Once again, Dilbert nails it!

Source

In general, you want a blog that accomplishes several things: attracts new customers, generates links, establishes you as an expert in your field, and grows your brand. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin explains why it’s a bad idea to have a narrow focus on your specific target audience.

• Gen-X has money! (Just kidding! Well, it was sort of a surprise to find that my own generation, Gen-X, has disposable income. We just spend it all on our student loans.)
• Baby Boomers are on Facebook. You would think they want to see pictures of their grandchildren or something.
• Millenials are far more likely to listen to a peer recommendation than the other two generations.

• Baby boomers – born between 1946 and 1964
• Generation X – born between 1965 and 1980
• Millennials – born between 1981 and 2000

Enjoy! 

It started with a request: a mutual friend introduced me to someone who needed some help. Could I help with writing and editing?

“Sure,” I said.

The catch was that I’d need to have a business license. I knew I could help this friend: I knew I had writing and editing skills that were marketable, but what I didn’t know was how it would grow into its own thing and become a business.

So, I did what I do: research. I unleashed my Inner Hermione. I asked everybody from my mom to my husband what they thought of me starting my own business. (Somehow, “having a business license” transformed into “starting my own business” really fast.)

I asked my former boss, Ed Reese, for a meet and coffee, and asked him about the marketing world of Spokane, and whether or not I should start my own writing business. Remarkably, he took me seriously (a fact for which I remain grateful to him to this day).

Not only did he take me seriously, he encouraged me. “Sure there’s a market for better storytelling, better writing on company websites. You’ll have to convince people that they need you, though, which is typical no matter what business you’re in.”

So, “yeah, go for it!” was what he said.

Being dramatic, I asked him, “What happens if I fail?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Eh. You’re out a hundred and fifty bucks.”

So I went back to my new friend and now client and said that I would help, and we met for coffee (another typical move on my part). When I had my business license, I began to do the contracted work.

The name, “SpokeAnna,” was not even my own invention – a friend sent me an email that said, “Thus Spoke Anna,” and it stuck in my head. (At the time, I didn’t notice that it might have been a reference to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which is a book I tried to read several times and just didn’t get.)

The business plan, the branding, the website, the blog, and the networking all came later. It started with a request – and, like always, I was happy to help.