Mistakes? What Mistakes?

Today's blog post is about common mistakes made by bloggers. Some of them should be fairly obvious but here they are anyway.

1. Bad writing- it doesn't matter if it is spelling, grammar, punctuation. Any of these mistakes could lead a reader to stop visiting your blog. If a reader is coming to your blog for the first time and is interested in your product or service, do you really think that they want to read a post or posts full of bad writing? Chances are if mistakes are repeated, you will lose that potential customer and reader, which let's be real here, would not be good.

Have someone edit your writing before you post or if there isn't anyone you can ask, then write your post, let it sit for a bit and then return to it and edit it yourself. Remember in school how the teachers always pushed the editing? Same deal here, because you want to come off professional and you want to have repeat clients and readers right?

2. Being too promotional- There's nothing wrong with promoting your business, but in some cases you want to be careful about how you approach it. If you write a blog post after blog post that is all about you and your business and how wonderful you are then there is a very good chance that readers will stop returning. You have to give your readers new information to read to keep them coming back.

3. Presenting instead of conversing- A good blog post is one that your readers will want to comment and share. Think of your blog posts as an opinion piece as opposed to an essay.  Keep it informative yet not too lengthy as your readers will lose interest.

4. Lack of direction or strategy- You need to be clear before you start writing what your direction or strategy is going to be and what your readers can expect  from you and your blog. You should try and have some variety in your topics and posts but don't stray too far too often from your strategy ideas.

5. Not utilizing your experience- You need to think about what makes you and your business different from all the others and why should your readers continue to come back to your blog? It is important not only to write or say what you want your readers to read, but also, to develop your own unique voice and brand.

Need help starting or writing for your blog? Contact Event Elements & Business Solutions and we can help!

What is A Blog?

What is a blog? That is unfortunately a question I hear a lot when networking. Basically a blog is type of website that is generally arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.

A personal blog is sometimes referred to as a type of journal and while a business blog is the same idea, it's obviously going to be more geared towards your business-what's going on, what's coming up, industry news, etc.

Got it? Hopefully!

Anyway in terms of blogging for small businesses, blogging is a great low-cost tool that can be used for improving your web traffic and overall web presence. It can be whatever topics you choose, it is updated on your terms, and best of all you can write a bunch of posts ahead of time and schedule them for whenever you want.

Blogging gives you a relatively easy way to share your expertise and knowledge in your industry, what your business is/does and it can be an inside look into you and your business, because you can take on a more informal tone than you would with your website.

Blogging can be a fun way to interact and engage with clients and potential clients, if you take the time to stick with it and find a way to make it fun for you.

Some places that you can host your blog include:

Blogger
Wordpress
Blog.com
Tumblr
Weebly

These are just a few ideas to get you started, but there are hundreds of places online where you can host a blog.

Need help getting started or just don't have the time or skill to keep your blog running? Contact Event Elements & Business Solutions and we can help

Facebook Pages & Small Businesses

Using Facebook Pages as a small business owner is really important. It's a relatively easy form of social media that is a great way to find an audience, engage and interact with them and keep them up-to-date on what you and your business are doing.

Using Facebook Pages for your business is different than just using your personal page. For your business page, having a clear, social strategy is important in order to engage your targeted audience and keep them coming back. Updating frequently is also important because it will again keep your audience engaged and coming back to see what is new with your business.

Some things to remember:

Send people to your page--network and tell them about it so they want to check it out and like it. People won't know about it if you don't tell them

Engage your audience--post questions or polls, post pictures or articles that relate to your business or industry

Make use of the scheduling tool--you can schedule content and status updates so if you will be unable to sit down and spend some time working on your page, it won't just sit there

Don't forget you can customize your Facebook Page URL. This can come in handy for talking to prospective clients about your business and page. For example, the Facebook URL for Event Elements & Business Solutions is www.facebook.com/EventElementsBusinessSolutions.

Learning to use Facebook Pages can be a learning experience, but it is well worth it. If used properly it can be a great way to stay in contact with your audience and prospective clients.

If you need help with your Facebook page or any other social media or small business tasks, contact us today! We can work with you to improve your social media image.