Blogging is not marketing magic for promoting your practice
Last week, I was searching for shining examples of coaching blogs….. coaches who were using their blogs to promote their practice by sharing bits and pieces of themselves via their blog posts. I went to the Blog Catalog to being my search. Unfortunately, I could only find TWO examples of coaches using their blogs in this manner and only ONE of those blogs was accepting a trackback link!!!! I was hoping to include many other coaching professionals who also share a piece of themselves via their blog in that post… but sadly, I found a lot of coaches who are blogging for the wrong reasons.
Remember, I am like any other web surfer on the web. I tried three or four other coaching blog sites in the list, but I didn’t by any means have the time or patience to do an exhaustive search. I chose to search Blog Catalog because at least these are coaching professionals who are supposedly serious about promoting their blog.
One blog I found during my search had what appeared to be a mandatory monthly post. The purpose of this month’s post was to promote an affiliate program. Hey, that’s what last month’s post was as well. According to the blog’s header, this was the blog for a coach who helped people, of all things, WRITE THEIR FIRST BOOK! Imagine, a book writing coach’s blog that is nothing but an endless stream of affiliate links.
The next blog I found wasn’t about anything to DO WITH coaching, despite being included on the list. (Blog Catalog users are able to choose what category hosts their entry.)
On to the next on the list. This one was so jam packed with ads that it was hard to read the content. The ads were for everything from weight loss products to web site hosting and many flashed on and off like a strobe light. Hurry! Look away! (My eyes STILL hurt from the experience!)
Your blog is NOT the magical formula for marketing your coaching practice. Your blog is a POWERFUL communication tool with which you can make contact with potential coaching clients. Think a free session is enough? Think again… you need a blog to establish enough trust with a potential client for them to even ASK for a free session!!!
