Blogging your gardening or landscaping business

Like all generations of business there is a natural evolution. Skills and ideas are passed down as a business matures.

Even now, the internet is still relatively young.

I bought my first computer in 1988 - actually I started with an Amstrad word processor but its functions were limited.

Web access, forget it. It wasn't even available and to most people, they didn't even know it was coming. My first website wasn't built until about 1998.

Then all of a sudden the web became another mainstream tool in which to advertise a business.

In the beginning websites were mainly amateurish, slow and were not a great reflection of the business it was trying to publicise. There were not anything like the tools available as there are today

Professionally designed websites were expensive to have build and update, which meant, once the site had been created, the website wasn't regularly updated and therefore they weren't effective as a publicity tool.

Search engines were in their infancy too.

Today there are a vast array of tools available and the one that seems to still excite companies and individuals alike is the Blog.

A blog is an on line diary (weblog shortened to Blog) I pay to use Typepad which is owned by Six Apart but there are many others.

I started blogging using Blogger a free service which is now owned by Google.

Blogging gives a business owner the opportunity to inject their own personality, giving the potential customer an insight into who they'd be dealing with.

Written regularly, a blog allows one not only to express them self but it can also give a client confidence too.

What is more, search engines are super-intuitive so good content, written around your business, will attract the right potential client looking for the product or service you provide.

Five lines of text and a photo on a static page tells the reader little but a short piece, accompanied with several photos or a short video of how you managed to overcome a problem in a garden, for example, tells a potential client something about you.

My advice to budding landscapers or gardeners is get into blogging and start to express yourself. It is both an advert and extension of your business but more importantly it is an extension of your business personality.

Comments

[Helen Gazeley]

Hi, Phil
I've just discovered this site and wanted to say how good it looks. I've been thinking of starting a blog (I'm a freelance writer and complementary therapist)and just wondered why you moved to Typepad from Blogger, especially when you have to pay for it. What are the advantages? Your site certainly looks good; I see quite a lot of blogs etc, and yours is nice and clean, easy to navigate and loads up quickly.
Best wishes
Helen

[Philip Voice]

Hi Helen

Thank you for your nice words about my blog. I know things are going the right way when I get feedback like yours.

I have a good friend called Craig McGinty who has been instrumental in getting my blog right. Craig is a professional Blogger and he uses the Typepad system.
I started on Blogger, and so did CRaig, but we find that Typepad is much more versatile and almost unlimited in the way it can be used.

It really does not cost a lot in the scheme of things and I make much more money, through affiliate coding and Google contextual advertising.
I am in a fortunate position of being able to work here in France from home. I blog from anything up to 4 hours a day depending on commitments, energy and inspiration.

Good luck with your blog and thank you for taking the time to comment.

[Gardening-Needs]

I run my own Gardening Company called Gardening Needs and this page has been very helpful.

Thankyou

[Mike Goodman]

Is this blog still relevant? It would be nice to think so even though it is now several years old. Especially as my own site, http://www.freshscaped.co.uk is about to offer gardening tips in blog format on a regular basis.

Just getting a little worried that social media platforms may be taking over the blogging space.