Page 1 of 1

I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Sat 13 Nov, 2021 10:27 am
by Not your average framer
I am thinking about starting a blog for my business. This will be partly to share some my own knowledge and to promote what I do, but also as a bit of a show case for my business as a kind of low key sort of thing. Any recommendations as to how I should go about this, or what software and platform I should be using? At this stage I'm not to sure how practical this might be!

Thanks,
Mark.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Sat 13 Nov, 2021 7:23 pm
by pramsay13
I think a vlog using youtube would be great. Most people are looking for short videos these days.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Sat 13 Nov, 2021 7:47 pm
by GeoSpectrum
Instagram is probably the best bet if you want to find customers as well as showcase your work. Blogs are a little passive and a bit outdated.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Mon 15 Nov, 2021 9:34 pm
by Richard Photofusion
Content and presentation.

You're very good at writing content, you've got years worth of script material, much of it here. The challenge is how to present it to camera.

Lighting and camera kit are not terribly difficult to master, but production is far simpler in a stills world, as you choose single frames to illustrate the thoughts and processes, and how it fits with the text. With video, you've got a contiunous flow to be scripted, captured and edited. Certainly not impossible, but I'd consider starting with a stills and text based process, and then if you're able in your space to do this, consider moving onto video.

Instagram can be used effectively as a publishing platform; many artists and those interested in art are avid consumers of well produced content. If space and time allow you to move onto video, then all the better. I guess it depends on how much time, as well as capital you can devote to it. Short pieces work well for Instagram, longer ones lend them selves to you tube. In all cases, your production values need to be sufficiently high, to keep viewers.

I'm not sure I've seen a website of yours - regardless of whether it's e-commerce or not, what your're suggesting is an extension of your shop window - ultimately, product shots of what you're doing. If you have a website (sorry I didn't see it), then a well maintained blog is a great ranking boost, particularly when fed by the type of content loved by google and facebook. Again, provided that you have the space time to take the pictures, then you'll have a very much live blog, and the content to generate traffic without much ad-spend. Web platforms such as Wix and squarespace are relatively simple to set up.

I'm afraid it comes back to the images. Plenty of your peers will read the content, as we do now. Good images will help to drive the customers, will help them tell their friends about you.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Tue 16 Nov, 2021 2:32 am
by GeoSpectrum
iPhone or android phone is all you need for Instagram. You could spend weeks thinking about it or just get on with it.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Tue 16 Nov, 2021 3:43 pm
by fusionframer
Couldn't agree more with Geospectrum's above statement. My own business has grown in the last few years and this has been down to seeing an opportunity and just going for it. Very often, too much procrastinating and the opportunity has gone.

Nick

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Tue 16 Nov, 2021 4:57 pm
by swany
Hi Mark,

As i said before you would be very good at it based on your contribution on here. As it's for business I suggested you just start off with a Facebook business page, it will save you going through the hassle of a webpage and wordpress etc. you can post how often you like, type what you want and add photos & videos.
As a local business you will start not only to get a following but also be able to target your location. plus people can message you, you can show your number, location etc. If your not on Facebook as yourself do that first then invite all your friends, once you have a few dozen on your personal page you can invite them to your business page hence the web opens up. you can also do sponsored posts and pic a radius, say 10 miles from your shop and facebook will target that audience for you. if you go onto youtube there are plenty of vids showing you what to do.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Mon 10 Jan, 2022 11:12 am
by Not your average framer
Thaks Guys,

That's given me a lot to think about and I am not beginning to see how much of this could work. My plans are a bit fluid right now and will take a bit of time to take shape. Any blog which I decide to do is likely to be multi-faceted in so far as I am likely to be offering a bit of training, some demonstration, and show what I have to sell as well. I won't be doing e-commerce, or mail order online, it's a burden which I don't really want. Working hard to meet deadlines for having everything ready for posting and having to look after my wife after her stroke, does not appeal at all.

I may make a sell some items on eBay, or Etsy, but at least I can limit myself to selling items which are already finished and ready to package and dispatch by post. I'm not sure, but mentioning such a blog as part of my eBay, or Etsy personal profile might help me to sell my items at a more worthwhile prices. Hopefully the fact that I produce top quality, niche markets type products, will really come across as a result and help me to sell items better and at a decent price. I have no intention of selling anything for peanuts whatsoever!

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Mon 10 Jan, 2022 12:28 pm
by Not your average framer
I went for a weeks training with Pete Bingham and he appeared to be using mostly scraps and left over bits of moulding for teaching hand finishing training and I like to make worthwhile use of my scraps and off cuts too, so providing a bit of training from time to time could make sense for me to offer as well. I won't be charging excessive charges for training, used to provide a bit of training before and I was always aware that many of my training customers were likely to be starting from scratch and I wanted to be able to save them money, while at the same time, giving them the best and most comprehensive training which I can fit into the time.

I would still be wanting to do areally worthwhile deal for any future training as well and the blog could be a good way of showing the kind of items, which I could teach how to produce such items. I think that this could be something which would fit well as part of what else I will be still doing. I'm not far from the end of the M5, or Exeter for people travelling down from London and nearby counties, via the M3, A303 and A30 as well. They are very easy and convenient journies and also don't significantly compete with other training providers either, perhaps basically a good move for everyone all round.

There a quite well respected bed and breakfast provider almost opposite uson the other side of the road and a very friendly cafe only yards down the road which do really great traditional home style cooking as well. Car parks and on street parking is near by as well, so what else do I need?

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Thu 10 Mar, 2022 6:54 am
by IFGL
Or you could go all modern and trendy, Tik Tok it!

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Sat 19 Mar, 2022 8:38 am
by gavinr
You hugely need to consider the market you are trying to reach, the user demographics of Facebook, insta and Tiktok are all different, and then you’ve got a huge demographic that do not use social media and prefer search engines.

Also consider the format of delivery, my 18 year watches a video to learn something I can’t stand it when I google something and get a page of videos as I would rather read.

Contrary to a comment above my view is that blogs are far from outdated, onto a static website they provide an excellent way to easily add fresh keyword rich content that search engines love plus it’s a way to communicate your authority in the subject you are trying to sell.

There are some really excellent resources for learning how to effectively write both content and the all important headlines, well worth a few hours researching.

My final top tip, before you even begin sit down and come up with 12 blog post ideas and that then becomes your basic schedule, one a month at the least and schedule a monthly/weekly slot to write it (or do a job lot and use a timed publishing app). It’s far easier to have a writing plan to work to.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Sat 19 Mar, 2022 9:43 am
by Not your average framer
I've been beginning to wonder about whether I really understand enough about blogs to really make this idea work and in fact maybe I might do a lot better with just a website and some examplte of my work and some content about my methods and the range of items which I produce. I genuinely struggle with some things which never gave me any trouble before the stroke and part of this is learning new things in relation to the newer aspects of less intuitive aspects of some bits of the digital media as they have become since my stroke.

Learning new things and developing new ideas relating to things, which I can touch, see and visualise are very straight forward and natural for me and I don't find such things difficult for me to do, but maybe that a blog is something which needs to use a different part of my brain and I just can't quite get there. I have no difficulty with making and designing real things in the three dimensional world, but perhaps not working with blogs and stuff like that. I thought that a blog would be very straight forward and easy, but I just can't seem to get there.

Re: I am thinking about starting a blog for my business.

Posted: Sat 19 Mar, 2022 10:57 am
by GeoSpectrum
Instagram is the easiest way to start, just a photo and a few words are all that is required. What’s stopping you? It doesn’t need to be complicated. Do you have a smart phone?

iPhone link.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/instagram/id389801252

Google play link.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... am.android