Tips & Talk 67 – How a Blog Grows Your Product Based Business

Hi there.

It's Sue.

And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

If you'd like to submit a topic,

DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,

before we get into the show today,

I want to make sure that you know about the newest

thing happening over here.

It's called the gift biz bash a zoom party that turns

into a podcast episode.

Several weeks later,

the party consists of a short training with Q and a,

from yours truly.

And then an opportunity for you to give a shout out

about your business.

You can tell us about a promotion you currently have going

on or share a collaboration that you're considering so that you

can find a perfect partner for the event.

A little bit of learning and visibility for your business.

What could be better?

There is a catch though spots are limited to keep the

party to about 45 minutes or so.

That means you should grab your spot right away.

It's totally free to make sure you're included.

Why not do that right now?

Pause this episode,

go to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash bash to sign up and then come back

and listen to the show.

I'll see you at the bash.

Maybe you're like most defaulting to the idea that blogs aren't

meant for your handmade product based business.

My aim in this episode is to help you see this

differently. Am I here to convince you to start a blog

tomorrow? No,

but I want you to understand the many ways a blog

can help your business.

And then you can make your decision from there.

Typically as it relates to business blogs,

I'm not talking about those that are more like personal journals.

Now we think of these blogs as being associated with service-based

businesses. Those that have information to offer us on how to

manage our money,

lose weight,

or find the perfect house,

things like that.

After all these industries lead to information sharing that is directly

related to how they help their customers.

And there's obviously information that can be shared.

That connection to providing information may be less obvious for a

product based business,

but it's not really that different.

If you think about it,

there are lots of topics you could write about that.

Have an association with the product that you make and can

be interesting to your customer base.

Let me give you some examples.

If you make essential oils,

you could write about how aroma therapy affects your mood,

the proper way to store your oils.

What's the best use of essential oils,

how best to use essential oils,

less known benefits that can boost your health with essential oils,

why you're attracted to certain sense over others.

And if you make custom tumblers,

you could write about how you got into the business.

You could share,

drink recipes,

why tumblers are good for the environment,

what you need from a customer to create a personal product

for them.

Tumbler choices of the rich and famous.

Okay. I'm getting a little carried away here with this last

one. But my point is you can brainstorm a million topics

that can relate back to your product.

Don't know the health benefits of essential oils or how your

tumblers help with protecting the world.

Research has never been easier.

Google it,

and then create an article around the information you uncover adding

in your own spin.

Of course,

these don't need to be long either.

I mean,

you're not setting out to write a book here.

I just did a Google search for this and find that

the best length of a blog is somewhere between 1,760

and 2,400

words. When you get rolling,

that's not a lot at all,

but you still have to do it.

Pick your topics,

find some facts and call upon your own experiences and write

that article.

Is it worth that energy and time?

Let me present my reasoning on why I would say overwhelmingly.

Yes, here are the five ways a blog can benefit your

business first and most obvious.

It's great for SEO search engine optimization.

This is the one way people are going to find you

online through your website,

SEO, without getting into all the details here about being ranked

in search.

Let's start with,

if you're not there,

you won't be found at all.

And it only makes sense that the more you put out

online, the more chances you've created to be discovered,

isn't this what we're always trying to get more visibility,

more people to know your brand more,

more, more,

but you might say,

I don't see very many other people doing this.

Exactly. And this is my second reason why you should.

Most people haven't gotten the memo,

but you're here with me.

So you get to be in the know who said,

you need to always look at others for an example of

what you should be doing with your business.

And the fact that others are missing this valuable asset allows

your content to rank higher.

When a topic is searched,

another plug for increased visibility.

One that doesn't have a shelf life,

either mind you.

Okay. Number three.

How about an answer to why someone should buy from you

versus another maker who creates a similar product?

When you have a blog and write about things in your

industry, ways to use your product and any other number of

topics you become the authority,

credible, trustworthy,

and knowledgeable,

not just out there for the buck in the sale.

You're helping your customers in a way most never will.

Number four,

adding personality to your brand.

When you blog your voice comes out the way you word

things, the topic and content of your articles.

These all give insight into you as the maker,

and finally rounding out.

My five reasons to have a blog is for social media

content. When you have a new article on your website,

you can direct people to it,

through your posts on Facebook,

Instagram, or my newest favorite Pinterest.

In fact,

Pinterest will give your article long lasting play.

In the recent past,

there had been a trend of posting long form content in

a social media post.

I'm sure you've seen that.

I'm going to suggest to you now that the time spent

doing that for a post that either goes away or gets

buried in the feed is nowhere near as good an option

as writing something on a platform that can work for your

business for years to come.

It sounds kind of obvious when you hear it right.

Okay. Here's a summary of my five top reasons to consider

a blog for your product based business,

increased SEO to establish credibility and a leadership role.

It adds personality to your brand,

making you more trustworthy and finally for fresh and new social

media content.

Let's talk about some businesses who have put blogging into action.

One of the first people I know who started talking about

this is Marcus Sheridan.

He has since written a book all about it called they

ask you answer.

I read this book years ago when it first came out

and it's since been updated.

I highly recommend it.

By the way,

I'll give you some headlines here about Marcus's story.

He owns a pool company in the south.

He started writing a blog,

covering the topics most frequently discussed when his salespeople would go

out to homes for face-to-face estimates,

things like why they use the materials that they do.

Maintenance questions,

pricing, you get the idea,

want to know what this has done for his business because

of the SEO.

More people found him through search.

Most of the questions that his customer support team would spend

time answering was done independently through reading the articles that he

had written.

And when a sales person does go out for an estimate,

the close rate goes through the roof.

You see those who found that Marcus's pools weren't for them,

filtered themselves out and never requested a meeting,

more sales in and less cost to acquire each one,

a winning strategy.

If I've ever heard one,

Anna from limbo imports is finding the same thing.

One of the biggest objections she hears for her gorgeous hammock

chairs is how difficult it seems to be,

to find the right place,

and then actually put in the hardware to hang it.

One article to the rescue,

addressing this issue resulted in sales,

increasing without any additional effort on her part.

You can read this one and all her product related blog

articles over on her website,

limbo imports.com.

So have I met my goal,

getting you to think about a blog for your business.

The reasoning is pretty compelling.

Find some time,

pour yourself a cool drink and give it some thought or

better yet brainstorm some possible topics.

It may even lead to your first article.

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl.

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.