Today's episode is all about why you should start a blog. I go into detail about how SEO works, how you can be more competitive with your content, and how you can write better, more personal content that creates trust. Finally, i share ideas for repurposing your blog to other types of marketing.

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Hey there.

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Welcome back to the savvy host podcast.

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I am excited to have you with me today.

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I'm going to be talking about blogging.

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And don't run away Quinn.

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You hear the word blogging and one

of the questions I get the most is

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do I really have to have a blog?

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And I'm here to tell

you that no, you don't.

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But if you ever really want a long-term

strategy to send traffic to your

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website, Then blogging is a must.

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And.

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Even if you don't have a book direct

website right now, You can still start

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a blog and it will start generating

traffic and that's going to just

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serve you more and more in the future.

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When you do decide to get your own

book, direct website and there's

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tools that you can use for blogging.

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That you don't even have to have a real

quote unquote, real website to use.

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So I'm going to talk about

those on Friday's episode today.

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I'm just going to be telling you

about three reasons why you should

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start a vacation rental blog ASAP.

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let's make that your 20, 24 goal

because it is really important and

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it's going to help you tremendously.

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The first reason that you need

to start a block is for search.

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Engine optimization.

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And search engine optimization is a

big, scary, three word phrase that lots

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of people say and don't understand.

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And lots of people don't even

know what it means at all.

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My husband, Michael, he's always.

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He always says.

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To tell us.

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I'm sorry, I'm laughing.

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My husband, Michael, he always

tells people S Jody, how to

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help your your Google SEO.

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And it's so funny because he doesn't

know a damn thing about Google

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SEO, but he thinks he sounds smart

when he tells people that anyway.

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Search engine optimization.

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What that means is you create content

and you optimize make that content.

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Perform better.

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For search and that can be Google

search, which of course that's what we

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think about when we think of searching.

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And, but that can be other search too,

that can be being has a search engine.

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There's definitely other search engines is

just Google is the big one and the leader.

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So they're definitely the one you

want to think about the most, but

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you can also think about Pinterest.

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Pinterest is also

considered a search engine.

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So is YouTube a search engine?

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Even though you wouldn't put a blog on

YouTube, when they go to Pinterest, you

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can search for keywords and get results.

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So Pinterest and Google are two of the

search engines that I actually recommend.

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You use when you're thinking about

creating content for your blog?

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So the way that.

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Blogging content works to bring

traffic to your website is you create

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content and the better the content is.

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The more likely it is that Google

is going to show that content to

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people when they search for it.

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And the words that they use to search for

it are called key words or key phrases.

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So there's.

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Keywords are like one, two word.

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Little short phrases, vacation rental.

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Is a key word or key phrase, but

then there's, what's called long tail

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keywords and long tail keywords would be.

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Dog-friendly vacation rental

in Charleston, South Carolina.

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Fewer people search for long tail keywords

than they do for the shorter keywords.

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So of course, that gives people

the opportunity to get seen more by

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Google when they use the longer tail

keywords and create content for that.

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So again, the better the content

on your website, the more likely it

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is for Google to show that content

to people when they search for it.

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And by better, I really

honestly mean better.

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It needs to be.

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Longer.

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It needs to be well-written

it needs to be engaging.

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You can't just throw a 500 word

article that chat GPT spit out at you.

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And expect that people are going to

spend time reading that it's boring.

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It doesn't give them any information

that they can't get from chat GPT

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or any other website out there.

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So you have to create engaging

content because Google.

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Knows how long people are staying

on your website on the page.

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They know how far down they scrolled.

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They know really based on that data

alone, how much time they're spending

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and how much, how far down they scroll.

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They know if they're reading your content.

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If you have a video or an image gallery.

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Google knows it.

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If people are clicking on those buttons,

Google was smart like that and they know.

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And so they know if they click on

an article and spend time on the

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article and then click on a link in

the article to go to another article.

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You want to do things on your

blog articles that make people

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want to take those actions.

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It makes people want to

scroll down the page.

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It makes people.

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Want to actually click when

they see it in the SERPs,

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that's the search engine results

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page.

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Jodi Bourne: So when you type

in something in Google and the

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results come, that's called a SERP.

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They, when you see.

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An article in the search engine results.

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And somebody clicks on it.

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Then that sends a signal to Google that

content is relevant to their search.

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Then if they spend time on it,

it tells Google that content was

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very relevant to their search.

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So that's going to increase the likelihood

that the next time somebody searches.

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For that particular keyword or some

of those keywords in some order.

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That your content may be shown.

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And over time.

