Unless you’re already a super-famous millionaire consultant, you’re probably pretty keen on ideas for marketing your services and getting new clients in the door. Ditto for speakers and coaches. And authors. Also anyone who’s trying to sell products online. But I digress.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with several dozen clients over the past few months through The Blogging School as well as my Blog Starter Kit and many of them have been consultants (or aspiring consultants) who seek to market their services online. I usually offer up one or more of the following five reasons for why they should have a blog and, more importantly, MAINTAIN IT.

Here are the main five reasons why every consultant should have a blog:

1. Your blog is a billboard for your expertise.

For potential clients who don’t know you from a stick of gum, your blog can show them who you are, what you know and how you can help them. It’s the “front door” to your personal brand and the first opportunity you have to make a splash. A plain ‘ol static website, on the other hand, makes it hard to distinguish yourself from all the other consultants out there in the same niche.

2. Your blog will help you get found faster on Google.

Blogs typically get more visitors than static websites. Why? Because of frequently updated content and search engine traffic. People are searching for answers to their questions online, and if the solution to their problem is in your blog post, they might find it – and you. Google loves blogs so much, they even has a special Blog Search function. In short, blogging makes it easier for your site to rise to the top of the search engines and get you in front of more leads for your business.

3. Blogging can connect you to other consultants, a.k.a partners and collaborators.

I’ve been fortunate to meet other consultants and entrepreneurs over the last few years through my blog and we’ve worked together on projects. Sometimes, it makes sense to partner with others in your industry instead of going it alone, and your blog can be your calling card for attracting like-minded consultants to your network.

4. Your blog can get you noticed by traditional media.

Because of the knowledge I share on my blogs, I’ve been featured on local and national TV, radio and print outlets such as JET Magazine, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post, Fox 5 News and WPPR 1680 AM in Michigan. And the more people see you in the media, the more they perceive you as an expert in your area of consulting.

5. Your blog can be used for market research to figure out what your potential clients need and want.

With a blog, your readers have the ability to give you feedback on your posts and ask you questions. You might even host a survey through your blog where you ask them what problems they need help solving. Then, when you see a topic coming up frequently, that’s a good clue that your services would be welcome in that particular area.

I’m just gonna keep today’s post short and sweet. If you’ve been following my online journey for a while, then you already know that I have three blogs in three different niches. Obviously, you’re reading one right now – frombloggertoentrepreneur.com  - that’s all about using social media to build your brand and grow your business. The other two are rosettathurman.com (leadership development and career advice for nonprofit professionals) and happyblackwoman.com (personal development and business advice for black women). Obviously, I like helping people. I love giving advice and I love it even more when people use it to become successful! Although I give away advice on my blogs all the time, I also earn money through my sites as well. Whenever I tell people that though, they always give me a blank look. How do you “make money” with a blog? I really think people still have images of someone stealing credit cards through a website from the early days of internet scams or something.

The truth is that there are a lot of different ways to make money with a blog, and lots of people – from stay-at-home moms to hobby bloggers to small businesses to nonprofits to big corporations – are figuring out how to use this social media tool to add more dollars to their bottom line. But the guy in the photo above? The guy who makes “millions” online while sitting on the beach just by setting up a website? He is a myth, people. Blogging for your business takes lots of time, planning and yes, WORK.

It may seem mysterious how this all works, but there really are no secrets here, folks. As a broad overview, the only two ways anyone really makes money with a blog are the following:

1. Use your blog to sell your own products and services.

2. Use your blog to advertise and market other people’s products and services.

That’s it. That’s the big guru mastermind formula in a nutshell. If you can figure out how to do #1 or #2 or both, then you have the beginnings of an effective plan for monetizing your blog.

Is it time to monetize your blog or use it more effectively for your business? Does this spark any new ideas for you to start expanding the potential for your site?

If you want more detailed information on how to create a viable strategy for using blogging for business (specifically, the “how do you make money” part), I invite you to join me on August 24 for a special webinar, Strategic Blogging for Business: 11 Practical Ideas for Turning Readers into Customers.

People are always complaining that they don’t have enough time to blog. Unfortunately, this attitude is what keeps bloggers from building the momentum they need to support their business online. But, I have an idea for you. The next time you find yourself griping about not having enough time to blog, set an egg timer for 20 minutes and use this format to produce a useful blog post for your readers. (And hey, I’m testing out this theory myself – this entire post is being written in just 20 minutes!)

