I was talking with my friends at KickStart Health, Fitness and Rehabilitation the other day about social media, SEO and all things website. While we were chatting, I mentioned the importance of meaningful blogging and they made a point that seems to echo the sentiments of many business startups; they’re eager to write but just don’t know where to start. It’s true, blogging seems easy, and all the top tips out there try to make it easier…

“just allocate yourself 1 hour everyday to write”

“just remain disciplined”

“just start with a problem then write about how to get to the future ideal”

“just share how you feel”

…the list goes on. And sure, in theory that sounds easy, but we’ve all sat down in front of the computer, prepared with an hour, and discipline, and even a topic, and just felt blocked. Or we’ve written away for that dedicated hour and at the end looked at our handiwork and, well, *delete*.

It’s just not as simple as it sounds. So we continued chatting a while, and I noticed two things that seem to resonate with all small businesses – they want to create meaningful content, and they had amazing, passionate and heartfelt stories to tell me about their clients and their work.

They told me the story of a friend and client, who was a labourer and worked 10+ hour days, lived on energy drinks, and never had time to go to the gym. They walked me through his story and how excited they were to hear after just 6 weeks in their program, he had quit sugar, had natural energy to drive him through the day, and was even excited to hit the gym after a long day at work! It was at this point I stopped them to let them in on a little secret… there was their first blog post. A real-life, human story they were excited to share, that might help others to start their journey to better health. What could be more meaningful to write about than that? They looked at me stunned, as if it was so simple, and just like that their attitude about blog-writing changed.

You see, the trick is, the one killer trick to give you unlimited content, consistent posting, and motivation to write, is those stories. Those stories you find yourself telling your friends about, those anecdotes you are excited to share, sharing your wisdom or experience, those little bursts of light through all your hard work that make you feel like it’s all worth it. Those stories are pure blogging gold, all you need to do is change your attitude about things slightly. When you hear yourself talking to someone about your business, make a mental note (or write it down!) to blog about it later. When you’re in a consultation, talking that prospective client through their options, make a note and blog about it later. If you think it’s valuable enough to tell one person, or advice you’re willing to give a potential client for free, then it is definitely worth writing about! Your readers, clients, and google rankings will thank you!