By Stacy Zemon, Publisher & Chief Scribe
A few days ago I was talking with a fellow DJ about blogging, and how to create and use one that will continue to engage prospects and clients.
I’m a great believer that blogging can be a powerful marketing tool; however, many DJs find coming up with topics to write about to be a bit of a struggle.
Here are some tools and methods for finding and creating great content for your blog:
Google Alerts. If you go to: Google.com/alerts, you can type in any subject or topic or area that you’re interested in and Google will send you alerts that are news, industry or blog based when new content is published or they find material that fits what you are interested in. This is a great way to find, comment on and share information that readers of your blog or your niche will find useful and interesting. It’s free too.
Bookmarking. Sites like Delicious.com or Digg.com can be really helpful in finding interesting stories that are relevant to our industry.
Clipping. When I see things in a newspaper or magazine that are of interest, I’ll generally tear out the article that caught my eye and put it in my notebook so that I can write about it later. I do the same online but use an application called Evernote.com to ‘clip’ pages and articles that I find online so that I can return to them later when I am on or offline.
Guest Posting. It’s a myth that you need to create all of your content yourself. Asking a vendor with whom you have a good rapport, or one of your past clients to write a post as a guest blogger can be a great way to add different perspectives, voices, and personalities to your blog.
Interviews. Interviews are great ways to share different stories and perspectives from your employees, clients or preferred vendors.
Great Content Takes Effort to Create
You don’t necessarily have to pay anything for great content, but you do have to invest via time and effort through excellent research, good editing and graphics that support your writing. Your readers respect the time and effort a quality blog post took to create. By writing great content you demonstrate that you respect your readers.
Great Content Is Credible
Years of experience in your industry, in your location, and in what you love to do will shine through in your blog posts. Never underestimate the value of your own experience, even if you think the topic or subject matter may not be interesting. If you infuse your writing with examples based upon your experience and knowledge, your content will be viewed as credible.
People Want to Share Great Content
We all know this to be true because we ourselves feel moved to share what we find, when it is useful, moving, funny or informative. One way to tell if your own content passes the “Share-O-Meter” test is notice whether you’re excited to click the “publish” button, or just glad you got through that post.
Great Content Can Be Acted Upon
Each and every post should contain a useful take-way, something that readers can do to enhance their lives. When you give readers useful information that they can put into action, they will remember your content.
Here are a few examples of excellent blogs from Elegant Entertainment, SCE Event Group, and MMP Entertainment.
For more information about how to write great blog content, visit ProBlogger.net
Do you have any additional suggestions? Let me know!
