Ausoma is Your Chief Social Media Officer
Build Your Online Platform, Promote Your Book, Increase Website Traffic
This month’s tip to grow your author business:
Pitch an article idea to an industry blog or website.
Even better – write a series of articles and pitch a column idea. If your articles don’t get picked up, you can publish them yourself on Medium.com.
Do you write regularly for an industry blog? Share the link in the comments section so I can check it out.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Article writing is a very effective marketing tool. The main purpose of an article should be to provide information, not sell something. Once a reader trusts and respects what you say in an article, they will decide when they are ready to buy from you and contact you.
So is your title selling something other than information? It shouldn’t! Your expertise in the manner you deliver information in your article will ‘sell’ you to the reader. The only place you want to sell your services is in your Author Bio at the end of the article.
The article title should sell the benefits a reader will receive if they continue reading your article. Be creative in your title and sell the benefits of the information within your article. Don’t sell your services!
After reading your title, the reader should ask a question that will be answered in the article. Remember what you learned in school? Who? What? When? Where? Why? Pique your reader’s curiosity so they’ll want to read the article to get the answer to the question you’ve raised in their mind.
If the article raises even more questions in your reader’s minds, this is great! Now they will visit your website to see if they can learn even more.
Another goal for your virtual assistant business I recommended for this year was to raise your rates by 10%. Whether you charge an hourly rate or project fees, you can increase your rates or fee and the beginning of a new year is an excellent time to raise your rates.
Build the expectation of a higher rate into your contracting with a clause similar to “rates and fees are subject to change with a 60-day notice”. I strongly suggest a 60-day notice to allow clients plenty of time to adjust and budget for the increased cost.
I’ve raised my rates several times over the years and always gave my clients plenty of notice. Never have I lost a client due to increasing my rates.
If you are charging an hourly rate, I recommend you move them to a project fee instead. Read my article “Moving Clients From Hourly Rate to Project Fee” at EzineArticles.com.
When did you last raise your rates? How much did you raise them by? How did your client(s) react? I want to hear from you!
Have you wanted to write more blog posts or start article writing? Are you holding back because you can’t figure out what to write about? Are you looking for inspiration? Maybe this post can inspire some ideas.
Do you subscribe to business magazines or other periodicals? Check out the covers. The publishers go to a lot of work to create eye-catching covers and article titles. See what catches your eye. It might just inspire you. If a specific title catches your interest, perhaps the information in the article can be converted into a short blog post specific to your niche.
In addition to magazine covers, look around and see if something on a billboard, in a commercial or in a newspaper catches your interest and can be used to create an article for your niche market.
Of course you want to be careful not to just take the article and copy it. You want to create your own unique article or blog post. These are just ways to get ideas and inspiration.
When you write you want to educate. There are still many business owners unfamiliar with what a virtual assistant does. So don’t be afraid to start with the basics. Make a list of questions that your prospects or clients ask most frequently and create a blog post and/or article addressing each of those questions.
Where do you find your writing inspiration?
Now that you’ve started blogging, how do you promote it? What are some ways you can make other people aware of it? Here are 5 ways you can promote your blog:
1. Email all your friends, family, colleagues and announce the launch of your blog. If you’ve already started blogging, send out an announcement at 6 months, 1 year, or at your 50th blog post.
2. Trade guest articles with a similar blogger.
3. Include a blog article in your newsletter and make sure to include a link back to your blog.
4. Use your online business networking sites, such as Digg, Facebook, and LinkedIn, to let everyone know of your blog.
5. At the end of your article, ask a question and ask for comments. Put it in bold.
So, how do you promote your blog? I’d love your comments and ideas.