Today I am overjoyed to announce that Darren Rowse, of ProBlogger.net, and I are launching the ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business.

A little over four years ago I purchased a dormant business in the Caribbean with no customers, no cash flow, and no Internet presence. Without blogging and the possibilities that it provided me to educate my customers, to share my story, to rank well in search engines, and to promote my venture there is a good chance that my business would have failed and would not exist today.

Nowadays, with the advent of many forms of social media, more possibilities exist today than ever before for you to share your business’s story with the world, engage your customers, and interact with donors. However, blogging is the cornerstone from which your online presence should be constructed.

ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business is a 143 page step-by-step guide that’s targeted for business owners, nonprofit leaders/managers, and individuals who want to use blogging as a base to develop a comprehensive social media footprint and online presence. (Note: it is NOT a make money blogging book!)

The guide is like having your own personal blog coach and was written from the bottom up with the following question in mind:

How can our knowledge and what we’ve learned about blogging help to remove the technical barriers to entry and content creation frustration that so many newbies and would be business bloggers struggle with?

Many business owners plan to include a blog as part of their marketing strategy but soon find themselves asking, “Where do you start?”

With ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business all of the guesswork has been removed. The guide will help you create an online presence for your business that:

-       reaches the right people

-       builds your customer base

-       increases your profile and influence

-       is easy to set up, manage, and build upon

The step-by-step advice will save you hours of time—and endless frustration.

-       set up a WordPress blog … without any technical know-how

-       conduct targeted keyword research … even if you’ve never done it before

-       understand your online competition … whether they’re next door, or on the next continent

-       build a strong social media footprint … even if you don’t know the first thing about finding “followers”

-       set a successful business blogging strategy … no matter what your product or market

-       write blog posts that educate, engage, and build trust

What’s in this book?

Over 12 simple, practical chapters, I distill my experience as a bricks-and-mortar business owner who built my clientele using simple, cost-effective online methods.

1.     Defining blogging and how it will benefit you

2.     Defining your goals

3.     Getting started with blogging

4.     Deciding on and registering a domain name

5.     Installing WordPress

6.     Intro to WordPress plugins

7.     Developing a content strategy and editorial calendar

8.     Developing content (including 52 blog post ideas) and fighting blogging frustration

9.     Publishing your first blog post

10. Finding readers and traffic for your blog

11. Optimizing Flickr and YouTube for your blog’s online presence

12. Creating your social media footprint and measuring your blogging ROI

Practical tasks at the end of each chapter let you implement the strategy in a way that suits your business, and your customers.

Who’s this book for?

Small to medium business owners and not-for-profits who don’t have an online presence will find this book an invaluable asset. Also, it’s perfect for you if you have tried blogging before only to give up after a week or two.

Whether your business is online or off, the advice in the guide will fast-track your development of an online presence that’s perfectly integrated with your brand, and reaches the right audience.

As a business owner myself, the book assumes readers are:

• time-poor: you don’t have time for guesswork and dead-ends

• action-oriented: you want to do, not read

• focused: you understand that building a business blog will take time

• astute: you’re not looking for get-rich-quick gimmicks

• human: you don’t want to feel overwhelmed of frustrated

• determined: you need to succeed

Money-back guarantee

If you’re not satisfied with ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business after 30 days, Darren is offering a full money back guarantee. That’s how confident we both are that this is a resource that will help you build a solid, successful online presence for your business.

Download your copy now

Your online customers are waiting.

Download your copy of ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business now and start reaching more clients immediately.

For jut $49.95, you can secure your business’s online future. It’s an investment that will benefit your business for years to come.

Thinking about starting a new project? It can’t get much simpler than this:

1. Be passionate about what you want to do.

2. Devise a plan.

3. Create your goals.

4. Take action.

When in doubt see #1.

Doing a Facebook backup is relatively easy and painless. You might not have thought about backing up your Facebook data, but if you are switching your account from a Profile to a Page then you definitely want to save all of your photos, videos, and media.

Step 1: After you login go to Account and click on Account Settings.

