The Importance Of Having A Blog For Your Business

When you run an online business – or even an offline business – being able to get your name out there and market yourself effectively is a huge part of everything you do.

If you’re not able to market yourself, then you’re going to find it really difficult to remain in business for any length of time and will soon find yourself burned out, not enjoying what you’re doing and not having any clients or money come in.

Many business owners make the mistake of believing that simply putting up a website and some social media pages is going to be enough to bring clients in, but that’s just the beginning – you have to be actively bringing people to those places so that you can show your expertise.

So, if you’ve never considered having a blog for your business before or you simply don’t know where to get started, then in this post we’re going to consider the importance of having one.

It builds authority:

When you have a blog for your business where you’re regularly posting content, then you’re going to be able to build authority around whichever topic you’re writing about, and being seen as an authority in business is ultimately what will help build trust with your audience and lead them to eventually buy from you, so having a blog for this reason is very important especially if you’re looking to make money from it in any way.

If you’re not sure if your business will be able to create a blog with enough content or what you should be writing about, then take a look online at other blogs such as those like https://www.templafy.com/contract-management/ for inspiration.

It drives traffic:

Although generating organic traffic from your blogging efforts will take a bit of time, the great thing about being consistent with the content you post is that you will start being able to rank higher in Google over time so as long as you’re creating original and useful content that’s targeting the right keywords that your audience are searching for, then you’re going to find that you’ll be driving traffic over time as people search for the terms used on your site.

You own the content:

As much as social media is a truly wonderful tool for growing your business and marketing yourself, the fact is that none of us own social media and the content on there technically belongs to the platform we’re posting it on.

This means that, for example if Facebook or Instagram were to go out of business tomorrow, not only would your audience go with them, but your content would as well, so it’s important that you have other places where you’re connecting with your audience, such as through your blog and email list.

You can repurpose the content:

Just because you’ve posted something once doesn’t mean that everyone has seen it, so as you grow your business and more people are coming into your audience it’s tempting to think that you need to be creating only new content, but if you think it’s useful then you can repurpose existing content to other formats such as podcasts, vlogs, and even e-books or courses that you can then sell for passive income.

Hopefully those points have convinced you that blogging is essential for your business – have a look at some of my other blogging-related articles for more helpful information.

The importance of having a blog for your business

Photos by rawpixel.com from Pexels, altered by Lee Devonish

5 Potential Career Paths For Artists

If you’re talented at art or design and you want to know what career paths are available as an artist, well you’ve certainly got a wide range of options available to you.

Here are some potential careers you can pursue using your art degree or talent as an artist.

Illustrator

Even though the rise of Kindle and the e-books have come about, physical books are still going strong. Books, for children, in particular, will always need illustrations and whether your style is like Quentin Black, Nick Sharratt or unlike anything on the current market, then doing illustration may certainly be a viable career path for you.

Think about what area of books and literature your illustrations would fit into and then approach companies that use them.

Tattoo Artist

This one’s not for me as I’m not a fan of tattoos or any permanent body modification, but I do admire the skill that goes into medical tattooing and how a talented artist can change a patient’s life for the better.

A steady hand is certainly required in some professions, and a tattoo artist needs just that. You can also have a bit more of a creative collaboration with each client as they’ll likely need something different and personable to them. It’s great to have this relationship as it’ll help improve and develop your own style and techniques. So if you’re familiar with stencil paper and feel confident drawing permanent ink on others, then this one’s for you.

Fashion Designer

As a fashion designer, a love for fashion is obviously key as well as a keen eye for what colors, textures and patterns work. You’ll also know a lot about what trends work and when they’re popular.

The fashion industry can be a very competitive industry, and it’s all about networking and getting your designs seen and worn by influential people. But if you’ve got something unique that can attract a new market or challenge a current one, then it’s certainly worth trying, even if it fails.

Art Teacher

Art is taught from an early age in education, and without it, the world would be a lot more dull and boring. So it’s important that there continue to be those who teach art, and teach it well. It can be a very fulfilling but challenging role, and it might not be for everyone.

However, it’s useful to know which area of education you’d suit best and what type of art you’d like to teach. You can get a lot of satisfaction from seeing a student flourish, so it’s a great career path to consider.

Motion Graphics Designer

If you prefer the digital aspect of designing then exploring motion graphics might be right up your street.

With special effects, animation and the television and film industries very prominent in today’s society and culture, there will always be roles available within motion graphic designing. It can be a long process, but you’ll be contributing to potentially iconic television shows and movies that will be a legacy for you beyond your lifetime.

It’s good to contact production companies to get an idea of what’s available, and you also need to think about what genres of the industry you’d like to design for.

There’s a lot of career paths available so even if none of these are for you, there’s still plenty more to pick from – so get researching!

The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook can give you the contacts you need to break into different art, illustration and design careers.

Creating A Blog With A Global Presence

SEO has developed monumentally over the past few years. It is no longer considered to be merely a beneficial practice but more of a necessity for businesses who want to excel in the modern day, and there are lots of different SEO strategies available.

A good SEO plan is one that incorporates an array of different methods. The method you choose depends on the goals you aim to achieve. If you want to attain an international web presence and grow your blog business on a worldwide scale then you need to use global SEO strategies.

