Over the past few months not only have I been honing my skills as a public speaker and coach, but I’ve also been learning about the basic of setting up and running a business. Now, whilst I realise that this can be quite an overwhelming subject as there’s a tonne of information out there in the subject, I’m going to try and cover some basic, basic elements that can be applied to a speaking or coaching business.
First off, I’m going to lightly cover blogs. I say lightly simply because there is already a huge vat of information out there on setting up, running and profiting from blogs. I’ve bought and read numerous e-books on the subject in an attempt to get a fairly comprehensive and rounded knowledge.
So here are my recommendations…
But before I give you those let me briefly cover the benefits of having a blog as it relates to a speaking and coaching business.
By having a blog you can work through the things that you have learnt, and are still learning, and find ways to make that relevant to the people who might read your blog.
Not only that but it allows you to build credibility in your subject area and create connections with other bloggers, but also with people offline too.
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some really nice fellow Toastmasters offline as the result of having this blog. It was as if it was able to plug me directly into a “speaking mainline”.
Not only that but you can also make money from a well optimized blog too. I’ve not made a fortune by any means, but I have certainly made a few ££s. So that’s a nice “Brucie Bonus“.
Right, to the recommendations…
Atomic Blogging – this is an e-book by Alvin Phang and he covers the basics of setting up and monetizing a blog and also harnessing the power of social media in order to market your blog.
Blogging Profits Blueprint – this is a report by Yaro Starak that talks about blogging basics and really defines how to promote your blog. Not only that but he’s an advocate of business freedom, in other words putting systems in place that allow for automatic profits that don’t tie you to your computer.
For those of you who already have blogs set up this might be of interest to you. I came across StomperNet’s new Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) website – Site Seer. Essentially you type in your website or blog details and they deliver a report on how you currently have it set up and how you can improve it for the future. Check it out, I’ve used it already and it’s great, really informative.
Author’s Note 23rd March 2009
Please note the Site Seer website is no longer available. The link now goes to the StomperNet blog, it does have to useful info, so you might wanna still check it out.
