Do you have your own blog?

[thetopcopy]

I am embarrassed to admit this, but unfortunately blogging is something that has completely passed me by. I don't even read blogs let alone write them!

My main query is this: as a copywriter, do you think having your own blog is a must?

If the answer is yes, do you have a standalone site purely for your blog, do you put your blog on your own business website, or do you 'store' it on a site such as blogspot.com?

Also, if you have a blog, how do people find it? (Other than putting it in your signature etc).

Thanks in advance!
Claire

[Jog On]

Yes I do:

Traffic Copywriting Conversion

I don't post to it very often but I'm not in the you must blog every day camp. I think you should only post when you actually have something to say.

I think as a copywriter having a blog is a huge bonus because it gives you more examples of your work for potential clients to sift through before making a decision.

As for finding it, search engines absolutely love blogs. Not to mention that when you have a blog as part of your main domain (eg - www.website.com/blog) you can submit to blog directories as well as web directories for so many more backlinks.

I won't go into detail about RSS and it's SEO benefits but lets just say it's very nice.

For this reason I would advise against hosting your blog on a 3rd party site like blogger or wordpress, they have control of it and your site doesn't get any of the SEO benefits. Also it's out of your control if it's on their site.

SOE aside - blogging is great if you like to express yourself and want to share that with the web community.

You can make a post and submit it to a social directory like digg or reddit and come back a few hours later and find 150 comments and it's on the top page of digg.

I love blogging - here are some of my favs (blogs):

Copywriting tips for online marketing success from Copyblogger

Seth's Blog <----hosted on typepad!! (who am I to argue with Seth Godin though..)

Dan Kennedy

HTH

[Miss Bee]

I have a blog on my 'work' website, as well as a Del.icio.us feed.

I have the former to demonstrate my writing and that I know what I'm talking about. I also try to post items that people who might use me would find helpful in their day-to-day website responsibilities. I don't post that regularly - I only write when I have something useful to say.

I use the latter (the feed) to tag relevant items that I'm reading, to show that I'm keeping up to speed with the industry and developments. I also tag 'how to' items to, again, make my site useful to readers.

I perhaps don't market it that well and should make more of an effort to get it listed and visited.

I also have two other blogs - one related to the construction industry (to demonstrate my writing and keep up to speed) and another personal one for friends and family. Both of those are hosted on Wordpress.

Again, I don't promote the first one as well as I could (for my business benefit); it sounds daft but I'm a bit shy about it.....!

[thetopcopy]

Thanks so much for both your replies, they are very helpful and give me a lot to think about - I will get busy reading your blogs now!

[GTFC]

I have a 'kind of' blog on my website which I set up in order to capture some of the wonderful misuses of the English language that I come across. I also include the odd rant about things like poor customer service . . .

The decision to do this was partly about trying to generate some interaction with my audience (e.g. getting people to email me with things they find) but this has not been very successful so far - and also so that my site is regularly updated, which I know Google likes.

I did a test the other day on some likely search phrases for my site and two listings came up on page one of a natural search, both of them links to entries in my Blog!

So I think the answer to the question is yes, it is good to have one, as long as you do update it reasonably regularly.

If you'd like to read it, or add comment, please visit Freelance Copywriting - Stranger Than Fiction . . .

[thetopcopy]

Thanks GTFC.

I've signed up to delicious and bookmarked all your blogs.

[thetopcopy]

Right, I have read literally hundreds of blogs over the weekend and have subscribed to about thirty. They are fascinating and I am definitely going to start one after doing some more research and planning. Two of my favourites are Freelance Folder and Internet Marketing and Social Media: Dosh Dosh.

Thanks for your advice!

[i do words]

I hadn't fully cottoned on to blogging until fairly recently. It was only when a friend, whose company develops websites, suggested that I look into it that I decided to start experimenting.

While I haven't yet begun a 'work' blog, I am working on a classical CD review blog (classical music being a real passion of mine), as well as one to house any silliness that pops into my head. But until both are a little more complete, however, I'll refrain from posting their links here.

I'm new, by the way. Nice to meet you all.

[matth76]

Hi there. I too was fairly new to blogging until I found out it is used by Google as part of their search engine indexing criteria for determining how visible a site is. If you can include a clickable link in your blog and relevant info in your blog then all the better. They do say you should update it about once a week but I just don't personally have time. You should also link to your blog. There is normally a link on most blog sites where you can create an "RSS" or "Atom" feed - it will provide you with a URL to this RSS feed. You can use this URL to link to your blog on many other sites, such as My Yahoo! etc - all to increase the visibility of your blog and ultimately your own site (if your blog has a link to your site).

[Alex_M]

Hi, I'm a B2C copywriter and recently started my own blog specifically as another other outlet to write, improve my writing and write about different things through posts that could feasibly be published on a real newspaper blog.

I've found it very positive so far. Ostensibly a blog about books and the future of reading, it's amazing how your subject matter can branch out over a few posts.

I'm six posts in, with topics already including technology and politics, which I didn't expect, encouraging me to research and write about these things for fun - which can't be a bad thing.

Also, don't underestimate the social media element. A friend of mine has a blog on writing his first novel. By posting on other similar blogs, he is tapped into a social network of other aspire novelists, swapping ideas (this can take a few months, but if you persevere).

I work on the principle of posting one longish and one shortish post (100 words, ie "hey look at this U.S. article!") each week. Generally, your blog will look better if your posts are regular.

Good luck if you choose to start one!

Alex