Visibility. A must have for just about any business or entrepreneur. The more visible you are to your market, the easier it is to know you exist. Kind of a no-brainer, but one that many people lose site of.
Clients hire me to get on the fast track of gaining visibility within their market. They want to be seen by the right people at the right time.
One of the best ways to do this is with blogging. But before jumping right into blogging, it helps to have a plan. With a plan you will be much more efficient and likely stay the course. Without a plan you likely will give up regardless of how great your intentions.

Benefits of Blogging

It’s no secret that blogging is a great way to build a following of loyal reader, position your expertise and share your perspective and point of view.
Blogging is by far, one of the best platforms for you to have a voice with minimal barriers to entry. Additionally, when you blog, it’s likely you will open up lots of other opportunity for visibility such as a podcast host inviting you on their show.
In order to get the most out of your blogging efforts you need to be strategic in your approach.

1. Speak your truth. If your desire is to stand out from the competition you have to be willing to speak your mind.
2. Avoid trying to please everyone. The fact is, no matter what you write there will be those who love you and those who could care less about who you are and what you have to say. Actually, the more you write from your perspective, the more likely you will have some people who will vehemently resist what you say. So be it. It’s par for the course.
3. Be consistent. On again, off again efforts will get you very little results. To get the most out of your efforts blog once a week at a minimum. The more you blog, the quicker your voice is heard and the faster you build a loyal readership.
4. Look for guest blogging opportunities. The easiest way to write as a guest blogger is to have a lot of content on your own blog. A blogger with a track record has far more opportunity than someone who has little, if anything written.
5. Stick with it. The longer you blog, the more opportunity you create.

Promote your posts

1. Rather than simply writing content for your blog, you will get much more traction by posting a bit of the content elsewhere in order to lead readers back to your blog postings. Send the first few paragraphs to your subscriber list with a “read full article” with the permalink leading back to the blog post.
2. Post the permalink on social media. It’s likely you have several social media accounts. These are ideal places for you to position your blog posts.
3. Post the blog post to Slide Share. It’s amazing how quickly you can get hundreds of views for your posts on Slide Share. Invite readers to go to your blog to read more posts you’ve written.
4. Post the full article on 3 – 6 top article directories. In the resource box you can direct readers back to your blog with something like, “For more articles by _____________ go to _____________.”
5. Tweet portions of your post with the permalink included in the tweet.

NOTE: A permalink is a URL that links to a specific news story or Web posting. Permalinks are most commonly used for blogs. Permalinks give a specific Web address to each posting so that blog postings can be bookmarked.
The main point is to take action. All the intentions in the world won’t do you much good if you don’t take action.

Take Action

Regardless of your expertise, message and market, blogging is a great way to gain visibility. One of the greatest challenges is knowing what to write and/or having the time to writer. In answer to the challenges many experts face, Coach Glue is offering 60 More Done-for-You Blog Posts. Click here to learn more.