Introduction: 2 minutes

Set the stage for your post in the first paragraph. Use 2-5 sentences to introduce your topic to the reader. Make it interesting by starting with a question, story, anecdote or compelling statistic.

Main Point #1: 4 minutes

Highlight your first main point or piece of supporting information related to your topic. Use examples where you can to add even more value for your reader.

Main Point #2 – 4 minutes

Highlight your second main point or piece of supporting information related to your topic. Try to link out to another blogger or website to further illustrate your point and show that you’ve done some homework on the subject.

Main Point #3: 4 minutes

This is optional, but if you can add a third main point or piece of supporting information related to your topic, it will likely make your post even stronger.

Conclusion: 2 minutes

Add a sentence or two here to tie your main points back to your introduction. You want to leave the reader with some closure that they learned something about the topic or were inspired/entertained in some way. For more engagement, end with a question or an invitation for readers to share their thoughts in the comments section.

Add an Interesting Picture: 2 minutes

I sometimes use Flickr to scope out interesting pictures to illustrate my blog posts, but my favorite place for finding professional-looking photos for my blogs is iStockphoto. It’s a great place for finding high-quality royalty-free stock photos to use for your blog posts. Just enter a keyword related to your topic and it will give you a plethora of images to choose from.

Add a Snappy Blog Post Headline: 2 minutes

This can often be the most time consuming part of blogging – the title of the post! You want your headline to be interesting enough to make people want to read it, but at the same time not look like you’re desperate for clicks. What to do? Not to worry, because Chris Garrett comes to the blogger’s rescue with this definitive list of 102 blog post headline formulas. Yes, 102. You’ll never want for a snappy blog post title again. You’re welcome.

And there you have it, a blog post written in just 20 minutes! You can do this on your own blog anytime you feel stuck but in need of some useful content. Try out this format and see how much faster you could be churning out posts for your site. Your traffic will thank you. And so will your readers.

Do you think this format will work for you? How long does it usually take for you to write your posts?

As you may know, I run two other blogs in different niches in addition to this one: rosettathurman.com and happyblackwoman.com. But out of all three of my blogs, Happy Black Woman receives BY FAR the most traffic. (The crazy part? That blog is only 18 months old!) And since most entrepreneurial bloggers want (and need) traffic to be able to promote their business, I thought I’d share some of the strategies that have resulted in Happy Black Woman getting 10,000 uniques and over 40,000 pageviews in just one month.

Be Very Clear About Your Niche

On all of my blogs, I have a clear audience of readers that I’m trying to reach. On rosettathurman.com, it’s young professionals who are interested in social change. Here on frombloggertoentrepreneur.com, it’s folks who want to learn how to use blogging and social media to build a business. On happyblackwoman.com, it’s black women who want to improve their lives and be, well, happy. Having a clear niche like a specific community of women allows everyone in that target market who comes to the blog feel at home. They find a sense of community, not just useful information that they could get anywhere else. To get more clarity on your own blog, try calling your readers by name – business owners, professional women, fashion junkies, wine enthusiasts – whoever they are, let them know you’re writing directly to their interests and needs.

Host a Challenge on Your Blog

Over on Happy Black Woman, I host a monthly personal development challenge called “31 Days to Reset Your Life.” It has really taken off and become viral in ways that I never expected, but suffice it to say that people love a challenge and if you can provide the structure for 21, 30 or 31 days, people will appreciate you for it! Plus, they will spread the word to their friends! No one wants to go a challenge alone. I also invite people to write about the challenge on their own blogs, so that brings in additional and sustained traffic from the backlinks that their sites provide. It’s truly a win/win for everyone – I get the opportunity to serve my audience and in return they bring new visitors to my blog!

