Paul Hollywood, Ariana Grande and Me
Unknown just a few years ago, it seems everyone is blogging these days; from Tom Cruise on Scientology, Coco Kelley on interior design, Paul Hollywood on baking and the Kardashians on… well almost anything. We have an insatiable appetite for what other people are doing.
A blog can do many things for many people.
The individual blogs give us the impression of ‘fly on the wall’ access to the bloggers private life – often this is only illusory but we enjoy that up close and personal feel. We can follow and feel empathy, sadness, happiness at what is happening around them and to them. We become part of it.
Charities use blogs to add a human touch, showcase their work and drive donations. Some people find blogging by charities a contentious subject but for most, it informs and raises awareness – essential when so many organisations are fighting to attract attention amongst many other demands on our finances.
Businesses find blogs useful to increase awareness of what they offer. A well worded, well researched blog aims to focus the readers mind on the subject matter, will educate, entertain, amuse and enlighten. It may also enrage, annoy, frustrate or confuse.
For a business a blog can:
- Focus the mind on what you want to achieve and who you can help
- Increase traffic to the website
- Let people know what you are about
- Let people know how you can help them
- Increase awareness of you and your product, service, experience or peace of mind
Having decided blogging is a great idea – how to do it? My philosophy when in doubt – ask an expert. So – I attended a Blogging for Business Course at Broadland Council Training Services. The course, led by the very lovely Julie Bishop of Jobhop, aims to give delegates the technical know-how to create and publish their blog. Along with another five blogging novices I was introduced to the mysteries of how to start, how to create content that people (hopefully) want to read, how to attract Googles attention and how to promote the blog.
The biggest hurdle however came the next morning, putting theory into practice. After a lot of prevarication (the ironing and vacuuming got done as did some correspondence I have been putting off) my son Graeme bullied me into making a start – thank Graeme. Unsure at first what to write about I realised the starting point needed to be just that, the starting point. Hence a blog about blogging. I hope you’ve enjoyed my first venture into blogging. In future I intend to write about the subject close to my heart – Bowen Therapy. As a Bowen therapist I am passionate about helping people to know more about this wonderful therapy and how it can help in so many ways, including pain and stress relief. Please keep an eye out for my future blogs – hope to talk again soon.
