As a blogger for more than 14 years now, I am passionate about this as a vehicle for those who like to write and want to be a content creator. Blogging can be a great first step to creating a more regular writing practice.

Blogging is often more informal than other writing approaches, and can be shorter in length, with many blog posts ranging from 300 – 500 worlds. Of course, posts can be longer than that, especially if you post less frequently.

In addition to written blogs, vlogs - or video blogs – have also become a popular vehicle. Vlogs weave together video in delivery the blog message.

From Wordpress, to blogs hosted on your own site, to the old school blogger platform, blogging is a powerful way to become a publisher.

If you are considering blogging as one of your marketing vehicles, reflect on these questions:

• What’s the purpose of the blog? Your blog can become another community or platform hub of your brand or identity. Beyond your website, what are the key themes or focus areas you want to provide information around or content? The beauty of a blog is that it creates what I term a “digital footprint”. That footprint can remain in place for much longer than the lifecyle of other items such as the 24-hour lifecycle of a story.
• How can your blog provide a focus on issues of importance to your audience? Consider your audience and what they find useful. Take some time when starting out, and at regular points, to make a list of what you might write about. Be listening for the questions you get asked, or the resources you are suggested. These can be valuable pointers to possible blog content. Be clear on who the audience is.

​Connect with others who can spread the word about your blog – There is a rich ecosystem of blogs in the blogosphere. In addition to publishing on your own blog, consider connecting with other bloggers in your community who might be interested in linking to your site and/or sharing your content. One of my favorite community vehicles I used to leverage (which still exist more than a decade later!) are blog Carnivals, where a group of bloggers come together to share content around a specific topic. This is a great way to connect in with new readers/followers and other community members in your niche.

If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder, or PlanDoTrack, check out the activities in the blogging part of section 3. There are five or six useful questions for you to consider as you go to focus on blogging.

What are the key steps you want to take this week around blogging? Writing and blogging are topics we are exploring at the Learning Lab and Design Studio this summer, and it’s exciting to hear about all the different areas people want to focus on.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

"The best companies never transform to greatness in one fell swoop. There is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Sustainable transformations [to greatness] follow a predictable pattern of build-up and breakthrough. Like pushing on a giant heavy flywheel, it takes a lot of effort to get the thing moving at all, but with persistent pushing in a consistent direction over a long period of time, the flywheel builds momentum, eventually hitting a point of breakthrough." (Jim Collins, Good to Great). 

As you think abut your focus this year, what is the one thing you want to do consistently throughout they year, to start generating the momentum Jim Collins talks about. Perhaps it’s regularly focusing on:
Writing – What is the book you have in you that is waiting to get out? Is there a series of articles or blog posts?
Photography – Are you looking to share more about what you do, who you are, and the impact your conversations are having through photography? Instagram continues to grow in terms of popularity and video engagement is critical.
Building community – Are you looking to host a group this year? Life, paid, or on Facebook? Are you looking to network more and build relationships virtually or in person? What would consistent action in creating community look like for you?
Speaking – What could a focus on speaking look like for you this year? What topics would you present on? What would the top 3 bullet points be? Who is your audience?

If there was one thing you could do consistently every day this year, what would it be? Schedule it in now, and notice what happens!

One thing that I'll be doing this year for all 52 weeks of the year is sharing a weekly focus for your business and professional growth called 52 Weeks of Planning, Doing and Tracking. It's a Compendium to Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack. If you have enjoyed reading the CBB and want a deeper, or more bite-sized dive, this is for you!  Check out the kick off of the  weekly blog posts here. They will be published on Friday morning over at the PlanDoTrack Blog and will be of interest to readers of both the PDT and Coaching Business Builder.

Here at the CBB Blog, our attention this month is going to shift over to annual planning, and project management. Be sure to check out the 1st of two January calls on Creating Your Annual To-Do List at my YouTube channel on the Coaching Business Builder Playlist here. The first call is being held later this morning - January 7th at 11 am ET at my zoom room (270-302-0415). Hope you'll drop in and join us!

Best,
Jennifer

In my last Coaching Business Builder Blog post I talked about how important content creation can be to coaches. In wearing our hat of coach, we are not content experts, yet it's often this content expertise that attracts a client to working with us. For example, a leader may want to work with a coach who understands the complexities of their industry or type of team, or a business owner may want a coach who has an understanding about key trends facing their work.
​
In order to "stand out in the crowd" many coaches may opt to adopt a content marketing strategy, podcasting, blogging and/or writing articles around certain topics.  For those coaches who are involved in this, check out the Content Creation Section of the Planner (pages 243 - 272) as well as Section 3 - Marketing Essentials, where you are going to find monthly tracking tools to support you, as well as resources to help you consider repurposing.

One of the areas I continue to hear coaches enjoy the most out of the Planning Hacks I facilitate, is the space to get ideas on paper which they can go back later to execute.
This is especially true when trying to come up with some ideas around content, and blogging in particular. To give you a head start on your list, I share 9 different ideas on page 80. To expand on this list, here are 24 possible focus areas for possible fall posts around whatever your focus is (i.e. leadership, teamwork, business, relationships, parenting....)
1. What's on your bookshelf?
2. Infograph of key research findings
3. Common questions receive around your topic
4. Behind the scenes of how to...
5. Preparing for ____
6. Evaluating ______
7. In the spotlight - Case Study
8. Top 10 List
9. What we were exploring 3 years ago on this topic...
10. Where we are going around____
11. Other resources (TED Talks, Videos, Articles) around this topic
12 Podcasts to check out
13. Converting past blog posts to video (think Lumen 5 or AdobeSpark)
14. If you...
15. 60 second sound byte around this topic 
16. A- Z series
17. Guest Posts
18. Frequently Asked Questions
19. Here's where to go....
20. Here's how to....
21. Hands on activity people can do themselves
22. Question Prompts around your topic
23. Theme overview of what's been covered, or what is available
24. What else?

I hope that this gets your juices flowing. If you haven't done so, pick up a pen and  make your list of possible blog posts around your topic. Set a timer for 5 minutes and write everything down.

What content have you created already? You might already have articles in many of these topic areas which could be shortened down for a series of blog posts, OR perhaps you've given presentations on some of these topics. How could they become a blog post?  Repurposing content you have already created is often as important a strategy of content creation, as is generating new posts.

Keep in  mind that blogging is just one strategy in marketing, relationship building and business development.

What steps do you want to take in blogging?
Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Coach and Author of Effective Group Coaching and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching
Join us for an upcoming August planning hack - Dates include August 31 (Month End Reflection and September Planning Hack)

Interested in more on this topic? Join me for one of the complimentary Virtual Book Club Calls to go inside the book! Next call is scheduled for Thursday September 6th - Business Habits and  Mindsets. Download the upcoming book club call list here.