Here is a screenshot of how my traffic skyrocketed just a few days ago after announcing this month’s challenge (click through to the actual post if you’re viewing this in a reader):

Install Facebook Comments

Since many of my Happy Black Woman readers are on Facebook (evidenced by almost 1,400 “likes” on our Facebook page), I decided to experiment with Facebook Comments to see if it would encourage more comments and more traffic. What I found was that by adding Facebook Comments (in addition to, but not in place of WordPress comments), I received 100% more comments than I did before. I also noticed new visitors coming to the site because of one little Facebook trick: whenever someone posts a comment on Facebook, it shows up on their page for all their friends to see! Sweet, right? Another great feature of Facebook Comments is that you can respond to your readers AS your Facebook page instead of your personal profile (see my graphic below) for even greater management of your online brand. Here is the awesome tutorial I used to install Facebook comments on my Happy Black Woman blog. It is very thorough with screenshots, so I hope it helps you get set up!

Also, I’ve posted a screenshot below of how the Facebook comments integrate with and enhance the WordPress comments on my blog:

Promote Your Blog on Twitter

Every blogger should be on Twitter. The social network is a great place to connect with other bloggers as well as people who would be interested in your content. If you’re already on Twitter, be sure that you have posted the URL to your blog in your profile! (So many bloggers miss this simple step.) Post a link your recent blog posts on Twitter – shorten the original link first with a service like bit.ly. You can also use Twitter hashtags to promote your blog posts to your followers. Whenever I tweet my posts, I will usually use a hashtag related to the content such as #leadership or #socialmedia or #nonprofit. Nowadays, there are established hashtags for every niche! Of course, you don’t want your Twitter stream to be all “read my blog”, but keep in mind that everyone is not on Twitter at the same time, so you can probably get away with posting your blog links up to three times a day – morning, midday and evening. You can also do this with older posts to make them fresh again!

These strategies have been the ones that have produced the most results for me over the past year in getting traffic to my blogs. There are a few more that I will share in future posts, but these ideas should get your mind turning and your fingers moving to try them out with your own blog!

Which strategies have you been using to increase the traffic on your blog? Leave a comment and share the wealth!

As a budding entrepreneur, your blog is most likely going to be the first point of reference for your potential fans, subscribers, clients and customers. People will tune in to your posts and recommend your resources to their colleagues and friends if they perceive that you have a great reputation in your niche. Being online and having a blog is just the first step, though – you want it to stand out and work for you as a promotional tool that will keep a steady stream of readers and customers coming back to your site! Here are the three most important strategies you can use now to build a strong personal brand online.

Be Yourself

Because there are millions of blogs out there, the main competitive advantage you have online is being unique – having a memorable personality or style. Some bloggers, like Penelope Trunk, are known to be very confessional and open with their personal lives. Some are popular because of their passion about a particular topic, like Gabi Fresh. Others, like Gary Vaynerchuk garner a large following from the way they share high volumes of content and information about their industry in a unique way, often through video. Me? I tend to write how I talk to make my blogs very conversational in tone. I’ll often use slang or references to R&B or hip hop music that shows my community part of who I am as a person. What can you do to make your own blog shine?

Be First

Whenever possible, take the road less traveled online. Write about stuff that no one (or few others) are writing about yet. Be the first one to provide an in-depth look at a particular issue in your industry or niche. A great example is Chris Brogan, who wrote one of the very first (and likely most comprehensive) guides to using the new social network, Google Plus. As of today, the post has been tweeted 2,000 times. Whoa. What could that kind of exposure do for your blog and your business? What topic can you jump on before your competition beats you to it?

Be Helpful

Bloggers who have built some of the best personal brands online are usually the ones that keep readers coming back for more because they consistently provide value in the form of great information or advice in a particular niche. This is why I wrote a 34-page ebook on how to start a blog, free for From Blogger to Entrepreneur readers! So, if you find yourself wondering why your readership isn’t going up or your bounce rate is super high, it might be that you’re just not being that helpful to your readers or providing enough value to them. Whatever you do, make sure you can answer the following question in the affirmative. Are you being helpful to your readers (or your intended audience of readers)? If not, what can you do to provide more value to them?

What are some other strategies you’ve used to make your blog stand out from the crowd online?

The best thing about the new “Follow Me on Twitter” buttons that were recently released from the official Twitter website is that they look sooo much better than the old buttons. Plus, they’ve made it easy for people to follow you in just one click! I’ve just put the button on the sidebar of my site here at frombloggertoentrepreneur.com so I wanted to give you a quick tutorial for how I did it. Hope it’s helpful to you!

