Something new bloggers struggle with is sharing their insights.
Some people struggle with giving advice.
On the flip side, some of us know that one person in our lives that has no problem with giving their advice. The mean well, but we all know that their advice means nothing.
For some business owners it’s a struggle to think that they have something valuable to offer others.
It’s the case of being humble while not realizing that there is something valuable to offer in the form of advice to a target audience.
In fact, it turns out that strangers might actually have some good advice to share.
From The Impressive Power of a Stranger’s Advice:
We have a tendency to ignore other people’s advice about how to spend, thinking we are better off making our own judgements. On the contrary, this research suggests we should pay more heed to other people’s advice as it can be better than our own judgements.
There is more in the article. Be sure to read it all including the links to the studies.
But we now have a little more proof that blogs can actually provide value to people. If you have hesitations that you have something to offer readers then there is a little more to consider.
Giving Good Advice on Your Blog
The key to having a successful blog is sharing what is unique to your brain. You have to think about what is inside your brain and what your customer wants. If this is the same thing then you can share it in the form of a blog post. In fact, you should feel obligated to share it with your audience because you’re really going to help them in life.
An example I’ve used before is the merchandiser for a fashion line. This merchandiser is plugged into the fashion world. They know all the latest trends. For the regular person that is going about their busy lives it can be tough to know what is popular to wear. Having a merchandiser share a few of the insights can be really useful and valuable.
But there can still be some apprehension about sharing advice with a blog. It’s not very humble to think that you have something to share with readers that can change their lives. It seems weird, in fact.
A good way to get around this is to simply tell stories. You can tell stories about yourself and your business. It’s not really bragging or anything like that. You don’t need to push your ideas on anyone. You can just share your experiences with people and let them discover their own points to take away.
An example of this strategy is the article strategy from the leaders at Slingshot SEO and their series on Inc.com. I’m a big fan of what these guys are doing. They have had success in business. They share their stories and they let the readers take away whatever points they can from the stories.
It’s a strategy that allows the business leader to remain somewhat humble while still connection and providing value.