate park? However on Sunday I saw a father take his 2 young sons and scooters to the skate park. Woo-hoo! This gave me the courage to suggest to my two children that we could also try out the new skate park. Yep, there was me going up and down the ramps, big smile on my face… So, I conquered my very real fears at the skate park – although there are some high ramps which are going to take me a while to conquer my fear of breaking bones!

At one point I even had a conversation about my scooter at the top of a ramp…

Isn’t this a business blog?

Very often we stop ourselves from going to a new group or trying out a new forum because we are worried out fitting in, knowing what to say or being accepted.

I clearly remember my first official networking experience and referral group meeting – would I know what to say?

If I can have fun in the company of teenage boys at a skate park, surely you can take yourself out of your comfort zone and meet some new people. Remember, take a friend (someone like you) along – it just may make it easier for you to try out that new group or forum.

How did you feel the first time you went networking and how did you get over that fear?

Five great ideas on what to talk about in LinkedIn, so you come across the way you want to.

LinkedIn can help you find new prospects and discover more about them before you even think about “selling”. In a previous article I talked about using LinkedIn groups to get more business. I recommended using groups; commenting on discussions and creating your own discussion threads. These are good ways of letting your contacts know you better, as well as making new contacts.

Firstly get into the habit of visiting groups that are rich in the type of people that you want to be known by.

What should I say in discussions?

It’s important to add to the discussions in the groups, rather than simply looking (lurking?). But many people when I first train them say things like:

“What should I say on LinkedIn”

“I’m not sure what to talk about on LinkedIn”

Respond to discussions where you have some knowledge, or experience; maybe answering a question on something you know a lot about, or have tried in the past (whether it worked or not), maybe you can recommend somebody that knows the answer.

Remember that you need to provide interesting content to your target market. If the content is boring, full of advertising, or not something you’d find interesting – don’t use it.

What LinkedIn discussions should I start?

If you blog, using some of your blogs (not every blog) as the basis for a discussion and providing a link to the blog is a great technique.

Putting links to industry news that is related to your business and starting discussions on them. This is great as it doesn’t involve you in writing material! Finding that material can be quite easy too:

• LinkedIn news (on your menu bar) shows interesting things
• Twitter can be a rich source
• the BBC is a good source…..

How should I write in LinkedIn discussions?

This is a common question:

1. Be natural. Think of discussions that you have face to face, how do you answer those questions? People get to know you through your style, that’s good.
2. Think about what you want to be known as/ for. If you want to be known as positive, don’t be moaning about things in the discussions; “a techie” might think of technological angles in your answer; want to be known as well thought through and balanced, reflect that in your answers. I recorded a short video clip in an article called “what do I put on Twitter”, which is as true for LinkedIn as face to face communications.

Summary

Discussing things on LinkedIn helps build your profile and helps you build relationships. This is an important step in getting invoiceable business from LinkedIn. What to say and how to say it is not as hard as many people will make out!

What do you think (commenting here maybe a good first step!)

I’ve run nearly ten workshops on networking over the last six months and in many of those workshops, the elevator pitch has featured.

This is the short, normally capped at 60 seconds, ‘pitch’ (or minute of sheer fear) that most structured networking groups or events make you trot out.

I have to admit that when I spent 6 months attending one of these groups, I never quite conquered my adrenaline and nerves when delivering this short presentation – and I confidently deliver 45 minute keynote speeches. Haven’t figured this one out yet myself…

What are my tips (and other’s tips from my LinkedIn group) on delivering a powerful elevator pitch:

1. Prepare your networking elevator pitch

You may have to be up at the crack of dawn to deliver your elevator pitch, but deciding on what you are going to say in the car on the way to the networking meeting is too late. Before you attend the meeting, find/work out:

• Who is going to be there?
• Who are they connected to?
• What help you need to help make your marketing/business development plan happen?

The answers to these questions will all influence what you add in or take out from your elevator pitch.

2. Rehearse your “60 seconds”

There is nothing worse than seeing someone looking down and reading their elevator pitch. Rehearse your elevator pitch so that you can deliver it whilst still maintaining eye contact at least 80% of the time with the people in the room.

