Me and my dog, sorry blog

And so my blog life begins, or rather reinvents itself. You see I’m a bit of an old hat at blogging.  My first one was a very personal one though – its purpose was two-fold.  Firstly, to communicate with the other side of the world as we lived in New Zealand at the time and secondly, it served as a virtual diary, one that would stay in the Cloud forever.  It was perfect for sharing photos of where we lived, our new born daughter and how we spent our weekends (in the sun) …..  That reminds me, where did the sun go???  I think we left it in New Zealand.

My next blog was a work blog – it was more like an online newsletter actually – I scoured the teams for articles, reviewed them and posted them. To be honest, it was all rather dull though, full of fellow employees bragging about their successes or telling us what IT certifications they had achieved,  yawn.

And so to this blog.  It will be a little bit personal (but never too much), sometimes informative, it will contain the odd tip or two, a few anecdotes with the odd surprise thrown in.  It’s a learning curve – so please do give your feedback on what works, what doesn’t, what you find interesting and what you would like to hear about.

Finally, why blog?  In this ever changing world, you need to stand out.  Think big, think blog.  What’s wrong with an old fashioned newsletter, or an email update, or why not rely on your website?  Well – think of your blog as a means of attracting new readers.  It’s amazing who can stumble across your blog via social media channels today.  Treat it like a live newsletter.  Use it to direct people to your website and vice versa.  You can use your blog to advertise your skills and expertise.  You can share your experiences, good and bad, personal and business.  A good blog with clever analytics and use of key words can show up in search engines.  A good blog is a pleasure to read and will encourage your reader to find out more about you.  Be consistent, post regularly and google will find you and like you!

Finally, a blog is quick and cheap to create.  Don’t underestimate its power, just make sure you invest time in it.

Happy Easter everybody, time to go and stock up on chocolate.

(Originally published 28 March 2013)