Guest Post from Deb Brown:

You know, anyone can blog. Just go to Blogspot, and create a blog. Put in a few pictures and write something.

Doesn’t mean it’s going to get read though. It also doesn’t mean you’re going to stick with it and like it. It doesn’t mean that anyone will take your writing seriously. It certainly doesn’t mean that anyone will do business with you.
There are three things every small business blogger needs:

• persistence
• the ability to know their market
• and a plan.

If you have your own successful – or on the way to being successful – business, then you know the value of persistence. Aristotle said it best, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act, but a habit.” It takes persistence to be successful. Persistence is what you do, long after the excitement of the decision has been made. Read this blog post (tip number one: good idea to share links with your readers). Self-Discipline: Persistence

Do you know who your market is? Are you tracking who comes in your doors? Do you know who calls you or visits your website? If you’re not successful at tracking your physical market, how do you expect to track your online market? A blog is not designed to be the answer to anyone’s prayers. It is designed to be an addition to your marketing arsenal. You can set yourself up as an expert in your business field by posting to your blog. First you need to determine if you have been addressing your local market. If you have and are ready to reach out, you might be ready to blog.

Finally – have a plan. When I first started blogging I wasn’t sure what direction I was going in. Becky McCray (@beckymccray of Small Biz Survival) suggested I find my 100. She was writing 100 blog posts about small business. Chris Brogan was writing 100 about social media. Glenda Watson Hyatt was writing 100 about accessibility. Read the challenge from Becky at My 100 (tip number two: it’s okay to refer back to a post you have written).

I took that idea, looked at the labels on my blog and realized I had too many. I narrowed down my labels (labels are words you assign to each post to give it an identity. A person can then read just the posts on that particular label). I now have 11 labels – and they are the 11 things I blog about. It’s narrowed down my focus – and it made it easier for me to write a decent blog post. The biggest label is network marketing, and this is an arena where I am an expert. It’s what I do. The second label is 100 series. Funny thing is, most of the posts in that are falling into the network marketing label as well. I’m at 89 of 100 posts for my 100. I knew at about 20 of those 100 that my main focus would be network marketing. It has made my blogging easier!

I started out just writing and was all over the place. I persisted. I knew my market was people who are in or want to be in network marketing. I focused my blog by having a plan and writing my 100.

Deb Brown is a marketing executive in the network marketing industry. She’s also a networked communicator in her local community, editor of a small local newspaper and a happy twitterer (@debworks). You can find her at Deb Works, Facebook, or LinkedIn (Last tip: be consistent with your identity/brand)