You’ve heard it mention that consistent blogging on your website gives you many benefits and advantages. From a “will they find me?” perspective, Google will pay more attention to a website with consistent blog posts than they do to websites without a blog or with rarely and randomly published posts.
More importantly, prospects have many choices of which company or professional they choose to work with and visiting your blog page is a regular part of “checking you out”. They want to learn more about your style, your voice, and your personality.
I gave a presentation recently on Blogging Made Painless to a diverse group of business professionals. In the Q&A and group discussions that followed, I realized there were a few folks who were not allowed to blog about their business. Either they were not the owners of the company, were not authorized through contractual obligations, or were under compliance regulations.
Examples include a franchise owner, or a sales consultant. Others who wanted to contribute blogs but could not, were bank employees and financial advisors. They are very good at their professions and passionate about connecting with their customers but blogging on the company website was either not available or the process of gaining permission was extremely arduous.
Blogging gives you the opportunity to share your expertise and build trust. It’s a natural extension of your personality and allows you to build a relationship based on giving value, so being prohibited seems disappointing.
How can you blog when you’re not allowed to blog?
Express Your Personal Brand Rather Than Business Brand
One option is to set up a personal blog of your own, on a topic of your choice, where you can still reach the public with your knowledge and individuality. You would be fulfilling the goals of establishing trust and sharing your professional individuality. After all, people want to get to know you, the person, before they do business with you as a representative of your company.
Your blog could be about your favorite hobby or a charitable cause, or even a personal journey of discovery. As long as you can express yourself professionally and remain committed and energetic about publishing regularly, a personal blog can be a brilliant way to develop business relationships.
Would you rather bank with the gentleman who blogs about his hiking trail discoveries, or bank with the gentleman whose name you can barely remember?
We prefer to conduct business with someone with whom we have discovered a common bond. A mortgage professional who blogs about renovating her parent’s home by herself; the franchise owner who invites us into his kitchen and shares his bread recipes. Blogging about your personal passion brings a vibrant dimension to your professional self.
Use Social Media to Amplify Your Brand
Social media is the natural partner of your blog. Even financial advisors can post family photos in a personal Facebook account. So why not take one giant leap toward establishing your unique value, and direct your social media fans to your personal blog?
Decades ago, it may have been believed that showing the “casual” version of yourself was stripping away your professionalism. These days, we know the opposite to be true – we want to work with a professional whose life is closer to our own.
Creating a personal blog and sharing consistent posts – you’re following all the rules of your industry and company while inviting people in your circle to get to know you better.