Sutter Communications

We’re wild about words!

Is 2019 the year you want to write a book or a blog?

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Write a book
Writing a book takes discipline and patience but it can be done!

Judging by the emails and calls my business, Sutter Communications, has been getting, it seems many people have made a New Year’s resolution to write a book or finish the book they started many moons ago. Or they’ve resolved to learn how to blog, or blog more consistently or grow their blogging audience.

If you’re one of them, here are a few tips that work for me.

Resolve to spend 15 minutes a day on your writing.

Of course, you can do a lot more, but 15 minutes seems do-able, right? You’d be amazed at how going slow and steady brings actual results. I learned this when I was researching and writing a thesis, while working many hours as an editor at the Democrat and Chronicle. Once you start writing, I’ll bet you find it so fun you’ll spend more than 15 minutes on it!

Related: 5 Takeaways from State of Blogging Industry report 

Set up deadlines.

You want to write a book? “Deadline is the greatest motivator” became my mantra years ago, when as both a reporter and then an editor, I realized that deadlines are critical to getting work done. It’s too easy to put off the writing. Want your book to be printed in time for holiday sales? Then do a back-out schedule that makes that happen.

Related: Got writer’s block? 5 quotes from Ernest Hemingway may help

Take a class.

You go to the gym to get stronger and in better shape, right? Then taking a class can do the same for your creativity and desire to write a book. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, blogging, whatever your genre, I recommend you check out the classes at Writers and Books.

I’ve been on the faculty there for almost four years, and I’ve also attended classes and author talks. You’ll come away inspired and more than likely, you’ll meet some fellow writers who may become life-long friends and a great support system.

Over the next two months, I’m teaching Blogging 101, Blogging 201 and a new-ish workshop called Social Media for Writers. You can see the entire list of Writers and Books offerings here.

Hope you find these tips helpful. What works for you?

6 reasons why blogging can grow your business

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Blogging regularly can grow your business.
Blogging regularly can grow your business.

Are you wanting to make it easier for potential clients to find your business on the Internet?

Then you should consider blogging regularly on your company’s website.

Why should a business owner have a blog? Here are my six key reasons.

Search Engine Optimization.

Every time you post a new blog entry, you create a new indexed page that search engines can display in their posts. So this helps your website rank in search engines and helps people to find your business when they are searching for a product or service.

Establish yourself as an expert.

This gives you credibility with your audience.

Offer “calls to action.”

A blog offers you a place to offer goods and services, whether you are selling them or offering a freebie. Bloggers often offer extremely short e-books or PDFs to people who sign up to follow the blog. This gives you more emails for your outreach.

These next statistics are from HubSpot.

Companies that blog have 55 percent more website visitors.

That’s SEO at work  for you.

B2C companies that blog get 88 percent more leads per month than those that don’t.

Your blog will create interaction with potential customers.

B2B companies that blog get 67 percent more leads per month than those that don’t.

Even other companies are turning to blogs to find expertise to help them with their business needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, I’m teaching Blogging 101 on Oct. 17 at Writers and Books. And on Nov. 1 and Writers and Books, I’m teaching a more advanced class, Blogging 201 for people who already have a blog and want to take it to the next level to grow traffic and interaction. Each of these classes is 2 hours. Click on the links for more details.

On Nov. 12, I’m teaching Blogging for Business through SCORE. This 3-hour class will combine those two, hitting the highlights of each class. Again, click on the link for more info.

If you’re blogging now, I’d love to hear about your successes and where you’d like to grow. And I hope to see you at one of these upcoming classes.

 

5 reasons to write a mission statement for your blog

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I'll be teaching "Blogging 101" at Writers and Books on July 18. I love the old phone booth on the property!
I’ll be teaching “Blogging 101” at Writers and Books on July 18. I love the old phone booth on the property!

Do you blog or aspire to but have a hard time coming up with ideas to write about? Then I suggest you write a “mission statement” for your blog.

Here’s what having a mission statement will help you to do for your blog:

1. Determine the goal. Why do you want to blog? Bloggers have opinions or information or experiences that they want to share. They invite a two-way conversation with their readers. 

2. Determine the audience. Who is going to read your blog? Family, friends, people with similar interests or goals? Writing for a specific audience will help you focus on the content. 

3. Determine the type of content. Having a written goal and knowing your audience will make it much easier to come up with topics for your blog, and prevent you from writing about topics that the audience won’t care about.

4. Determine frequency. Blogging on a regular basis is by far the hardest part of being a blogger. So putting a time frame in your mission statement can hold you accountable. I recommend blogging a minimum of once a week. With the launch of my new blog here, I’m publicly stating that I’m determined to post once a week, and I may occasionally post more often. (And you readers can hold me accountable, please!)

5. Stay motivated. We have all abandoned various goals and New Year’s resolutions, right? Let your mission statement for your blog stand as a written commitment. Print it out, display it next to your computer, and read it out loud every day. 

Here’s my mission statement.

The Sutter Communications blog will share essential information to empower its readers when it comes to the written word including writing and editing, book writing and publishing, blogging, public relations, social media, and media trends. The blog will primarily act as a “Sherpa” to guide readers and occasionally act as a “Sage” to share expertise. The blog also will celebrate the written word and the joy of writing and reading, in keeping with the Sutter Communications mantra of “We’re Wild About Words.” The blog will be updated at least weekly.

I’ve been blogging since 2009 and I’ve found it to be great fun, so much so that when I “rewired” after working as an editor and blogger for the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., I wanted to continue blogging. As a result, in 2015, I started a blog to promote my book Sutter’s Sodas Satisfy: A Memoir of 90 Years of Sutter Drug Co. I write to celebrate not only my family’s history in Burlington, Iowa but also the remarkable past (and sometimes the present) of that Mississippi River town.

Now with the launch of my business Sutter Communications, I’m going to share my love of words here. So what’s your mission statement? Please share it with us.

And if you’d like to learn more about blogging, check out my upcoming Blogging 101 class on July 18 at Writers and Books in Rochester. I’d love to see you there!