Business Blogging

I'm busy doing some fairly extensive work on my blog going through old posts, linking them up, making sure they're still relevant, etc, etc. I've added some pages to the blog to link up articles under concise headings so that you can easily go there and find what you're looking for. So I thought I'd write a quick post about the importance of blogging. 

Someone wrote a comment the other day, saying "I wish I had time to blog, I'm working on my business since 4am to 7pm" or whatever the time was. Now, personal blogging, I can understand. Don't have a lot of time for that myself. But when you're a business owner, I see having a business blog as an essential part of the business. It just is that way. It's the space where you can write your experiences, get others to share their experiences, and of course it's a marketing tool. Every piece of content you write is a bit of something that is going to go out into cyber space and be associated with you. And it's of interest to other transcriptionists, and to clients who may want to find something out about you before they employ you. It shows your longevity, your expertise, whether you can write or spell - the list goes on. Everything you find time for, or don't, depends on how much you prioritise what you're trying to do. And I think that blogging is an essential part of any small business's marketing plan. 

You don't have to blog every day, or about everything. In fact, don't blog if you don't have anything to say. That can be detrimental to your reputation. But in business, there is a lot to say, and a lot of people out there who can benefit from it. So share your expertise and share things you want clients of your industry to know. There's a lot of people in the transcription or virtual assistant field who can really benefit from the expertise of others, and it's great to educate potential clients for the benefit of us all.

Related link - my celebrity / pop culture blog

Writing, proofreading and editing blog posts as a new service

I read a few blog posts last night and was quite shocked by the poor quality of them, particularly one as I happen to know the author of it is quite capable of writing in grammatically correct, properly spelled English. I have a theory about it. I think that people who are the best of professionals in their every day lives tend to get rushed and overexcited when writing blog posts - I know from experience it can be something you hurry to fit in at the end of a busy day - and I do think it's a shame that these errors occur, as a poorly written blog post can tarnish the author's otherwise brilliantly professional image.

In the rush, after one has worked an 18 hour day, "Their computers" become "there computers" or worse (to me) "they're computers" ... or "Don't get worn out by long hours" becomes "dont get warn out by long hours" ....

Full stops become commas in the rush to get the text down ... "I transcribed 14 hours of audio today. The client was really pleased, and I have more for tomorrow. He needs it back by 6pm." - this looks so much worse written as "I transcribed 14 hours of audio today, the client was really pleased, and I have more for tomorrow, he needs it back by 6pm."

Another pet hate of mine is incorrect capitalisation. I did a grammar and spelling quiz on Facebook, and my result was "English Professor Material" - which amazed me, because one of the questions actually had no correct answer! It read:

They took ________ dog for a walk and afterwards _________ going home. Which are the correct words to fill in here?

a) Their, they're
b) there, their
c) They're, there
d) there, they're

I picked a) and hoped for the best as it was, I supposed, the most correct, but it too is not correct. If you slot the words in, there is a horribly incorrect capitalisation in the sentence.

If you are unsure whether you can get your spelling and grammar correct on your blog, outsource this function. I will from now on be offering writing, proofreading and editing of blog posts and entries as a service to my clients.