Why blogging for your Celebrant business shouldn’t be an afterthought

It seems like no matter which way you turn, one expert or another is preaching about the virtues of blogging for your business and why it’s essential for all types of businesses. And whether you’re tired or not of hearing the same old message, they are in fact telling the truth.In this past week alone, I’ve been interviewed and featured in a national newspaper. I’ve had a video chat with a tv producer about a new wedding series, and I’m currently helping BBC South with a short film they are making about ceremonial butterfly releases. I’ve also just passed on the details of a Celebrant training academy to someone who has enquired.What have all of these things got in common, apart from being very exciting? Well, all the enquiries and connections came via my wedding blog. Yep, my wedding blog - engagedandready.com. The Journalists and TV producer who found me, googled certain topics and it was my blog posts that they came across, and most likely the same with the training enquiry. Without my blog, I know they would not have found me.Those who attended our London workshop earlier on in the year already know that I am evangelical when it comes to blogging for business and they got to see why. Blogging for your business is the cheapest, easiest and one of the most effective ways of increasing traffic to your website and engaging visitors once they're there, no matter what you specialise in as a Celebrant.Done properly blogging can;

• Drive traffic (potentials clients) to your website by pumping your static website full of fluid SEO content
• Establish you as an authority/expert in your area
• Makes it easier for industry collaborations
• Show off your niche, writing skills, personality and creativity

There are so many more benefits to blogging and what’s more it’s entirely free. It costs nothing but a bit of time, dedication and awareness for what you’re blogging about.As a Celebrant you should a) have a blog that is part of your website b) be using it! If you don't have time to write blogs. Make time to write blogs. If you don't know what to write about. Research what you should be writing about. If you don't know how to do it. Find out how to do it!Making a start with blogging and getting some regular content on to your blog is a great start. And if you’re stuck for ideas here’s a list of ten post ideas to get you started, which will help you to get some great content on to your blog and can help to generate more ideas for future blog posts.Be warned however, there is a little bit of an art to blogging. It isn’t just simply a case of ‘if you build it, they will come,’ like in the case of Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams! There are a few more techniques and considerations needed to really get your blog posts under the noses of those who you want to see them. But making a start is the most important thing!At our Celebrant retreat convention this coming November, I am going to be running a blogging bootcamp workshop, drawing on my experiences of having built up my wedding blog, which now attracts over 10,000 unique visitors a month and is the UK's top 30 wedding blog. I’m going to get really stuck into how to blog as a Celebrant and how to do it properly to start seeing results.Whether you’ll be coming to our convention or not, blogging is something which ALL Celebrants should be doing to maximise the online presence of their website and to attract people to their website, who may go on to become clients, or even people with which you create useful business/media collaborations.Do you blog for your business? Or are you still sitting on the fence? What's holding you back with blogging? What don't you know about blogging that you wish you did? Tell us in the comments below. 

---

Please note: TODAY May 14th is the last day of our early-bird retreat booking offer, which closes on at 2359 GMT, so don’t miss out on getting your ticket at the best price possible. We hope you’ll join us for two days of Celebrant education, connection and inspiration. You can find all the info, right here.The Celebrants Collective is a membership platform for Celebrants, from all over the world, who want to undertake ongoing career development on a monthly basis. From live Q&A sessions with industry experts, a Resources Room full of useful and regularly updated celebrant-related material, to celebrant-related articles and tutorials, the Collective is about empowering Celebrants to be the best they can be. Take a look at our full benefits here.Ps. Have you joined the Celebrants Collective Facebook group. Made up of over 1000 Celebrants worldwide, it’s a great spot for support, advice and camaraderie. Come and join us now.