This post is part of a series and will cover the first three reasons to blog. Stay tuned next month for more!

Aren’t blogs so . . . 2010?

Not really.

The buzz on the street is that, while the type of blog that started this particular medium is fading from popularity, most people who get online to search for anything spend time on a different type of blog: the informative, helpful type. In other words, the current popular style of blog is basically an online article.

(Side bar: “Blog” is short for “weblog,” a log kept on the web. That implies a diary or journalistic type of online content. Do quick tips or how-to content count? Not sure they do, but hey! Who am I to question the online community’s word choice?)

With that in mind, there are GREAT reasons to blog for your business/practice. Here are a few.

(And if video or audio is more your speed, don’t worry! These apply to those media, too.)

A Sure-Fire Way to Up Your Website Traffic and Keep It Fresh

This is, perhaps, the most obvious reason and the one you may hear the most.

Search algorithms do take into account how active your site is. If you never touch it, unless someone is searching specifically for your business name rather than a more general term such as “trauma counselors in my area” or “wellness coach near me,” your site may not rise to the top.

Too, if you regularly post links to your blog on social media, you’ll get more clicks. You may not turn into influencer of the year, but you will get more traffic. That means a fresher website and potentially, more clients. Remember, people who read your content may not hire you, but they may refer their friends to you . . .

Develop Ways to Communicate to Clients that are Faster and Easier to Understand

Do you remember learning something in school or maybe even at a seminar that was so cool, so exciting, that you couldn’t wait to share it with family, friends, or colleagues? Then you did, but for some reason, your explanation didn’t elicit quite the same reaction you had?

Often the problem isn’t what we know, it’s how we communicate it.

Here’s an example from my personal life:

I have ADHD. I believe ADHD is a misnomer—I don’t have an attention deficit, I have an attention difference. I prefer the newer term that’s starting to take hold, “interest-based nervous system.” The problem is, when I’ve tried to straight-up explain what that means, I get responses like: “Well, everyone has trouble getting started on tasks they don’t enjoy,” or “Oh, you can only do things you’re interested in?” with the frustrating implication that I’m making a big deal out of nothing or that I’m possibly just lazy.

I finally came up with an analogy that people seem to understand better: For a neurotypical person, starting an unpleasant task is akin to the inconvenience of jumping in the car on a rainy day only to realize that you left your umbrella inside your single-story house. For someone with ADHD, it’s akin to having left your umbrella on the tenth floor of a building with a broken elevator. The perceived importance, the motivation just aren’t there. It’s almost impossible to focus on it!

The latter analogy seems to help people understand more. Still, it took me a while to figure out how to express the idea well.

In the same way, when you repeat concepts and ideas over and over, you get better at it. And when you express it in writing—well, you already know that writing is a powerful and effective way to clarify your thoughts. So putting it out there in public with the possibility of feedback will hone your communication skills and allow you to reach your clients more effectively.

Plus, doing the research necessary to maintain a successful blog will keep you in touch with others’ ways of expressing the same ideas. Which leads me to my next point . . .

Regular Research for Your Blog Keeps Your Practices and Processes Fresh and Up-to-date

When you were getting into your field, you learned a lot. You’ve probably retained quite a bit of that, but you’ve more than likely also forgotten quite a bit.

Doing research on a regular basis to produce and flesh out your blog content, even if it’s just going through your old reading materials or papers you wrote back when will remind you of all you’ve learned.

Not only that, checking in on an ongoing basis with what’s happening in your profession keeps you in touch with revisions to concepts, break-through innovations, new ideas . . .

If nothing else, it helps ensure you’re not out of step with the rest of your field.

For example, for this post, I looked up and read three articles on current blog trends. While I didn’t glean anything earth-shattering, reading what others are saying helped me clarify my message and be more specific on a couple of points. Yet I didn’t just improve my material for this post: I gained a couple of new examples and fresh evidence for some of my talking points to clients.

Conclusion

Producing content (whether in writing, as audio, or on video) on a regular basis does more than keep your virtual storefront from gathering cobwebs. Like Windexing your showcase, the exercise is good for you, too. It will help keep you in touch with the wider world of your profession and allow you to better serve your clients. Next time, we’ll talk about how it can help you with YOUR goals. Stay tuned!

Want to learn more about blogging? Check out this post: Blogging: A Way to Build Trust (and Some Tips to Help You Do It)

Need help getting started? I can help. Contact me today for more information or a free discovery call!