As a business coach, you need to establish your expertise and get in front of ideal clients. Content marketing, specifically blogging, is one of the best ways to do both at the same time. As a business coach, you likely have a broad understanding of the value of marketing, but maybe not a detailed understanding of how to implement it to grow your business.
This article will dig into the value of blogging as a business coach, how to select relevant topics, and best practices for crafting engaging content.
Why Should Business Coaches Blog?
There are a few key reasons business coaches should consider blogging. First and foremost, it’s a great way to establish your expertise. When someone is considering hiring you, they’ll go to your website to do a little bit of research. Having a library of thought leadership articles, demonstrating your expertise in specific industries will help you gain their trust before ever talking to them.
Similarly, these articles can help potential clients get to know you as a person so you can start building a personal repertoire with them. This is a great way to show off your personality and begin connecting with prospects so they feel invested in you from the beginning.
If you don’t already have a steady stream of prospective clients viewing your website, blogging can help with that too. By developing relevant articles, you’ll be able to boost your position in Google search results so when individuals search for answers to their questions, they end up on your website. This is a great way to get in front of people who may not have considered working with a business coach yet.
Finally, blogging can be a great way to teach your audience about concepts they should understand before working with you. By doing this, you can shorten your sales cycle and eliminate some of the meetings you must conduct before signing on a new client.
How to Select a Blog Topic as a Business Coach
With those benefits in mind, there are many ways to approach topic selection. If you’re just beginning your blog, it’s a good idea to start by focusing on one of the aforementioned goals and building your strategy based on that. Once you’ve begun building your library of articles, you can start branching out into new topics, niches, and goals.
With your goal in mind, you can begin selecting blog topics to build out. For example, if you’re looking to establish your expertise, start by writing articles on topics you’re most familiar with. If you serve a specific niche, plan on writing articles about that theme.
If your goal is to help readers get to know you, consider writing a series of articles on your process. Break down how you work with clients, the benefits of different approaches, and your expertise. Be sure to frame this in a value-adding way — your blogs shouldn’t be sales pitches!
When aiming to increase search rankings and teach your audience, consider the questions prospects ask during sales calls or common misconceptions about your process. Then, develop articles that teach your readers about those topics and clear up any confusion.
Once you have general topics in mind, do research to explore the search terms and key concepts you should include. For example, if you were planning to discuss _When is the Right Time to Engage a Business Coach? _Google that question and see what comes up. Then, click into the first few organic search results to see what those websites discuss. You should also explore the other recommended questions and consider if they make sense to answer in your article or plan another piece around.
Best Practices to Keep in Mind Blogging as a Business Coach
Once you’ve selected your article topic, there are a few other things you should keep in mind as you build out your content.
Make it Easy to Read
Your article shouldn’t read like an academic paper or scientific study. Instead, it should be conversational and easy to understand. The best way to do this is by breaking your article up into sections with clear headers and using lists as necessary. Not everyone will read your entire article, so make it easy for skimmers to get the main idea still.
Link to Other Relevant Resources
For SEO and reader experience, include links to other relevant articles or resources you’ve created, as well as articles from other publications. Where necessary, reference studies or statistics that support your claims.
Include Great Images
An enormous block of text is intimidating. Instead, use compelling visuals to break up the content and help your reader better understand your article.
Promote Your Blog on Social Media
While you’ll be able to claim Google search results by writing strong articles that include keywords, you won’t get here right away. That’s why it’s essential to promote your blog across social media platforms using hashtags, so interested readers can find your content.
Don’t be Sales-oriented
Your articles should always provide value to the reader, whether educational or otherwise. Don’t sell yourself or your business in the article, or people will be less likely to read.
Elevate Your Content Marketing Efforts with Missinglettr
Blogging is a powerful tool for warming up prospects before meeting with them, reaching new audiences, and establishing your expertise. By following these best practices, you can start creating engaging content to grow your business.
Missinglettr makes it easy to elevate your content marketing efforts and get the most out of the time you invest. With Missinglettr Drip Campaigns, you can automatically develop powerful social media campaigns promoting your articles. Missinglettr Curate lets you distribute your content to a relevant audience. Learn more and get started for free with a 14-day trial.