In case it wasn’t clear by now, I love blogging. It’s been almost fourteen years since I launched my first blog, I now run multiple blogs, and yes, even in the age of Instagram, I still believe that blogging is a powerful tool for promoting your business online. (I’d even argue that blogging is more important now because of Instagram and the challenges it presents.)
I even love blogging so much that I now offer TWO different classes on blogging, The 30 Day Blog Boost and Blog to Teach.
Why do I offer two different blogging classes you might be asking?
Because blogging looks different when you’re selling art or a product versus when you’re selling courses or digital products.
I know, because I just so happen to have two very different blogs focused on selling those two very different types of things.
And the strategy I use for each blog is very different.
First off, let me address the elephant in the room. Why do I have two different blogs? (Three, if you count my site Modern Metalsmithing.)
Simple. Because the audience for my jewelry and the audience for my teaching and coaching are different. And having two different blogs lets me create content targeted at those specific audiences. (And I created Modern Metalsmithing because not everyone who reads Designing an MBA is interested in jewelry making.)
By having this blog aimed at my fellow artists and makers, I can talk about things inside my business (like pricing) that might be off-putting to customers of my jewelry who aren’t themselves business owners.
And having separate sites lets me focus on separate email lists targeted to those different audiences.
Plus, as I mentioned before, I use a very different blog strategy for my jewelry than for my courses and coaching.
On my jewelry blog, I focus on images, not text. Those images show my products in use as well as some glimpses behind the scenes into my studio. (So that my customers know where my products are made.) But the focus is on great images of my jewelry being worn and styled.
The beauty of this kind of blogging is that it’s quick and simple. It’s the strategy that I share in this post, and it’s what I teach in The 30 Day Blog Boost. The idea is to leverage beautiful images to market your work so that you can blog quickly and get back to the studio.
Blogging to sell courses and information products looks different, because the people who buy those things are in search of something different. Sometimes it’s information, yes. But it’s also motivation, reassurance, a feeling that they aren’t alone on their creative business journey.
Which is why blogging for courses and digital products is much more focused on writing. Yes, depending on the type fo courses you are selling, there might be an image component too. (Something I do on my Modern Metalsmithing site, where I’m selling online jewelry making classes.) But the focus is really on writing to inform and persuade.
And that’s why I created Blog to Teach. To share what I’ve learned in ten years of writing this blog. (And my experiments at Modern Metalsmithing.)
Because there isn’t one right size fits all strategy for blogging. It depends on what you’re selling and who you’re trying to attract. So trying to run a one sized fits all blog course isn’t really helpful for anyone!
And that’s why I now offer two different blog courses!
The 30 Day Blog Boost is aimed at artists and makers selling physical products. It not about writing, it’s actually about creating an image-based blog so you can publish content quickly and get back to the studio. And it’s designed as an alternative for anyone who’s sick of throwing their best content on Instagram without seeing much (or any) return.
Blog to Teach is designed for anyone selling information. It’s aimed at course creators, but if you’re a maker selling patterns or kits, it’s perfect for that too! It does focus more on writing, but in reality, it’s about using that writing to attract your ideal customer through search. Plus, I talk about how to use images strategically to help you get found on Pinterest too.
One of my goals for this year here at Designing an MBA is to encourage artists and makers to look at ALL the ways you could potentially profit from your creativity. That means acknowledging that there isn’t one right way to run a creative business, and giving you specific tools and strategies for the ways that you’re making money! (Or the ways you want to be making money!)
Hence, two different blog courses aimed at two different business models! Because blogging can be a powerful tool to market your business, but only if it’s aimed at the right audience and done in a way that’s sustainable for you and your business.