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Why Your Direct Sales Business Needs A Blog
Are you a lovely lady in direct sales who’s heard all the hullaballo about blogging, and are wondering, why? Aren’t I good with my Facebook page/group and posting on my profile? What do I need a blog for?
Well, looky here, this is a businesses tool you don’t want to skip. Here are 5 burning reasons why women in direct sales benefit so much from blogging for their businesses.
The Benefits
1) Everyone has a replicated company site. Not everyone has a blog.
You want to be unique and set apart from the thousands of other reps from your company. Or the millions of women in direct sales, period. You want to be memorable and ingrained in your potential customer and recruit’s minds.
This can be achieved with a blog. Your company site looks like everyone else’s, but your blog shows you, your personality and flair. Taking this extra step sets you apart and people will choose you over Suzy Anonymous.
Take a look at Brenda Ster’s Social Media Pyramid for Direct Sales. Her point is that, to stand out among the crowd of thousands, you have to climb higher on the social media pyramid. “The higher you climb on the social media pyramid, the fewer people from your brand that are on that channel, so the easier it is for you to stand out when you post and engage consistently.” A blog is the highest you can go on this pyramid.
2) Get found online.
The search engines love blogs. Google crawls blogs often for content because Google constantly needs content. Why is this important? Search engine traffic!!
People doing research about your company or looking for a rep can more easily find you above the riff raff if you have a blog and have been indexed by the search engines. You’ve done it, I’ve done it: We all research what we’re interested in via Google, and so are the people who need to find you. This goes for people researching to buy or people researching to join. Give them an opportunity to find YOU via your blog! (Psst, they won’t find your replicated website…the search engines dis-count those).
Plus, you can reach anyone, anywhere, 24 hours a day!
3) A business blog is essentially a relationship-building tool, and an effective one at that.
People tell you all the time, direct sales is about building relationships. Well, how can you build relationships with strangers you don’t know, and don’t even know are interested in your company? That’s right, a blog.
A blog gives strangers an opportunity to get to know you. And, people buy from those they know, like and trust. People come to like and trust you from your blog, and then decide to see what your business has to offer. Reading your blog could give prospects the push they need to become paying customers.
4) Blogging is great for answering questions. You can use your blog to answer general questions anyone may have about your company or product. Then, people searching for answers for those questions can find you via the search engines. When you answer people’s questions, it leads us to #6, which means…
5) Blogging establishes you as the expert. A bunch of insightful and helpful blog posts let readers know that you’re serious about your business and know what you’re doing. Even if you don’t. It doesn’t matter a whole lot if you’re the top earner in your company or not, because your blog automatically sets you apart as the authority, giving you the air that you are. This extra boost of confidence that they will place in you will not only make your audience more likely to buy from you, it will also give them a reason to spread the word about your blog and your business (i.e., repins, social sharing, etc). People are also more confident in joining someone they view as an expert. It’s an automatic boost!
Anyway you dice it, blogging and direct sales should go together like salt and pepper. But, not everyone will start one, which will prove your blog to be a wonderful asset.
If you don’t already have a blog, you’re missing out on a grand opportunity to grow your business. It’s easy to get started, so what are you waiting for?
How To Start A Direct Sales Blog
There are two routes you can go to get one started.
1) You can set up your own self-hosted WordPress site
The learning curve for this one is steep, so it is advisable to get some mentoring and tutoring for that one. Go to my blog set-up tutorial here to learn how to set up your new blog.
2) You can set up a microblog
If you aren’t interested in the steeper curve, and want a more immediate option, you can always start a quick and easy microblog! This is hosted on a platform that also specifically caters to women in direct sales.
You just pay a monthly or quarterly fee to be a member in the direct sales directory, and as a bonus you receive a microblog! Nothing to set up or anything like that. However, you don’t own the platform yourself, so things like design are out of your control. You just post the content, and share the platform with other direct sales women.
However, you still get found by the search engines, and still can pin and share your content. Two options for going this route are Sassy Direct and the National Direct Selling Registry.
****BONUS Option 3) Start A Done-For-You WordPress Blog!!!
This option truly is the best of both worlds. You get all the benefits of having a WordPress blog, with none of the set-up issues or bewilderment. I have opened up the site My Direct Sales Blog for ladies just like you in direct sales and network marketing who want a WordPress blog and the community to go with. Check out mydirectsalesblog.com to start your free two week trial.
Adding Pinterest To The Mix
And, of course, if blogging and direct sales are salt and pepper, blogging and Pinterest are peanut butter and jelly! You need traffic to your blog once it’s up, and Pinterest is the one and only way to go!
Check out the direct sales-oriented Winning With Pinterest course. I took it and it has helped me get more traffic, repins and followers for sure!
To your success,