3. Construct your elevator pitch

Every decent elevator pitch has a defined structure – which I outline in this blog post on the ideal elevator pitch

4. Listen to other peoples presentations

Remember to listen to other’s people elevator pitch rather than stressing about your turn. People are far more likely to listen to your pitch if you do the courtesy of listening to their pitch.

5. Think about visible signs that your service is needed

You need to very quickly educate your audience on how to spot an ideal referral for you. What visible signs, and from whom, will they notice if they have bumped into an ideal client for you? These need to be in your elevator pitch – and mentioned twice if possible.

What would your 6^th tip be?

How would a cardboard policeman help your business?

A while ago some police forces appeared to leave a police car on a garage forecourt, as a theft deterrent. But imagine my surprise yesterday when I was buying fuel, there was a life size policeman in the back of the petrol station. I could see it was cardboard whilst I was filling my car! Would something that obvious affect your behaviour?

Well, OK, it made me laugh; but I don’t think that’s the behavioural change they were hoping for!

Ineffective practice in your business?

What is happening in your business which is creating……… no impact?

Are there staff practices you ask them to do which have very little discernible benefits (other than waste time)? I was recently working with a business which spent hours printing electronic receipts, filing them and then stapling them onto a manually written out order form; just so they knew it was paid. This filing took an hour a day and nobody ever looked at it (as they all used the electronic records).
What procedures are in place to help you control things, which are no longer valid?

Who knows best about time wasting work?

It is probably your staff that actually do the work that understand the problems, rather than you. But they probably think they’re doing what you want! The procedure may have been valid some years ago (like the filing above), but has long since stopped being worthwhile. Things are constantly changing outside your business, and do need to evolve inside it too (a bit like the tree that walks). You can’t possibly know all the examples of things like this in the business; what could you do to empower your team to seek out such waste and eradicate it?

Today is Valentines day, how much do your customers love you?

Trusting testimonials is a key way to improve your conversion rate and to get more leads.

There are two problems I’ve seen with many testimonials (and many are badly used)

• You don’t believe it yourself
• It means nothing to anybody that reads/ hears it

How to improve your marketing with testimonials

The answer in both cases is specificity.

Ways to improve the usefulness of your testimonials

1. Get a proper name attached to them, “Mrs C of Sunbury” isn’t believed by anybody!
2. Get them to say something specific about your service, so that they are not just saying “Oh it’s wonderful”. Mentioning the precise element of your offer and what they thought of it; even better if this is element is something that you talk about in your marketing.
3. Get it written in LinkedIn, then there is no way it can have been written by anybody other than the author (you can always copy it elsewhere later)
4. Get a video testimonial, or maybe a voice recording. Watching or hearing somebody is even less likely to have been “forged”

Believe your own testimonials

4 tips to help you get more value from LinkedIn

A great benefit Of LinkedIn is that it can help you to get to know people and their business. Reading through a well written profile can often help you more than talking to them for 10 minutes. What you do with useful connections is then up to your strategy.

How do I find people I don’t know?

There are many people on LinkedIn that you probably don’t know, but fit the ideal contact profile for you (either potentially as a good introducer or as an ideal prospect). You may find them in many ways, some of the most common are:

• A targeted search
• Meeting them in groups
• Them being shown as “people you may know”
• What’s you favourite strategy for finding good connections?

How do I connect with people I don’t know?

1. Use the LinkedIn function: You could just send them a standard LinkedIn message, click on their name, hit connect and press enter. They’ll get a message saying “I’d like to add you to my professional network”. Do you get those and how do you feel? At the very least personalise your message and give them some real reasons to connect.
2. Get to know them: Do some research, why do you want to connect to them, how can you help them and vice versa? Then ask
3. Discuss issues that are important to them: Use discussion groups and contribute useful material to things that that are discussing. The connection request is then far easier, you belong to the same group and they already know you.
4. Answer their questions: From the main menu select “More” and then “Answers”. If there is something you specialise in being asked, it’s a great way to get to know people.
5. Ask a mutual connection to connect you: There is a function to do this, although it relies on you giving a good reason to your connection and to them. But if you’ve done that it can work well.

4 tips to connect with people you don’t know

1. Know the profile of person you want to connect to
2. Identify them; search is very good for this
3. Use groups that they’re in to get to know them and help them
4. Do some research, don’t just send a standard contact message

How often have your thought, or overheard somebody say

“I’d like to write a blog, but I’m not sure how to write”

Many small business owners would like write blogs, but worry about how to write. These 6 ideas will help you to write more effectively.

