Friday, November 5, 2010

Seth Godin and Tom Peters Want You to Blog

Should you start a blog? Or blog more often?

Watch Seth Godin and Tom Peters, then decide for yourself ...



People over-think blogging to the point that they never start. That's sad.

If your goal is to create the world's #1 blog, like Seth Godin's, you won't. So don't try.

But if your goal is to clarify your thinking about your business, while attracting new clients and helping existing ones, a blog can do that for you.

I've been a published writer/copywriter since 1994. And here's the best advice on overcoming writer's block I ever got: The best way to write, is to start.

By that I mean, don't sit down and try to write the perfect blog post. Just sit down and start writing. Write anything.

Set a small goal that's not scary, like writing for 10 minutes. If you find that 10 minutes is enough for a killer blog post, yay. More likely, you will have to come back later for another 10 minutes. Or you will find yourself so energized that you power through for 30 minutes and write something worthy of posting.

Either way, by starting to write, you are write. By agonizing over topics in your head, you write nothing.

Here are 3 more ways to overcome writer's block, and either start blogging or do it more often ...

1) Do you send emails to clients or prospects? Collect 2-3 of them and you have a blog post.

2) Do you write comments on other blogs? Collect 2-3 of them and you have another blog post.

3) Have you ever written a white paper, how-to article, or letter to the editor? That's enough material for still another blog post.

Tip: Don't blog to earn $1 million when you're acquired by VCs or because it might get you on page one of Google's search results. Those outcomes are beyond your control.

Instead, blog because every time you think for 10-30 minutes while writing, it changes you for the better.

Blogging is a form of mental kaizen. The posts you write are often small, trivial. You won't see results today, next week, or even 3 months from now.

But you will see positive results. Always.

And blogging can lead to unexpected breakthroughs, like ...
  • ranking on page one of Google's search results;
  • landing a new client; or
  • getting a call from a reporter at U.S. News & World Report
... each of which has happened to me this year.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

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