Read on to discover SEO methods catered towards creating an international web presence.

Extensive research

Before you begin to implement your SEO methods you need to partake in a huge amount of research. You cannot achieve your worldwide goals without doing the groundwork. After all, every country is different.

The products that appeal the most in the UK won’t necessarily be the most popular products in Australia, for example. You need to unearth the different consumer trends for each country. You need to predict what countries are most likely to provide you with the highest level of traffic and sales. And don’t forget to do research regarding the search engines in different countries. When you think about a search engine your mind instantly casts to Google, however, in other, countries they may be more popular search engines. You need to consider this and divulge as much information as possible about the relevant search engines.

Language

You are probably thinking: “Language? That’s what online translation services are for!” That may be true if you want to find out what a certain phrase means, but when it comes to SEO you need to divert a lot of your attention to language. If you want to embark your brand on an international stage then you will obviously need to advertise yourself and use SEO through using different languages. You need to speak the language of the locals on your blog.

For example, ‘chips’ and ‘fries’ – they both mean the same thing to someone living in the UK. However, in one country they may only use the term ‘fries’ and therefore if you translate ‘chips’ you are not going to get the true local word. This is relevant to a monumental number of words, such as; ‘vacation’ or ‘holiday’, ‘living room’ or ‘lounge’, and ‘couch’ or ‘sofa’. It is imperative you use the words of the locals because these are the words they are going to be using when they search on a search engine. And, if your words are incorrect then no one will see your webpage.

Let people have a choice

And finally, when people enter your website they should be presented with a drop-down menu whereby they can select the language they wish to view the website in. You should never merely assume.

There are lots of blogs where they use technology in order to decipher where the person viewing the website is situated. They then use that knowledge and present the website in the relevant language. For instance, they detect someone is in France and, therefore, the language is automatically French. But there are lots of people who live in different countries and do not use the language of the locals. What happens if the person viewing is an Italian person simply living in France for a year?

You can also use these tools to adjust your adverts accordingly. InboxDollars is a great example of this – advertising this to people in the US is great, but InboxPounds is better for those in the UK.

If you research extensively, use the proper language, and think about the customers’ wants then you can use SEO effectively to reach a global presence.

Why Investing in Yourself Will Help Your Blog

Why investing in yourself will help your blog

If your blog is slowing down in terms of popularity or you’re just not sure where to head with it next, you’re not the only one. Many bloggers experience this and it can certainly be stressful and difficult for them to deal with. However, there are always ways for you to improve and take things to the next level with your blog. One way to do it is to invest in yourself.

There are so many ways in which you can invest in yourself and give yourself the platform you need to improve your blog. Read on now and see how investing in yourself will end up helping your blog.

The more you know, the better your content will be

If you learn more and invest in your own learning, you will be able to create the kind of content that you feel your audience really deserves.

There are many ways to improve your content, but none of them are better nor more fundamental than improving your knowledge and filling in its gaps. So never stop trying to learn new things because this can be exactly what your blog requires.

Your blog is a reflection of you

At the end of the day, your blog is going to be a reflection of you in one way or another. It’s up to you to make sure that your blog not only reflects you in a positive light but also portrays you in an interesting way.

By investing in yourself and your own personal brand, this will help your blog to progress and grow too, which has got to be a good thing.

Simply investing time in rest and sleep will help

When you don’t let yourself have the time to rest, rewind and sleep at night, you will be stressed throughout the day.

It’s hard to maintain a high-quality blog if you’re always feeling stressed out of your mind and unable to cope with everything as a result of your lack of rest. So invest time into getting the rest you need, and don’t feel like it’s a waste of time for you because it really isn’t at all.

The technology at your disposal will impact the quality of your blog

It might be a simple case of upgrading your technology.

This is what you’re going to be using every day to create your blog content, so it is a way of investing in yourself. When you have better tools at your disposal, it becomes so much easier for you to do your best work day after day. Of course, this change won’t solve all the blog problems that you’re experiencing but it’ll help a lot.

You can train and learn skills that’ll help your blog

Blogging is a constantly evolving industry, and you can stay on top of things much better if you learn more. This means investing in courses and training that will expand your knowledge and push your blog in the right direction. Something like Microsoft Visio training could really help you if you seek it out and make use of it.

Different types of training will benefit different types of bloggers, so explore all the options.

Create quiet time to work on your content

By investing in your ability to work quietly and productively, you will make it possible for you to get work done in a more timely and productive kind of way.

Don’t be afraid to create spaces that are all about your blogging work because if you want to make this your career going forward, you’re going to need to make sure that you have a place of your own that’s conducive to creating your best possible work.

Learn about the risks and threats to your blog too

Another area of knowledge that might be worth investing in for you relates to the risks and threats that might be lurking and waiting to damage your blog if you’re not careful. It’s worth investing in some training or something similar to help you gain a better understanding of what threats are out there.

Investing in yourself can mean many different things to many different bloggers, but it’s definitely something that you should try to embrace from here on out. You could really improve your output and the overall quality of your blog if you think more about how you can do more for yourself.