If you look at my blog history, it’s sketchy. Until I got my site re-worked and up and running, I had trouble with blogging. I had trouble committing. I didn’t like my old site and I just didn’t want to give the world any extra reasons to visit.

With my big launch of this site at the start of the year, I had to look myself in the mirror and get real: blogging is hard. It’s tough to come up with stuff to share. I almost abandoned the whole idea. I had excuses all lined up! After all, I still guest blog on other sites. I contribute to online groups. I do all kinds of writing all day long that seems more useful. I create content for all kinds of situations, so what if I don’t have “time” to blog?

And then I was in a consulting session with a client who was really struggling with her blog and basically using a bunch of similar excuses. I gave her some advice that I knew in my heart was really as much for me as it was for her.

“You need to blog so that the people who are in your web of influence and who are trying to learn more about what you think, feel, and do can stay more deeply connected.”

So there you have it. I know that visitors to my site can spend time clicking around and eventually can form a picture about who I am and maybe how I think, but it’s still not the same. In this blog space, I can direct my knowledge into deeper layers and really help people on a subject by subject basis. Especially in the comments that sometimes follow or the emails that people send to me privately. Any of my posts might help people. They often do.

And of course, the professionals in the online marketing world will insist you have a blog to increase your SEO – search engine optimization. That’s an entirely different post!

I should care more about that, but mostly: I feel a responsibility to help small businesses grow and that is why I am looking at my calendar and sticking to my promise to blog at least twice a month. SEO would just be extra helpings on the side.

My blogs are attempts to be inspiration and educational, because I really love to help people with their marketing issues. But you may have an entirely different set of stories to tell and reasons to blog (including looking to increase your ranking in searches):

•    Show off your newest creation
•    Explain the steps to your followers or clients in the stages of a creation or project
•    Share the news when you are starting a new project – tell us why you started it
•    Share your latest accomplishments
•    Show off photos of events or experiences you have had recently
•    Explain your methods of creating
•    Give insights into your thinking behind your creative endeavors
•    Give out tips or hints for any number of things your subscribers will appreciate
•    Share the favorite ways you are using various tools, apps, or information
•    Share your “finds” online – curate your “best of” for a blog post
•    Just get real.
•    Just get cozy.

A blog post will let your followers “feel” you and “see” your humanity. You can let them into your world and hopefully become someone they want to do business with someday.

Don’t fool yourself: no one is buying anything you or I am selling without some assurances. It’s unlikely that you would buy a book just based on the cover. We need a connection; proof that reading that book – great cover or not – will be a good use of our time and money.

So blogging lets your followers know a bit of the story line. If you are not good at writing, you can be good at sharing others who are good writers in areas that you know will be of value to your followers. Or, just put up a few pictures of your product, or project, or even your beloved pet wearing a bow around their neck and talk about something fun or silly they did. Some artists simply put their most recent work up with a few sentences.

And when all else fails, do what I am doing. Talk about how you struggle with creating a blog post.  And suddenly – you have created a blog post.

Yes… it can be that simple!