1. What’s your objective? It is great to communicate with a story, but your article has to be about the message.
• What are you trying to say?
• What action you want your readers to take?
• Write down that key point; that is your main message.
• Are there any common phrases associated with it (keywords)? Weaving those into the article can give you additional benefits on Google.
2. What’s your delivery mechanism?
• Stories are a brilliant way to communicate: They make people want to read to the end and make your message memorable.
• Going directly into the subject: This will make the blog a lot more like a white paper, but this can suit some viewers and subjects.
• Top tips: Another way to easily create content and also a compelling headline. A bit like this article, 5 ideas to make more blogs more easily
3. Pick the story. If you’re going to use a story choose it well. One story could suit many messages, which will suit the objective best? The story is in effect an analogy or metaphor; it might be something personal, someone else’s story, a popular story or a story you’ve read.
• Personal stories work well: Readers can learn about you as well as the subject. For example in this article  about getting your team-to do something I use a personal analogy from a recent holiday.
• Using news headlines: They can work well as you reader and author have a common reference (e.g. this one was from a story where overtime allows PCs to double salaries and the blog was about paying your employees overtime.
4. Be descriptive. Using descriptive language and telling the story so your reader to feels as if they were there will make it more powerful. But remember rule one, the key is the message and not the story!
5. How Long? There are a range of answers to this; most experts say between 300 and 600 words. Aim for something that can be easily read in a few minutes downtime (coffee break). So stick to essential facts and elaborate only enough to deliver them.
6. Read it out loud. Once you’ve written it, read out loud. Can you say it clearly, or do you stumble? If it doesn’t flow when you read it out loud, it will be harder to others to follow it.

You push open the door, in front of you is a heaving mass of people. The room is filled with the noise of conversations, you wonder how to think let alone generate leads.

What’s worse these conversations are going on and you are not part of them. Your pulse quickens and your temperature rises.

For some business owners people, a big room full of people can be a very intimidating sight; knowing that you have to network with them even worse!

Even some highly experienced networkers, like me, at moments like this can feel a small voice saying to them “you’ll never be able to break into a conversation”, before you know it, you’ve almost managed to talk yourself into a networking nightmare.

How can you conquer this fear?

1. Prior to the event arrange to meet some people there. This is an easy way of making sure you get to the event and quickly propels you into that first conversation.
2. Arrive promptly, or preferably slightly early, then you’re not presented with a room full of people as you walk
3. Set yourself a goal of having 3 quality conversations whilst you’re there. Now you won’t be under pressure to think you have to rapidly circulate and talk to everyone.
4. Quietly say a few personal affirmations (e.g. ‘I’m a great networker’ or ‘I’m going to have some great conversations at this event’ or ‘people will want to talk to me’) before you enter the room, as this will help your confidence.
5. How would you advise someone who finds large rooms of people intimidating?

Congratulations, you’ve started writing blogs regularly.

You have an audience that are starting to read them, but the blogs are not bringing in new leads…yet.

This article has a 5 point checklist to help you ensure you are getting the sales you need from your blogs.

1. Is you blog being read by the people who matter? Place it where your target audience will see it. Another article (7-ways-to-get-your-blog-noticed-by-people-who-matter) does this in more detail, but in summary:
• If you use Twitter does it go out to your audience?
• Do you post it in relevant LinkedIn groups?
• Does it have a ‘must-read’ title?
• Put links to your blog on forums and other people’s blogs: As well as commenting on someone else’s blog or discussion post, do share a link to a relevant blog post on your blog. This is a great way to get interested and qualified readers to your blog.
2. Do your blogs clearly support your main offering? Blogs about your personal life won’t support your main offering (unless you’re using the blog as an analogy AND making the link clear so it covers your business too). Have you asked readers if they get the message?
3. Does it have relevant key words in it? This isn’t just about Google, they are key words for a reason – people use them and will read them easily
4. Does it have a “what to do next”? This doesn’t mean every other sentence is about “buy me now”, but what do you want them to do after reading?
5. Is that next step reasonably risk free? Asking for somebody to jump from reading a free blog, to buying a £3,000 service may be too large a jump. Is it clear how readers can get more information (in exchange for contact details, so you know what they’re interested in)?