Breaking Blogger’s Block

By: Steve Robins

Your solution marketing strategy should include “information,” the process of informing, educating and engaging with your customers, prospects, and key influencers.    In many cases, social media, such as blogs, will form a key component of the “Information” element.  But how do you get started?  What should you write on?  And how can you break “Blogger’s Block?”  

Today I read an interesting post from Lois Kelly at Beeline Labs on how to train corporate bloggers.  To get your corporate bloggers blogging, you need to remove restrictions.  Just get them started and then work in the corporate mandates later, such as adding corporate branding keywords.  Perhaps most important: just create great content regardless of keywords.

I couldn’t agree more.  Time and again, I’ve seen individuals and companies stumble while they tried to figure out blogging all at once. The best way to start is to jump in.  As Nike says, “Just do it.”

If that still doesn’t help, I’ve come up with a few additional suggestions to break “Bloggers’ Block:”

1. Problems. Most companies sell products. But chances are, your audience doesn’t want to hear about your products. Rather, they want to learn how they can solve their problems. So instead of looking at the world through the product lens, try looking at the world through a solution lens. Think about your readers’, customers’ and prospects’ problems, and how they can solve them. The more you know about your readers’, customers’ and prospects’ problems, the easier it will be to create great posts that add value. Your most compelling keywords will be those that are built around those business problems.
2. Build topics around keywords. Try writing posts focused on certain keywords. I.e., use keywords as the topic of your post and then build a story around that.
   Example
   Let’s say that your company provides invoice processing services and your keywords are “speed” and “invoice processing.”   You could write a broad post on how to speed up invoice processing – but without pushing your company’s products. When you organize around a keyword topic, it’s easy to include keywords in the post.
   
3. Add keywords later. If you’re just getting started, just write the blog first – without keywords. Once you’ve written a solid post, then go back and add keywords. It’s hard at first, but eventually, you’ll think of ways to include keywords without weakening the content.
   Example
   Begin a post by framing the issue in terms of your keywords. So, if you write a post on “how to streamline business process,” you can work in the “speed” and “invoice processing” keywords by stating “One way to speed invoice processing is to streamline business process…”
   
4. When all else fails, Google it… Check out these other great suggestions on how to fight “blogger’s block.”

Additional Resources.

• Check out additional posts on social media including How to Develop Your Social Media Strategy.