Now, don’t take this post the wrong way. I’m not encouraging you to go out and start flirting with your blog readers.

That would be weird.

But one thing I have noticed are a lot of “faceless” blogs out there that get very little traffic (and therefore business) because their content has no emotional connection for the reader. Today, my friend, that is all about to change. If you have one of those ineffective, faceless blogs, take note of these three strategies for bonding with your readers and letting them get to know and trust you. After all, as entrepreneurs we all know that’s the best way people to get people to even consider doing business with us!

1. Write in the first person.

Own your content by using the word “I” instead of ”we.” Your readers are savvy enough to know that you’re a solopreneur, one-person shop, not a “group” with a team of staff writers! You’re not fooling anyone, darling. Anyway, using the first person makes your posts more intimate for your readers as they feel like you are speaking to them about your own personal opinions, which is a big reason why people read blogs in the first place.

2. Tell a personal story.

One of the things I try to do often on my rosettathurman.com and happyblackwoman.com blogs is to share aspects of my personal life. I don’t overshare just for the sake of telling all my business, but I do give details about my life and work experiences that may help people understand where I’m coming from. I’ve found that the posts where I include a personal story are often the ones that attract the most comments and traffic, like this one about how my boyfriend dumped me because I changed my hairstyle. Through that post, I was able to bond with my readers on a very real level and show the vulnerable, human side of how I dealt with that particular aspect of my own personal development journey.

3. Show your face.

There are so many trolls online these days, it’s great when people can come to your blog and see that you’re a REAL person, not a fake internet scammer from Nigeria. Now, don’t feel like you have to go out and get a professional photo shoot for your blog, but at the very least, just post a nice picture of your smiling mug on one or more of the following places:

• your homepage, in your custom header
• your homepage, on the sidebar
• your about page

Other ideas?

What can you do this week to start building more intimate relationships with your blog readers?

By far, one of the biggest challenges that all bloggers encounter is coming up with interesting, useful things to blog about on a regular basis. So this post is just to offer some blogging inspiration that will hopefully get you unstuck and beat the dreaded blogger’s block. The 25 blog post ideas I list below will help you blog not just with creativity, but with a purpose  - to build your personal brand, grow your business and rock your career. You want people to read your posts, but you also want them to start thinking of you as an expert in your field.

Feel free to “steal” or tweak any of these blogging prompts to help you write your own posts! That’s what they’re here for

