Why Write An Article

On my last Tuesday episode I talked all about using LinkedIn to grow your business.  One of the functions that makes LinkedIn so valuable is the article writing function.  Actually, if you want to write anything of substance on LinkedIn you need to write it as an article as there is a text limit on normal posts.

When it comes to marketing your business through writing there is kind of a progression or hierarchy of methods.  I guess at the bottom would be a Twitter post.  Not everybody uses Twitter, but those that do find some really big success with it, putting out information 140 characters at a time.  Rob Sharkey of the Shark Farmer Podcast and SiriusXM satellite radio show is a really good example of this.

Next up would be a post on either LinkedIn or Facebook where you can share a bit more information but still cannot really get into the meat of a subject.  After that would probably be a blog post.  Blog posts are usually limited to 600-800 words but there is no rule.  In this amount of words you can develop your ideas better but still have to omit quite a bit of detail.

After a blog post is probably an article.  Articles can be relatively short to relatively long, depending on what you have to say and where you want to release them.  After an article is probably a weekly column, followed by a white paper followed by a book.

I tend to stop at articles.  Although I have a few thoughts about eventually writing a book, at this time in my life I seemed to be capped at writing articles due to time constraints, etc.  I did actually propose a book to an agricultural publisher at the beginning of this year, but the idea was turned down.  So, no books for me quite yet.

Each of these forms of writing can be used to market you, your service or your products.  If there is a spectrum of usefulness I think something like Twitter would be one far end and article writing on the other.  Twitter is great for delivering quick information while writing an article is much better for positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

That is all well and good, but if you are starting a relatively simple business why do you need to do this?  It all comes down to marketing in my opinion.  When I had my gopher business I wrote articles about gophers.  While I was researching for the articles I did learn more about my craft, but that was secondary.  My primary goal was more business.

For example, I wanted to market to horse people and become their go to person to get rid of gopher holes that could cause injuries to their horses.  So, I researched, wrote and submitted articles.  I submitted an article the magazine "The Horse" about burrowing rodents.  You can find the link here.  Then, when I pursued customers who had horses, I referenced this article on both my website and in the magazine.  How many gopher exterminators do you think there were who were published in an industry trade magazine for horses?

Perspective

As we talk about using articles to market your business and to position yourself as an expert, it is important to keep the proper perspective.  Remember that for so many people becoming an entrepreneur is the ultimate goal.  They are doing so to create their business, and that is the end result.

For those of us in this audience that is not where it ends.  Some of us are going to become entrepreneurs because we want to, and some of us are going to become entrepreneurs as a way in which we can support our farming endeavors.  No matter which camp you come from, remember that our ultimate goal is to be able to farm, to be able to be on our farm when we need to be and to be able to live where we can farm.

If you are in this audience you know that entrepreneurship is a means to an end.  The end is farming, not owning our own business.  So naturally,