Business Blogging. How Do I Get People To Like Me?

So, you've got your business blog up and running and it's poised waiting for you to fill it up with valuable content and crack open that powerful relationship with your readers and potential customers.

It sounds easy, but how do you actually go about doing it.  How do you get likeable enough so that people actually come back to see what else you've got to say?

Firstly, why does it matter?

• People will link to you = credibility and ranking
• Readers will become buyers = money
• Buyers will come back and buy more = more money
• People will share your content = credibility, expert status and more visitors

It's a given that you must publish accurate, informative content and it's about how you do that which decides your online persona and your popularity.  These 3 guidelines may help.

Don't Act Up

1.  Be yourself.  It's so much easier to just be yourself because acting is so exhausting and you forget where and who you are.  Readers can spot inconsistencies and your charade will be exposed and could be mistaken for a general lack of integrity.

If your business manifests itself in the real world, then your clients will be expecting to see the person they got to know and love on your blog.

You Can't Be Friends With Everyone In The Playground

2. Forget about people liking you.  Yes I know that sounds like a contradiction with the preceding information and I'm also going to tell you that it is very very difficult to do.  But do it you must.  It is a little known fact that 33% of people will just not like you, and there is nothing you can do about it.

In the concrete world it's fairly easy to avoid learning about these people who don't like us, because they usually just spin back out of our orbit.  Confrontation on the first meeting is rare, mainly because as a species we tend to be fairly agreeable.

However, online there is a degree of anonymity and the facility to leave comments on your blog, or go and say nasty things about you on forums or social media sites like Facebook.  Cowardly, but that's how some people are and you just have to ignore it.

If you spend your time worrying about what people think about you, then you will never get anything published.

Here's a few ideas about how to deal with horrid people…

If they've puked nastiness  onto your blog, or somewhere else where you have the control of it being published or not, then hold fire.  Take no action for a couple of days and then consider if the comment is justified, and decide if you will publish it, or trash it.  Don't let it take up too much time though, because in the long run it's doing nothing for you.

If it is on a site which you don't control, then just ignore it.  Posting responses will do little to redress the balance and will just fuel the fire for longer.  There's no fun in a one sided argument and your efforts should be spent where the money is.  If the person is on a site like Facebook then just unfriend them and carry on in your own sweet way – this is about ego, or lack of it, and anyone who spends their precious money making time online by slagging off other people is no threat to you. Instead, do number 3…

3. Respond to each person who contacts your blog, or makes a comment.  Offer help if they need it or refer them to a man who can.  It will be time well spent.

4.  Make friends with other bloggers in your niche and care about what they are doing.  These arn't your competitors, they are your team mates. If you promote what they are up to then chances are the favour will be returned.

5. Be part of the online community for your niche.  Go and post useful comments on other blogs and help promote their content by tweeting, digging etc.

Blogging for business is really just about getting clients and there is no method I know of to generate clients which lets you sit at home doing SFA.  Whilst your bum may be stuck behind your computer, your content and your personality must be getting out there for all to see.