Blogging is one of those online networking and marketing tools that often gets misunderstood because it can be hard to come up with ideas… HAH! We all can be bloggers, you just need a little help to get inspired.
I was talking with a client yesterday and she was sharing a very inspirational moment she had when talking with one client of hers. Understanding what happened to her will help you see what I am trying to teach you today… so bear with me and read the story.
Maddie, is a CPA, and works with small business owners in a very different way than most CPAs. Not only does her accounting firm / team look after clients bookkeeping, taxes and more, she also coaches the clients through new processes that can help them implement a better system for their books, accounting and taxes. \In almost every case these better systems saves her clients time which equates to money. So, she was talking with someone who was really fretting about her receipts and how disorganized she was. How these slips of paper were stuck in her mind because they were not getting the attention they needed.
Now these slips are not an integral part of this woman’s daily business and her revenue generating work – but if never completed, sorted, filed and reported, then these annoying pieces of paper will indeed turn out to be the little pieces that can crumble everything. Generally if your books and taxes are not done, not only will you have no idea where you are financially, but the IRS (or revenue Canada) will come knocking at your door.
Maddie was frustrated because she had not been able to get this client to understand that someone else can look after those receipts. That she needn’t be thinking about them let alone setting aside time to sort them. She has better things to do in her business. Finally after saying what she had been for a while, the way the words came out made the client realize that she could indeed get someone to take this task on. It was quite the epiphany and Maddie was so excited that she had finally gotten the buy in on why this was not a necessary task for her to do directly.
The feelings Maddie had been having are why she is so passionate about her business, about teaching clients how to create better systems that allow them to change the way they handle money and finances – essentially they end up rewriting the client’s money story. Making it work better and help them achieve their goals and dreams. So, when she runs across someone who is stuck on a box of receipts and is letting that box of untouched work continually play on their mind, continually make them think they have gotten behind and continually show up as something unfinished, it build ups stress – unnecessary stress. Maddie sees all this and her passion comes out as she tries to get them to see what this box is doing to them. When she finally gets someone to see the light and she hollers:
YES! Newsflash!!! You don’t have to sort your own bookkeeping receipts!
…. This is the passion in her business and we all have it somewhere in ourselves when it comes to our own businesses. After all that is what makes us so good at what we do.
Now you ask… How does this all translate to a great Blog post?
Quite simply there are 4 parts to what happened above in the story:
- Client had a problem
- Client works with you to figure out solve the problem
- You have the solution and get client to see how you can help
- You implement the solution and client’s problem is solved
What makes up a great business blog post?
- Writing about a client’s problem
- Showing people how you have the solution
- Sharing how you can implement the solution
- Using keywords in your blog content that helps people find you online
You can see how both mix together… the story matches what makes a great blog post. It has all the parts. The trick is recognizing when these opportunities happen and understanding that you have a blog post in the making and then writing it down.
In Maddie’s case she felt the need to post something on Twitter… a way of releasing her excitement at her client’s revelation. I have been working with her to help her build her online and social media presence, part of that is learning to be real and share things online that let people see who she is and what her business is about. Her Passions in life and business will make up her online Persona. So when she had this revelation she fabulously went right to twitter and posted a Tweet:
Newsflash!!! You don’t have to sort your own bookkeeping receipts!
She was releasing her passion about what she does for a living. And in her tweet you can see that come out. This is the key factor in getting your contacts online to see the real you – the person who has the passion in life that is their business.
This is also the first step in recognizing a blog post opportunity. If you feel the need to shout out, or write a tweet or share something on Facebook, stop and look at what you are talking about. What has happened to make you want to write a tweet? In most cases it will be just this same type of situation.
Yes, Maddie … you have a blog post.
You may not always have the time to write it all out in the heat of the moment, that is why I keep a little blog notebook at my side. Stop and take 30 seconds to jot down the important parts and come back to it later and write the blog post.
These are the best types of posts as they are based on real life situations and speak directly to your target client.
So next time you feel the passion coming out in what you are doing… stop and think. Why am I getting riled up? What is happening and can this be a teaching lesson I use on my blog. Chances are you will find yourself with more blog posts to write.
You can read this past blog post on how blogs help your business…
I highly recommend taking 15 minutes each month and checking your website out – as a visitor would experience it, not you the owner. Kind of like a website audit or inspection. It is amazing what you can discover when you put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