1. The History of ____________. Tell your readers the obscure history of your niche or industry. Many people may not know how it all started and they will appreciate you for giving them the 411!
2. 10 Random Facts About ___________. Write an informative, yet humorous list of facts about your field or industry. What are some things that people may not typically think of?
3. Make a video tutorial. Show or tell your readers how to do something – on video! Here’s a quick guide for making simple videos.
4. The Definitive Guide to _____________. Take a topic that would interest your readers and provide as much information as you can about it, organized in digestible sections.
5. How to ______________. The classic “how-to” post is an easy way to present yourself as an expert. For instance, if your readers struggle with a common problem, you would be giving them the solution for how to overcome it.
6. Why ____________(insert name of shiny new tool here) Will (or Will Not) Be a Game Changer for _____________ (insert name of your industry here). Tell your readers what you think about new developments coming onto the scene in your niche and whether you think they will be useful or not.
7. 10 New _____________ (insert name of your industry here) Bloggers to Watch. Highlight other up and coming bloggers in your niche and you will be perceived as an authority. Tell your readers why you think they should pay attention to these folks. As an added bonus, the bloggers you mention will be very grateful for the exposure!
8. 7 Ways to Transform _______________ (insert name of your community, industry or niche here). Show your perspective in being able to analyze your industry and what would make it better going forward. The list post format works here to help readers absorb the information.
9. Be More ____________(insert positive trait or characteristic) in 2011. Give your readers some inspiration to act differently or try something new in their life or work as the year takes a turn.
10. What I Plan to Do Differently This Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter (Or This Year). Let your readers know what new posts, features or changes they can expect from your blog over the next few months. It will give them a reason to keep coming back to see what’s new!
11. The Best (or Worst) Conferences I’ve Attended This Year. Tell your readers which conferences in your industry were worth your time (or not) and why.
12. How to Improve Customer Service/Recruitment/Education in ___________ (insert name of your industry here). Share your ideas for how to improve a specific area of your industry to make it better for everyone.
13. What Makes a Great ___________ (insert name of your industry or niche here) Blog. Share your opinions on what the great blogs in your industry have in common. What drives you to subscribe or come back to read again and again? Be sure to use examples and link to other bloggers in your niche!
14. Write a good rant. Everyone likes to read a nice rant every now and then. Tell your readers what bothers you about a particular aspect of your industry or your niche. What totally irks you about your field? Don’t pull any punches here. And try to make it a little humorous!
15. Write a book review. Read any books lately that your readers would be interested in hearing about? What made it worthwhile? What made it suck? What ideas did it spark for you? Would you recommend that they read it or not?
16. Write about your latest project. Tell your readers what you are working on right now so they can see how you’re rocking your niche. What has been accomplished so far? What are you learning from the experience?
17. Share your notes from a recent presentation or speech. Your post should give your readers the main points you made in your presentation. Show what you know! Bonus points: if applicable, link to your Powerpoint slides using Slideshare. It’s a great (and free!) marketing tool, especially for consultants and speakers!
18. Three Things I Love About Being a _____________ (insert your job title here). Tell your readers what gets you jazzed about doing what you do. If they can feel your passion for your work, they’ll be much more likely to hire you!
19. How I Can Help You. Write a post that highlights your expertise from the perspective of a reader who might need your services or products. Give concrete examples of how you can help them solve their most thorny problems. This is also a good time to share testimonials from satisfied colleagues and clients you’ve worked with in the past!
20. A Day in the Life of a _____________ (insert your name or job title here). This kind of post is a great way to show people what you really “do” in your industry. It also gives potential employers or clients an idea of the type of work you’d be doing for them!
21. Why I Do What I Do. Tell your readers how you came to care about your blog topic. You can do this in a passionate blog post or add the story to your about page to make it more compelling. (See how Danielle LaPorte does it.)
22. Thank You, ___________ (insert name of a mentor or someone who has made an impact on your life or career). Write a heartfelt post thanking a person who has helped you get further along in your journey. Show them (and your readers) specific examples of how they helped you and what you learned.
23. 7 Reasons Why I Love My Readers. Let your readers know how they’ve helped YOU in your blogging journey. Give a shout out to some of your commenters if you can and recognize the readers who have supported you since day one.
24. My Top 5 _____________ (insert name of niche or industry here) Books of All Time. Share your best book recommendations with your readers to help them in their work. Tell them which books you love and why!
25. Write about your favorite technology tool. What tech tool are you obsessed with right now? Tell your readers what helps you get your work done better, faster, cheaper on the web.

Do you want to grow your business through a new blog or simply improve the one you already have? Are you a professional blogger, small business owner or budding entrepreneur interested in using your blog as a personal branding and marketing tool? If you’d like insight into how to gain more traction with your business blog, join me for a FREE webinar training on Friday, July 1 at 12:00pm EST. All bloggers are welcome, but the content will be geared toward current and aspiring entrepreneurs - especially consultants, authors, speakers and coaches.

10 Steps to a Better Business Blog: Best Practices for Consultants, Authors, Speakers and Coaches

In this webinar, you will discover:

• Five simple things you can do now to make your blog more Google, reader and media friendly
• Two strategic ways to create the kind of content that people actually want to read
• The two essential plugins that will increase your blog traffic (even if your blog is new!)
• The single best way to turn readers into customers

In addition to this great free content, I will also offer a brief overview of my online blog training program, The Blogging School. There will also be time for LIVE Q & A! You don’t want to miss this opportunity to get your specific questions answered. If you can’t make it on July 1, no worries – you will be able to access the replay for 48 hours after the live event. (Blogging School members have lifetime access.) Just make sure you register to get the link!

Title: 10 Steps to a Better Business Blog: Best Practices for Consultants, Authors, Speakers and Coaches

Date: Friday, July 1, 2011

Time: 12:00 PM EST

How to sign up: To get access to this free webinar, enter your name and email address in the form below or click here if you’re reading this via RSS. Once you opt in, the link to register for the webinar will be automatically sent to you! Your registration also includes a free subscription to my weekly newsletter.

