Five years ago I didn’t have a blog and had never even read one. I
started a travel blog to learn about blogging so I could better help my
clients and to launch my freelance writing career, but Get In the Hot Spot was a lifetime in the making because I’ve been traveling and writing my whole life. Often at the same time.
When I started Get In the Hot Spot I’d recently emigrated to Australia. Although my husband Rich and I had been running our own Web design and Internet marketing business for 10 years in New Zealand we had no contacts in Australia and zero reputation locally so we had to start all over again.
As well as setting up Get In the Hot Spot, which was really just an experiment, we also set up a static website at Mucho to market our business. In New Zealand we’d had great success with a traditional website and all our business either came from word of mouth referrals or Google searches for terms like “Auckland web design” which we ranked number one for at that time.
Search engine optimisation is still important but blogging has been even more effective for my business. Here’s how blogging has changed my business over the last five years and why:
1. Got more clients by creating global connections
Business was slow to begin with but we got some local jobs and I carried on blogging because I was enjoying it. Then something strange happened. Someone from the other side of Australia got in touch, said they liked reading my blog and asked if I could do some copywriting for them.
Then the same thing happened with another person on the other side of the world who asked if I could design their website.
Slowly but surely our business took off in equal parts because of local marketing on the Mucho site and through mass non-marketing globally on Get In the Hot Spot. I call it non-marketing because I never tried to promote our business there and didn’t even have a hire me button on that blog for many years.
2. Created trust by sharing personal stories
What was really strange was that some of the stories I shared were not just personal but often down right silly or embarrassing. I wrote about how I got swept out to sea, robbed and left stranded at the beach wearing a pair of bikini bottoms a few sizes too small and not much else. I blogged about how I had a nightmare so real that I ran out of my hotel room naked. I shared awkward family photos.
It’s counter-intuitive or I would never have done it but those personal and funny stories made me seem like a real person. Time and again readers told me they thought of me as a friend. Often they emailed me privately to tell me their own experiences and those silly little stories created a strong bond.
3. Diversified our income by creating new opportunities
It took me a while to admit it but when I realised the power of blogging I set up Successful Blogging to really capitalise on it. But first I wrote Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps and started offering consultation services which created two new streams of income.
Now I also sell blog advertising on Get In the Hot Spot, have a much wider base of clients including many in the travel industry who hire me as a travel writer, a job I only dreamed of when I started blogging. I have also been paid to travel and promote brands as an online spokesperson.
Then there are perks like overseas trips to Canada, Japan and China as well as local trips to Uluru and I increasingly earn money directly (by being paid for my time) or indirectly (by selling travel stories) through those trips.
Without even trying to or even imagining it was possible I created a global brand from my kitchen table by blogging. Today my writing has been published in print and on some of the biggest blogs on the Internet and I’m often invited to speak at conferences about blogging. So I definitely reached my goals of launching a writing career and learning about blogging.
Blogging’s a great way to launch a career or boost your business but it’s more than that. Blogging will also help you meet like-minded people, learn more about yourself and give you a creative outlet. Call me a zealot but I think everyone should have a blog.
So that’s why I not only read blogs these days but I carry on writing blogs too.
Could blogging improve your business or maybe it already has? Share your story in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.
When I started Get In the Hot Spot I’d recently emigrated to Australia. Although my husband Rich and I had been running our own Web design and Internet marketing business for 10 years in New Zealand we had no contacts in Australia and zero reputation locally so we had to start all over again.
As well as setting up Get In the Hot Spot, which was really just an experiment, we also set up a static website at Mucho to market our business. In New Zealand we’d had great success with a traditional website and all our business either came from word of mouth referrals or Google searches for terms like “Auckland web design” which we ranked number one for at that time.
Search engine optimisation is still important but blogging has been even more effective for my business. Here’s how blogging has changed my business over the last five years and why:
1. Got more clients by creating global connections
Business was slow to begin with but we got some local jobs and I carried on blogging because I was enjoying it. Then something strange happened. Someone from the other side of Australia got in touch, said they liked reading my blog and asked if I could do some copywriting for them.
Then the same thing happened with another person on the other side of the world who asked if I could design their website.
Slowly but surely our business took off in equal parts because of local marketing on the Mucho site and through mass non-marketing globally on Get In the Hot Spot. I call it non-marketing because I never tried to promote our business there and didn’t even have a hire me button on that blog for many years.
2. Created trust by sharing personal stories
What was really strange was that some of the stories I shared were not just personal but often down right silly or embarrassing. I wrote about how I got swept out to sea, robbed and left stranded at the beach wearing a pair of bikini bottoms a few sizes too small and not much else. I blogged about how I had a nightmare so real that I ran out of my hotel room naked. I shared awkward family photos.
It’s counter-intuitive or I would never have done it but those personal and funny stories made me seem like a real person. Time and again readers told me they thought of me as a friend. Often they emailed me privately to tell me their own experiences and those silly little stories created a strong bond.
3. Diversified our income by creating new opportunities
It took me a while to admit it but when I realised the power of blogging I set up Successful Blogging to really capitalise on it. But first I wrote Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps and started offering consultation services which created two new streams of income.
Now I also sell blog advertising on Get In the Hot Spot, have a much wider base of clients including many in the travel industry who hire me as a travel writer, a job I only dreamed of when I started blogging. I have also been paid to travel and promote brands as an online spokesperson.
Then there are perks like overseas trips to Canada, Japan and China as well as local trips to Uluru and I increasingly earn money directly (by being paid for my time) or indirectly (by selling travel stories) through those trips.
Without even trying to or even imagining it was possible I created a global brand from my kitchen table by blogging. Today my writing has been published in print and on some of the biggest blogs on the Internet and I’m often invited to speak at conferences about blogging. So I definitely reached my goals of launching a writing career and learning about blogging.
Blogging’s a great way to launch a career or boost your business but it’s more than that. Blogging will also help you meet like-minded people, learn more about yourself and give you a creative outlet. Call me a zealot but I think everyone should have a blog.
So that’s why I not only read blogs these days but I carry on writing blogs too.
Could blogging improve your business or maybe it already has? Share your story in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.
Author: Annabel Candy
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