Step 2: Once your on the Account Settings page scroll down and find the Download Your Information heading and click Learn More.

Step 3: Before you can continue you need to enter and verify your Facebook password and then click Continue.

Step 4: The next screen is going to start the download process so click Download. When the download process is complete, Facebook will send you an email to let you know that it’s done.

Step 5: Depending on how much information you have the download process can be quick (half an  hour) or it can take a while (a day or so). If you don’t have your information in ten minutes DO NOT PANIC! You will get your email link.

Step 6: Click on the email link and then on the screen you come on Download Now and simply choose to Save the file or Open.

That’s it. You’re done…

(Note: If you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to download the FREE blog motivation pdf Possibility Engine and make sure you sign up to  get the email updates.)

Are you trying to get to place or destination in your life where you have the freedom to do whatever you like?

Someone much smarter than me (@joersorge) asked the other day, “What does your perfect day look like?” The following is what I came up with, and it’s not just my perfect one-off day it’s how I want to spend everyday!

5:00am Wake up early, drink a cup of good coffee and head out for a two-hour bike ride.

7:00am Write some blog posts, check in with Twitter, get in some reading for a couple of hours and drink a little more coffee.

10:00am Head out for a two-hour surf session followed by a great lunch.

1:00pm Work on projects for another two hours.

3:00pm Sneak out for another quick surf… :-)

4:00pm Put in a few more hours of work

6:00pm Go out for a half hour to hour run.

7:00pm Finish off the day with a fantastic dinner with my wife and friends.

While that looks like a darn good day (and I’m sure your day would be even more amazing!), I think another important question that needs asking is:

How are you going to get to where you want to be?

In your mind, I sure hope that you can see the vision of your perfect day, but in order to reach it, how are you going to get there?

• Do you have a plan?
• Are you setting goals?
• Are you willing to put in the work?

I’m sort of in a transition/intimidating phase right now with selling my business and getting ready to launch what will be my biggest online project to date, so I’d really love to hear how you are planning to get to where you would like to be?

(Note: If you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to download the FREE blog motivation pdf Possibility Engine and make sure you sign up to  get the email updates.)

image source: wolfgangfoto

1. You have been thinking about leaving your job persistently almost every day for six months to a year.
2. You loathe working for other people in an office environment.
3. You really have an inner desire or drive to be your own boss and start your own business.
4. You are generally miserable and it is because of your job, or your job is affecting your personal relationships (even on the weekends).
5. You requested a leave of absence for three months to take a career break, sabbatical, or mini-retirement and your company said NO even though you offered to take it without pay.
6. You would like to travel and see the world.
7. Every year when you come back from vacation you tell yourself I am going to leave my current job and do x,y, and z. Then a week later you are back into the same “treadmill-esque” routine.
8. You would like to work from home or possibly telecommute.
9. You have a strong feeling that there is more to life than just going to the same job for numerous years and working from 9 to 5.
10. Everyday when you are at work (or even out of work) you are feeling claustrophobic or trapped.

**Bonus: You know the world is changing and you realize that we are in the middle of a revolution! At this point you don’t even have to  hand in the resignation but hang it in a place where it can motivate you to take action on your side hustle, small business, or networking activities.

When you plan your week do you schedule in time for blogging and social media?

For many struggling, overworked, and frazzled business owners scheduling their week doesn’t necessarily include making time for  blogging or social media. Rather, it’s done on an ad hoc basis.

Your success might vary, but for my three blogs mark-hayward.com, Culebrablog.com, and the Palmetto Guesthouse Blog I try to dedicate about eight hours each week to content creation.

Typically, I tend to work best in batches and fit in blogging around cleaning rooms, helping guests, and all the other normal “just living” stuff that we do.

Many of my blog post ideas for mark-hayward.com are derived by listening and noticing when someone is struggling with blogging or social media for their business. For me, I find it easiest to think of titles first and then I create a post around them and fortunately the titles usually come to me when I am out running or riding my bike.

