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Why taking risks pays off big time in blogging

Guest post by: Bonnie Harris

Article Overview: You don’t always need to take extreme risks to attract an audience. There are different types of risks every blog can choose to take. It comes down to your personal comfort level, but here are some ways to go about it.

Why taking risks pays off big time in blogging

Many businesses are nervous about sticking their neck out when they blog – they’re worried about people latching on to an idea or opinion voiced that they don’t like, and they’re concerned what that will do to the business.

But here’s the thing, without taking risks, you’ve got nothing to offer, so it is a must. Otherwise, all you’re doing is relaying the same news and fact that everyone else is already providing. Let’s face it, if you’re a small business looking to blog to increase brand awareness, you’re a small fish in a big sea. You’ve got to stand out or there will always be bigger businesses and sources that people turn to for industry news. I lose interest while rewriting and simply reiterating something someone has already said, and that won’t say much for the interest of your readers.

1. Spin the idea – take a popular, relevant news story and put a twist on it that makes it relevant to your business and audience. The risk here is simply that you’re presenting an idea with a new and different perspective. It can be received differently in every new context it’s presented. But, it does ensure you stand out because you’re not just reiterating the same old thing plastered all over the internet.

2. Present a strategy – when I put together a ‘tutorial’ style post, I build upon fact, but strategies depend upon personal opinion and experience when they’re formed. You take a risk that people won’t agree with you, but you’re also offering something new with your insight.

3. Pick a side– pick a side of a story and write about that angle only. There’s nothing interesting about always remaining neutral. This will also entice your readers to voice why they agree or disagree with you.

4. Take a controversial stand – whether you’re simply inserting one eye-catching, controversial headline or statement or being controversial throughout your whole article (which is always fun!), you’re bound to give people a strong emotional reaction. You do risk people won’t like you, and you’ll probably make them angry but it’s pretty much guaranteed that your post will be talked about. While my post ‘More Secrets for Engaging Blog Commentors’ primarily discussed commenting tactics, the same strategy can be used within your blog posts. A good example of using a controversial headline AND controversial topic is Gerard McLean’s ‘Seth Godin is a Big Fat Idiot’ . You don’t have to go quite to that extreme, but you get the idea!

Branch out and start taking some risks with your blog if you want it to be effective and tell us which risk level you’re willing to take when blogging for your business!

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Article Tags: Blogging, blogging for business, learn to blog



Related Forum Posts
Willing to Fail Your Way to Success - Entrepreneurs in my opinion, must be willing to fail. (This is that risk-taking factor quoted in the other post). If you aren't willing to fail then you don't take risks and if you don't take risks you do I like to call (I am qouting an awesome book called Play to Win!) 'Playing Not to Lose' instead of 'Playing to Win'. When you Play to Win you must risks. Risks are how you build a business and innovate.
Calculated Risks - Actually, I was the other way around while in university. While in university I never carried a balance on my credit card and I was also making just above min wage then - always paid in full and did this almost for 5 years...until recently. I found that recently I've been open to taking more risks and understand by taking calculated risks that i can actually use the money from the card to pay for investments that bring in a larger return on investment than the % charged on the card.
Re: Blogging For Promotion - If you're new to blogging or don't fully understand how you can use blogging to your advantage for promoting your business or for creating an online income, this series provides an in-depth look at blogging. In short, everything you need to know to start blogging and what you need to know to effectively use a blog for promotion or as a business in and of itself.
Re: The Best Method for Online Marketing - I found success with email marketing and combining it with social networking and social media tools. Alternatively, when I collected business reviews from my customers and posted them to my website, I again saw a surge of traffic. Getting active for at least half an hour everyday for blogging and forum posting, pays well too.
Re: Do Women Play the Stock Market? - I know couple of women who are making good money from stock. It depends on your personal knowledge and experience. To make money, you shouldn't be worried about taking risks.


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