Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [208]
Before you blog, I recommend taking stock of your available resources of both time and content. Is it realistic that you have the time or resources available to research and write a few times a week? If you are starting a blog, don’t post articles less than once a week. If the resources and time are available, develop a content plan for the next three months. The plan should involve article ideas, contributions to the market, ideas for attracting attention from other bloggers, and prospects in your industry.
In addition, answer the question, Who are you writing for? I find that the most successful bloggers have a specific person or type of person in mind. Whether it is a client who has many questions and needs guidance, an intern who needs to be educated, a peer in the industry, or someone else, it is best to have a specific audience target in mind. This way, you are able to stay on task and ensure that your content is always directed.
For me, it is easier to write and stay on task when picturing marketing managers or a business owner. When picturing them, I answer their questions on the best ways to market their websites on a budget, regardless of whether it is a time budget or a money budget. (We are all trying to find ways to do the best things more efficiently.) In this way, I write with a business coaching style, and it keeps me from writing content that doesn’t belong or fit the style of my business.
Find Your Style
One of the more important developments for new bloggers is finding out the type of blogger you are. Not everyone can write five to six paragraphs of content three to four times a week, and not all readers want to digest that much information in a week. There is a careful balance of the time you spend writing and the time your visitors will spend reading. The first few months of developing articles will help you find your writing or publishing style.
In some cases, there will be more than one author, and there will need to be consensus among the group as to the purpose, guidelines, and consistency that will be needed to meet the goals of the business. Each author could have a remarkably different style and personality, which will enhance the depth and topics of the blog, because no two people will write the exact thing but may see it from different angles. More authors mean more content and more opinions on relevant topics to your audience, but it also means more management and planning.
Beat Reporter
The beat reporter is one who constantly watches the headlines, reads hundreds of articles and websites, and always reports the latest happenings within an industry. This type of blogger provides value through being an information source. By distilling all the available news into a clear, understandable message and updates for others in the industry, the beat reporter style can build up a following very shortly.
The other aspect of the beat reporter is that by reporting the news and constantly updating everyone else, it is the most demanding of all the styles. If you are seen as the source of news updates within a niche or industry, then the content needs to come quickly and regularly. The access to the information is easier but requires significant amounts of time to peruse the latest news and decide which to report and then publish. This style requires that the blog be kept up-to-date constantly, and most blogs of this style have posts published two to four times a day. That is why this style gains visitors faster, because the content is coming faster, through numerous updates.