When it comes to my business blogs, Culebrablog.com and the Palmetto Guesthouse blog, they are a little different. I still always want to provide some type of helpful information but when creating posts I tend to focus more on keywords and phrases that potential visitors to the island might be searching for.

In an attempt to show you what I do for my week’s plan, here’s my schedule for today, Sunday May 29. The content creation included drafting five posts for the Palmetto Guesthouse, five for Culebrablog, and three for mark-hayward.com.

Palmetto Guesthouse posts

The Palmetto posts that I am writing for the upcoming week are based on  some of the frequently asked questions that we get, which if you aren’t aware, is an extremely convenient way to come up with blog content. The following are the titles and subsequent posts that I created.

• Do you serve breakfast?
• Should I bring a suit and tie to Culebra?
• Does the Culebra and Fajardo ferry get crowded?
• Culebra bike rental
• Air Flamenco price update

Culebrablog posts

The content on Culebrablog tends to be focused on photos that we take around the island and they can be time intensive if I also need to upload, tag, and describe each picture on Flickr. As a result of today’s work, here are the five posts I have loaded and ready to publish over the next week or so.

• Hello from Culebra!
• Frangipani and Clouds on Culebra Island
• Zoni Beach Looking East
• Zoni Beach Palm
• Zoni Beach & Cayo Norte View

Mark-hayward.com posts

The posts for this site always include more text than the other two blogs and they take up the majority of my time. However, nothing pleases me more than thinking that there is a frustrated business owner out there and perhaps one of my posts can help her achieve a blogging or social media goal. This weeks posts are as follows:

• How do you plan your week?
• Ten reasons why you should write your resignation letter today!
• Evolution of a non-writer: How I was chosen to write a ProBlogger Guide

Over to you. How do you plan your blogging and social media week?

(Note: If you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to download the free blog motivation pdf Possibility Engine and make sure you sign up to  get the email updates.)

image source: Starmaniack*

Do you create your blog and social media content for you or for your customers?

The distinction is critical!

Creating content for your customers or donors can present you with a tricky situation. You know that at the end of the day you need your social media activities to drive more customers but you have also probably heard that you need to give your clients valuable and helpful information if you want to be successful and build a community.

What’s a business owner to do?

You have to change your mindset and start thinking like a customer and not as the business owner or nonprofit manager. Next time you want to create some media for your online presence, instead of focusing on sales, sales, and more sales think about the following three questions

1. Where do your clients or donors struggle with your business or message?
2. What are your customers looking to learn?
3. What are the questions that you get asked on a daily basis?

If you start with those three simple queries that are designed to get  you to think about the helpful material you could be creating, then you are going to be ahead of about 90% of all the other businesses out there that are using social media.

The best part, from the answers to those questions you should have enough blog material for a couple of months. And after you are done crafting helpful and informative blog posts, head on over to Facebook or Twitter and create inquiring updates around the posts you’ve drafted/published to draw people in and get a conversation started.

If you’re ever in doubt just remember – generosity sells and spam repels!

(Note: This post is part of the ongoing Possibility Engine series, click on the link to download the free pdf and make sure you  get the email updates.)

Are you struggling to get your blogging or social media efforts started? My friend and Possibility Engine collaborator Joaquin likes to say, “Getting to the start is fifty percent of done” and I tend to agree.

(Download the Possibility Engine for free by clicking on the picture.)

When I did my first triathlon a couple of years ago, I can still remember walking the four hundred yards to get from the transition area to the starting line. With heart palpitating and butterflies a fluttering in my stomach, the short walk seemed to take  decades and felt as though I had cement shoes on.

I must have contemplated quitting and not starting at least a hundred times and kept wondering “Did I do enough bike training?,” “Can I run the distance?,” and worst of all “Am I going to drown?”

But I pushed the thoughts down and fought with myself internally as I kept walking forward, and eventually I came upon the starting line. Without really a moment to think or contemplate, the gun went off. We started. I survived.

Whether it’s blogging, social media, or even losing weight, I think that’s where most of us struggle…just getting to the start. If you don’t get to the start nothing is going to change.

