Take advantage of the great content you already have.

I’ve been talking a good deal about blogging lately because I’ve seen how powerful blogging can be for your business. Regular and consistent writing helps you to become more of an expert in your industry and the more educational and valuable content you add to your website, the more traffic you’ll direct to that web site.

Once small business owners get in the groove and make a commitment to blogging on a regular basis, the one challenge they still face is what to write about. And I can attest to this as I’ve been there too. And then I came across a jackpot of dynamite blogging content—in my Outbox.

Your Outbox is an excellent source of premium content. It’s full of questions that your clients and prospects are asking and because they’re questions your audience is asking, you already know it’s valuable and wanted information.

And it’s inherently key word rich which is a complete bonus. You may also find that your work doesn’t even need a whole lot of editing because you’ve taken care to be thorough when you initially wrote up the detail. Your outbox is chocked full of answers, tools, and recommendations that are consistent with the kinds of conversations and recommendations that you would typically make.

Take advantage of the great content you already have and make the most of it by making a commitment to share as much of it as you can on your blog on a regular basis.

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According to Hubspot, an online marketing group, websites with a blog get 55%+ more traffic.

I frequently hear from clients that they would like to blog, but they really aren’t much of a writer.  There are a number of different things that you can add to your blog that allow you to continue adding new and interesting content, where you don’t have to be an excellent writer.  Below I’ve listed 7 ideas that you can use to allow you to add content to your web site without being a writer.

1. Video. Blog posts don’t necessarily have to be written so consider using video to convey your words of wisdom. And with respect to many of the ideas below, you could incorporate video into those suggestions as well.

2. Audio. If you’re not comfortable writing or using video, you can always record yourself actually speaking through a topic and use podcasting as your tool of choice. All you need is a simple microphone to plug into your computer and a simple tool like Audio Acrobat.

3. Industry Events. Simply posting the details about upcoming industry events or your own simple list of notes from a recently attended event is useful for your audience. Any events that you might be having or speaking at or taking part in are useful to post for your customer and prospect audience. Be sure to include photos too.

4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). FAQs make for great information to post on your blog. If you’ve just created a new web site and been pro-active by adding a blog, but you’re not ready to write yet, use it as your FAQ page for now. And each week, make a point to add in a new question and answer. That way you’ll be adding new content to your site and that content will be inherently rich with key word search terms.

5. Customer Testimonials. Complimentary words from your clients make for great content as well because they too, are inherently rich with key words.

6. Pictures. If you have photos or images that somehow relate to your industry these are fine to add to your blog with a few simple words explaining their relevance.

7. Interviews. Simply transcribing an interview that you might have with a strategic alliance or a client can provide excellent content.

It’s also important to remember that the best written blog posts are written as though you were having a conversation.  The style is much less formal and that also makes it easier to write.

I’d love to hear about any other ideas you have that allow you to blog without the talent of someone like Tom Clancy.

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A relatively short and practical paperback from someone with real experience playing with social networks.

We couldn’t have asked for this book to come from a better source than Chris Brogan — someone with real experience playing with social networks and understanding how to use a network like this for business.  And that’s really the value of this book and that’s exactly what I wanted to know.

As a business owner, I certainly don’t need another thing to do and neither do you, but Brogan’s comments about Google itself and its potential for relationships to the other Google tools certainly make some sense.  And I’m much more interested in relationship-minded business as opposed to transactional business.  Driving home the point about sharing a taste of your personal life hits home for me because I could probably do a little more in that regard.

I wanted to understand why anyone would say Google+ for business might be better than several other well known social tools.  Brogan’s point is driven home when he talks about combining this tool with Google’s position as a search engine.  With that in mind, having a Google+ page for your business makes even more sense, especially knowing that you can simply go to Google search and key in “+” next to a business name and you’ll find the branded business page on Google+.

Something else I really like about this book is that Brogan consulted several users who shared their Google+ routine and he also provided some fictitious day-in-the-life of suggestions as to how a number of other businesses and professionals could use the tool.  For me, it’s important to understand the practical nature of any tool and these examples demonstrate a number of simple ways to use the tool to develop and nurture online relationships.

One of the key mentions Brogan makes toward the end of the book suggests that, again, with a social tool like this, those that are early to the party are sure to get the biggest benefit.  And I, too, think that’s very true.

If you’re still trying to figure out what all the fuss is about, take a quick read through this relatively short and practical paperback.

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