Glasgow

As part of Social Media Week Glasgow I’m running “Blog Off” a series of workshops on Monday the 19th for bloggers whether they are new, old or even just thinking about blogging.

You may have noticed that everyone and their mother have jumped on the blogging bandwagon with the likes of the Guardian, NetMums and more creating their own blogger  networks. Bloggers definitely have a powerful voice, but how do you decide if blogging is right for your or your business? Maybe you’d like to engage with bloggers to help review or promote a new product? However you decide to be part of the blogging brigade it’s important to ask yourself a few questions including (but not inclusive) to the ones below:

Why am I blogging?

For businesses: Are you able to address things on a blog that you aren’t able to do on your main website? Can you provide a first-person account of what you do? Are you looking to market yourself using new media?

For individuals: Do you have something to say? Do you need somewhere to say it?

That’s really it. If you can answer yes to those questions you can blog! I’d encourage businesses not to use it to just duplicate information already out there; provide your customers and clients with new content. For individuals it is okay if someone else is blogging on a similar topic as long as you have your own voice and something to say.

For both businesses and individuals the same thing is key to a successful blog: content.  If you have good content you’ll get readers and followers. If you’d like to learn more about blogging from design, SEO, vlogging and more come why not register for Blog Off on September 19th, part of Social Media Week Glasgow.

Ryan Wenstrup-Moore is a top 20 ranked UK Parenting Blogger and Social Media Consultant with Social Chemistry Consulting.