(Note: This post is part of the ongoing Possibility Engine series and is a creative collaboration between Mark Hayward (@mark_hayward) and Joaquín R. Kierce (@jrkierce) with ebook design by Jonathan Woodward of Shine & Glue. We are hoping to inspire and motivate YOU to get your blogging and social media strategy going, so don’t miss one day, get the email updates.)

Social media and blogging are changing the world on a daily basis and it’s why we named our free ebook the Possibility Engine, because anything is possible.

In fact, according to Seth Godin we are in the midst of a revolution. If you are willing to put in the work, you now have more opportunities than ever before to connect, engage, and build relationships with your customers, donors, or readers. Now is the time take advantage of the possibilities and become the brand manager, vice president of marketing, and CPO (Chief Passion Officer) for your business, your message, and your life.

Revolutions are driven by passion and a demand for change, and in this case, technology. Removing the old way of doing things—expensive ads, lucrative marketing campaigns, and ruthless bosses and creating a change with the possibilities that are available to you today demand action and a complete shift in thought process.

• Before we shouted. Now we can engage.
• Previously we had to purchase expensive ads. Now we can educate and inform.
• In the past we had no voice. Now we can connect, build trust, and develop relationships.

Certainly, there’s risk involved but as small business, a nonprofit or even as an individual, all of the impetus for change resides in…yes, you alone.

(click slide to download the Possibility Engine)

If you’ve been considering taking action with a blogging or social media strategy, we want you to get motivated and get moving because the world is waiting for you and your message. The walls you are putting up are imaginary and meant to specifically keep you from taking action:

• People will laugh. So what?
• What about my career? Nobody is telling you to quit your job (yet).
• What will my family say? Hopefully they’ll support you.
• Sure seems like a lot of work. You bet it is!

Remember, critics rarely create! With hard work and focus you CAN achieve your blogging and social media goals and if you missed the links above you can download it now Possibility Engine.

(Note: The Possibility Engine is a creative collaboration between Mark Hayward (@mark_hayward) and Joaquín R. Kierce (@jrkierce) and the ebook design and layout was done by Jonathan Woodward of Shine & Glue. If what we are trying to do resonates with you we would be grateful if you’d share it on Twitter or Facebook. Oh yeah, over the next couple of weeks we’ll be delving into each page (today was day 3 of 30) to further inspire you, so don’t miss one day, get the email updates.)

If we had told you six or seven years ago that we were going to connect directly with a major telecoms thought leader via 140 character messages and work with him to bring a major conference to a U.S. Territory in the Caribbean you’d have laughed in our face.

Or, if we stated that we were going to bypass the public relations rep of a major Hollywood actress and go direct to her to assist us in our efforts to rescue stray animals on a tiny island that nobody has ever heard of, you would have nodded your head politely and walked away and said those people are passionate but I think they have a screw or two loose.

But stories such as the above, and so much, much more are happening every day!

Think about the possibilities for a moment, you don’t need permission from anyone except yourself if you decide you want to develop a loyal online following and share a message globally, or start a small nonprofit, or if you want and create a business and work from home.

The tools are all there at your disposal and just waiting to be used. That’s what the Possibility Engine is about. YOU are now the brand manager, chief storyteller, and vice president of marketing for your life, your small business, or your nonprofit.

Our goal with the Possibility Engine is simple: for thirty days we are going to give you one blogging related point and one illustration to think about and to motivate you each day. We hope to get YOU to take action. In essence, we want you to get your blogging (or social media) ass in gear and get working!

If you missed any of the links above, download it NOW! Possibility Engine

(Note: The Possibility Engine is a creative collaboration between Mark Hayward (@mark_hayward) and Joaquín R. Kierce (@jrkierce) and the ebook design and layout was done by Jonathan Woodward of Shine & Glue. If what we are trying to do resonates with you we would be grateful if you’d share it on Twitter or Facebook. Oh yeah, over the next couple of weeks we’ll be delving into each page to further inspire you, so don’t miss one day, get the email updates.)