Refreshing your blog for 2024?

Hello Reader,

As algorithms get more and more fickle (looking at you, Instagram) I see more and more folks talking about returning to their previously abandoned blogs as a marketing channel. Which is great! I love seeing smart business owners focus on an owned property (remember, the own two online marketing channels you own are your mailing list and your blog).

You could most definitely fire up WordPress or Squarespace or whatever website platform you use and start posting away, but that's sooooo 2007.

Here are the two mission critical insights I share when people talk to me about trying marketing with their blog again:

1. Be strategic about your blog this time, if you're not, you'll abandon it again. Focus on thoughtful content that speaks to your absolute favorite clients or customers. This is part of your body of work—treat it that and way it'll be fun, I promise. What do you want to be known for? That's where you need to start.

2. Leads from blogs are different from leads from social media. They need to get to know you—don't forget that folks on your socials already feel like they know you! Your personality, your insights, your experience, your expertise—all of that paints a complete picture and helps readers make a connection with you and become leads. You cannot expect to post and suddenly have clients banging down the door. Blogging for your business is a relationship builder, think of it like a handshake!

Obviously, these are big conceptual points, but they're incredibly important. Too often I see people get caught in a cycle that looks like this.

1. Burned out on social media.
2. Writes a blog post or two.
3. Nothing happens.
4. Goes back to social posts only.
5. Burns out.
6. Rinse and repeat.

It's a crummy cycle and it's one I hope that you can avoid—and the first step is being very clear-eyed that publishing work on your own website is a different type of marketing than you've done before and it's very different now in 2024 than it was even three or four years ago. I want to you know that the possibilities from the marketing channel are incredibly special and exciting, but it's not fast and it takes commitment.

Apparently, my "hey blogs are cool" series is endless, but if you missed my newsletters about this from earlier this year, I'd love for you to check a couple of them out:

• ​Do people still read blogs? (2024 edition)
• ​Beyond the Recipe: The Marketing Magic of Food Bloggers (fun fact, this had my most unsubscribes of 2024 so far!)
• ​Own Your Voice (because that's what it's all about)
• ​Conquer Content Block (what on earth should you blog about?)

Has this made you think that maybe, just maybe dusting off that old blog is worthwhile? Please let me know! I'm on a mission to encourage people to own their voices, on their corner of the internet.

Talk soon,

Sarah