Newsletter or blog?

Many small businesses find it challenging to fill a monthly (or weekly) newsletter, so adding a blog to their to do list makes them question the value of having both.

Although the value of each will vary with each business according to its client base and product/service range, the following points may help you decide whether a blog, a newsletter or both is the best solution for you.

Newsletter

• it reaches people’s inbox so they are reminded of you without any extra effort on their part
• most people know about email but a lot don’t know about or like blogs
• maintain consistency if you have had a newsletter for some time
• it can seem more personal and intimate as it is not generally available online; it is a one-to-one relationship between you and many people
• can be quite short and link to articles/products/news on your site or in your blog
• can attract advertising revenue - advertising on blogs is less common
• can be passed onto to other people - they may well read a newsletter but may not get around to clicking on a link for a blog

Blog

• easy to include up-to-date information
• entries can be very short or as long as you like - variety in length is good but a variety in newsletter length may not be so positive
• if on your domain name, it can greatly impact on your site’s traffic and ranking
• people can access older posts easily
• people can comment and give you feedback; you can build a community
• individual posts can be linked to by other sites and other pages within your blog/site
• a younger demographic may relate well to a blog

If you decide to run your own blog and newsletter, you can save yourself some time by

• using information from one to fill the other - for example, your newsletter can refer to a blog post. However, don’t overdo the repetition as some people will read both
• using articles from Word Constructions or article directories such as The Repozitory or Evan Carmichael (not all Australian)
• inviting guest bloggers to write for you
• write things in advance - fill newsletters or pre-date blog posts so that you aren’t faced with thinking of a topic and writing it the day it is due out

December newsletter

My newsletter has been sent out today. It is fairly short this time round - an article on file names, a correction of a bad writing example and a guest article about personalised gifts.

The Word Constructions newlsetter is also available online each month for anyone who wishes to read it but hasn’t subscribed.

Outsourcing

What is outsourcing and why should you care?

Outsourcing is simply getting someone else to do a task or tasks for you. It can be a simple task (e.g. getting someone to stuff envelopes or do a letterbox drop for you) or a skilled task (e.g. hiring a professional web designer, accountant, writer or photographer)

Some of the benefits to you if you outsource are:

• save time as someone else does some of the work
• you gain expert knowledge in many cases
• you can potentially learn from the supplier
• you can gain an outside perspective (great as a sole trader)
• you may get a more professional result which will attract more customers
• the project is likely to be finished sooner than you could do it on top of the other tasks you are performing

Although there is a cost to outsourcing, that is often paid for with the advantages above - for example, Brad designed his own website and it took 9 months before it was ready to launch. Later he realised that he could have paid Jim to design it and it would have been launched within a month, giving Brad an extra 8 months of sales to help pay for Jim’s service.

So if you are feeling overwhelmed in your business or are desperate for another day every week, I would recommend considering outsourcing.

Why have a business blog?

I would write about the advantages of blogs, but I found this great post by Kenton Newby so I thought I’d link to that instead Kenton wrote ‘Why every business owner should have a blog’ If you are running a business and don’t have a blog, this is a post worth reading and thinking about.

 If you do decide to start a blog, you may find the audio and notes from the blogging for beginners talk I did last week useful, as well as my posts on blogging.

Style Guide vs Style Sheet

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the use of style sheets to help you keep your writing consistent. The next step is a style guide.

What’s the difference?

A style sheet is short (usually only one page) and lists very specific items, such as preferred spellings of particular words.

A style guide is a comprehensive set of rules to keep everything consistent. A full style guide can list the logo colours, spelling style, formatting, design and more, and would include everything in the style sheet as well.

Often, a style sheet is a summary of frequently used details from the style guide.

Which is better?

A style sheet can be on your desk or wall as a quick reference you can refer to as you work. So it is great for everyday items.

A style guide is important to maintain your brand. It can be used by your suppliers as well as by staff to ensure that everyone uses the same rules to keep consistency regardless of who does the work.

If you are a sole trader, you may not think a style guide is worth the effort as you control everything. But as your business grows or if you leave someone else in charge when you take a break, a style guide can keep your control in place. It can also be a very useful tool to offer potential buyers if you later to choose to sell your business.

For a professional appearance, a style sheet is a great start, but I would recommend a style guide as something to aim for over time.

Blog carnivals

I have just discovered blog carnivals. Essentially, someone hosts a ‘carnival’ and includes links to various blog entries that are relevant to the carnival topic.

There are apparently hundreds of carnivals happening so you’ll probably find one you like, or at least one on a topic you like!

It seems like a great way to find new blogs on interesting topics, and just to learn about a particular topic. Most carnival hosts review the blogs first so the blogs listed in a carnival should be relevant, good and spam-free.

So far, my blog is included in two carnivals:

The She Blogs carnival

 Mothers in business carnival

What carnivals have you read and enjoyed?