You must write a blog post, they say. Ok—that’s great. But how do you write an article when you have 200 unread emails glaring at you from your inbox, seven proposals to send before the end of the week, two client meetings this afternoon and 17 people who depend on you to sell enough widgets to keep the lights on and their paychecks coming?
You think, "Really? They expect me to do all that and still write a blog that will help our company climb the search rankings and attract new customers?"
You bet they do. And if you think it’s impossible, you’re looking at blogging the wrong way.
Why Your Business Needs a Blog:
Quite simply, here’s why people read the blog of a business:
- They are trying to figure out if they have a problem that needs to be solved.
- They know there’s a problem and they want to learn more before looking at vendors.
- They’re considering your products or services and want to find out if you’re the real deal.
That means to have a successful blog, you need smart content that shows that you know a lot about your business and can help them solve their problem.
Note: I didn’t say you need to write a 2,400 word article that’s compelling to read, SEO optimized, and grammatically-correct to the latest AP Style Guide. Yes, those are inbound marketing best practices. But if you get caught up in the need to create perfect blog posts—you’ll never do it.
It’s more important to actually create content than to delay because you want it to be perfect.Google ranks your websites based on how many webpages and blog posts you've published, not how much expert knowledge you have in your head. You have to get it out.
So how do you do that when you're up to your ears in important client work?
Here's How to Blog When You Have No Time:
Step 1: Find an Editor
You’re an expert in your industry. You’re not expected to be an expert writer or an expert at SEO. Make your life 800% easier by partnering, hiring or contracting with someone who knows content marketing.
When you have a good editor, you don’t have to worry about being perfect. You can just create—while feeling confident that someone else will make sure your content sounds smart. They can also dive into the nitty-gritty of search engine optimization and follow up with you if there are any parts of the post that are unclear or need more detail.
Step 2: Make It Easy to Get Your Knowledge Out of Your Head
It’s time to stop thinking of content creation as sitting down to crank out a 1000 word blog post. What you need to do is think of blogging as “getting what you know out of your head.”
If you’re passionate about your business, you have in-depth knowledge about your subject area that no one else has. You know the questions prospective customers ask when considering your company—and you know how to answer in a way that convinces them you’re the right choice.
That’s what you need on your blog. The knowledge in your head. Here are four ways to get it out of your brain and into your blog:
- Set-up a BCC email address
It’s highly likely that every day you sit down to an inbox full of questions from clients or prospects. You write long, well-thought out responses to those questions and hit send without a second thought.
Trust me, marketers would kill for access to that knowledge. All you need is some editing and SEO optimization—and you have a blog post.
Take advantage of the work you’re already doing by setting up an email address you can BCC when you answer real questions your buyers want to know before making a decision. Then when it’s time to create a blog post, you can pop in, grab an interesting email and quickly spin it into an article.
To do this, take advantage of Evernote Plus’ email account feature to send your emails to an online filing system that you can tag and sort.
Or, if you prefer to have an email address that’s a little more covert in case it’s accidentally CCed instead of BCCed, ask your IT person to create an email address at your company (e.g. bob@mycompany.com or assistant@mycompany.com) just for content.
- Have a Colleague or Friend Interview You
Think about all the times you’re on a call with a client or a prospect and they ask a great question. Chances are you’re able to just rattle off an answer off the top of your head that’s based on your knowledge and years of experience.
Once again, that knowledge and experience make great content for blog posts. And it’s actually simpler than you think to turn it into a blog post.
Start by compiling the questions that clients ask you most. Then set aside 20 minutes to chat with a colleague or friend. When you sit down together, have the colleague ask you one of the questions. Ask them to probe about questions they have and to ask you for examples.
Record your conversation and then send the audio file to a transcription service (such as Rev) that costs only a couple dollars a minute to transcribe. When you get the transcription back, have your editor clean it up, optimize it for SEO and turn it into a blog post.
- Add Evernote Plus/Premium to Your Phone
Many great blog post ideas start as observations or fleeting thoughts. For example, coffee with a client could get you thinking about how to solve a problem your customers face all the time. Or you could hear a story that relates to the work your company does, or one that could serve as a metaphor for a common industry challenge. The problem is that by the time you’ve carved out the time to write, that observation is gone.
Make it easy to capture your thoughts by downloading the Evernote app on your phone and signing up for a Plus or Premium account. Then whenever you have an idea for the blog, all you have to do is open the app, start a new note and press the “voice record” option.
When you’ve finished recording, hit Save and Evernote will automatically upload the recording to your online account the next time you’re on WiFi. Then you can send the recording to a transcription service and get a marketer or editor to turn it into a blog post.
Now Get Started
When many people think of blogging, they brush off the suggestion that they should write because it sounds too difficult and time consuming. Yet it doesn’t have to be. The key is to figure out how best to get your knowledge out of your head—and then find a partner who can help you turn it into a blog post.