As you’ve probably noticed, it’s been pretty quiet over here for the last month! I mentioned at the end of the 21 Days to a Better Business Blog Challenge that I’d be making some changes to Blogging for Branding. One of those changes was changing the name and expanding the focus of this blog to help the audience that was coming here the most – current and aspiring entrepreneurs and solo business professionals. The blog’s new name is From Blogger to Entrepreneur and it’s for:

• Current and aspiring bloggers
• Current and aspiring online entrepreneurs
• Solo business professionals (consultants, speakers coaches, etc.) who want to use social media tools for their company

I’ll still be sharing tools, tips and resources about blogging, but you’ll also get more social media education on practical ways to use these online strategies to build your brand, grow your business and rock your career. You’ll also be seeing more tutorials to answer your most pressing social media and marketing questions. If you’re reading this via RSS, you’ll wanna click through to see a few tweaks to the blog design as well. It is cleaner, more user-friendly and allows you to better see all of the resources, products and coaching I have to offer to help you use online tools to build your business. I used the Headlines Theme from WooThemes and simply changed the colors, fonts and added a custom header. Look out for a tutorial on that soon!

For the first post on the new and improved site, I wanted to share with you exactly how I was able to change the name of this blog from Blogging for Branding to From Blogger to Entrepreneur. If you’re thinking about changing the name of your own WordPress blog as it evolves, these are the steps I took.

Step 1:

Export WordPress Posts and Pages – I exported all of my Blogging for Branding posts to a file saved on my computer. You can find the “Export” option under the “Tools” tab in your WordPress dashboard.  Make sure you save the file somewhere on your hard drive where you can find it later.

Step 2:

Get a New Domain – I bought the domain name frombloggertoentrepreneur.com from Bluehost a few months ago when I was thinking about rebranding the site. It’s a great feeling when you realize that the domain name you want is actually available!

Step 3:

Install WordPress on the New Domain – This can be done in just a few minutes using the one-click install option through Bluehost. Here is a tutorial for how to do that: Buy a Domain Name + Self-Host Your Blog.

Step 4:

Import All WordPress Posts – You can find the “Import” option under the “Tools” tab in your WordPress dashboard.  When it asks for the import file, use the one that you exported and saved on your hard drive earlier. Once you upload the file, all of your posts, pages and comments will transfer to the new site.

Step 5:

Update and Activate Your Theme, Plugins and Widgets – Upload your new (or old) theme to be used on the new site and activate it. Also be sure you go into the “Appearance” and “Plugins” tabs and make sure you have the same plugins and widgets activated as the old domain name (unless you want to change them).

Step 6:

Add a New Custom Header – Usually if you’re changing the name of your blog, you’ll have a new look, all the way down to the header. This signals a new direction for your site, as well as a clean break from your old brand. I just created a simple new header and tagline to match the branding I already had going on with the colors and fonts from The Blogging School and my free blogging e-course. I also changed the header for the Blogging Toolbox newsletter.

Step 7:

Install and Run the Update URLs Plugin – The Update URLs WordPress plugin is the best thing that ever happened to blogging. I’m so glad I found this free resource! Once you activate the plugin, simply enter your old domain URL to be replaced with the new one.  It will go through ALL of your old posts and update the domain part of the URL with the new one, and it only takes a few seconds! Total awesome.

Step 8:

Redirect the Old Domain Name to the New Domain Name - This was super easy to do with Bluehost. I just went into my Cpanel and clicked on “domain manager” then “manage domain redirection” and entered the two URLs. The process was instant! Now, when people click on the old domain name from someone else’s site that may have linked to me, it will automatically bring them here to the new domain name. Sweet!

Step 9:

Update Your Feedburner Feed (or Other Email Subscription Account) – You will need to edit your feed details in your Feedburner account (or other email subscription account) with the new domain’s source feed (example: http://yourdomain.com/feed/) so your readers can continue to receive your blog updates!

Step 10:

Inform Your Readers – That’s pretty much what this post is doing for you right now. Be sure you let your readers know about the change so they’re not confused when they get to your blog and see a new name, logo, content, etc.

That’s it! That’s how I changed the name of this blog that you’re reading right now from Blogging for Branding to From Blogger to Entrepreneur.

Have you ever had to change the name of your blog? What process did you use?