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The more people that click on it, the more

people that read it, and the more people

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that click through spend time, scroll,

watch videos on your page, then more

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and more of your content is going to be

shown when somebody else searches for it.

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That's how it works.

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When you have content on a

blog, you definitely want that

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content to be what I call meaty.

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I'm sure other people call this content

meaty too, but that means it has bones.

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It has.

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Structure and it is something

that people really want to digest.

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So you can have a website that doesn't

have a blog that has keywords on

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it and is optimized for keywords.

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And no matter if you use a blog

or not, you should definitely.

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Learn about search engine optimization

and how to do on-page optimization

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for your website, which means how to

make sure that Google is going to see

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as much of your content as possible.

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But it is very difficult in almost

any destination that you're in

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and almost any place where you

are marketing your vacation rental

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for you to show up as just a.

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For just the keyword vacation rental in

Whatever wherever you are or cabin rental

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in the smoky mountains cap kevin rental

in gatlinburg It's really hard for you

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to show up for that term Because there's

so much competition not only from your

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next door neighbor who's got a vacation

rental but airbnb vrvo tripadvisor they're

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advertising for those keywords Other big

property management companies they have

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either created a lot of content for those

keywords they have a lot of properties

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that can show up for those keywords or

their advertising as well So when you

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are creating a blog when you have Blog

content Intent You're not necessarily

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competing with those bigger companies

and those Those other Other sites for

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the keywords that you would use for

the blog so what does that mean exactly

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Let's say you have a vacation rental in.

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in charleston i did.

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did some research on this right before

I recorded if you were just going to

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have a website and you concentrated on

the keyword vacation rental in charleston

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Then All your pages with your property

was optimized for vacation rental

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in charleston or some combination of

those words charleston vacation rentals

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charleston south carolina Vacation homes

all of those different keywords that go

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with just vacation rental in charleston

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Ms for that combination of keywords 8,800

people per month on average According

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to google search for that combination

of keywords so how in the heck are you

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going to show up With your vacation rental

company in charleston If you haven't two

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or three or four properties in charleston

you're not going to i hate to say that

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but you're probably not going to unless

you're in a destination With very little

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competition however If you have a blog and

you are Using content marketing Then what

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you're going to write about And write for

are the keywords the long tail keywords

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where people are still searching for this

content the keyword phrase the long tail

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keyword phrase Things to do in charleston

with kids It's 840 searches per month So

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when you're looking at 840 searches per

month versus 8,800 searches per month 840.

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sure that's less people But it's also Less

competitive there's not as many people

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or businesses creating content for that

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And then if you look at the

keyword phrase, Dog-friendly

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things to do in Charleston.

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There's only 90 searches for that.

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The phrase is Charleston dog

friendly has 170 searches.

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Historic walking tours

in Charleston has 210.

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Searches per month.

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Things to do for young couples in

Charleston has 140 searches per month.

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Couples, getaway ideas in Charleston

has 70 searches for month.

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Charleston for foodies

has 50 searches per month.

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If you're in Charleston, then

I've just given you a heck of

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a lot of ideas for blog posts.

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Because when you look at that, you might

say, and I've had people say this to me

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before it will, but if only 50 people

are searching for it, then why would

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I want to write content about that?

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And 50 people is a lot of people.

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50 people is yes, it's not 8,800

or 840, but your content is going

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to be more likely to be seen.

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Faster.

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If you writing an article about couple's

getaway ideas for Charleston, and you

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use other keywords within that article.

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Maybe you talk about how young

couples in Charleston or where

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they can get engaged in Charleston.

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A whole series of articles about

things to do for couples in

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Charleston and around Charleston.

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If that's your guest avatar or

young couples or couples, then

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you've created this whole series

of articles just for them.

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And you've used these keywords

and intersperse them throughout

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your content and you link articles

back and forth to each other.

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I call that the spider

web content spiderweb.

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Then, if you do that, then you

are going to rank pretty quickly

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and pretty highly for those terms.

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And if your content is great, like I

mentioned earlier, then you're really

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going to do well with those terms because

people are going to love that content.

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They may share it.

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They're going to read it, all of the

things that not only you want them

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to do, but Google wants them to do.

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And of course your goal with the blog is

not only to get traffic to your website.

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But it is to develop a relationship

with people so that they trust

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you enough to book from you.

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So you want them to come to your

website, you want them to read

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your content and you want them to.

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I make a decision to take the next step,

which is either booking with you or

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oftentimes they're not ready to book.

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So that would be signing up for your

email newsletter, reading another article,

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connecting with you on social media.

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That's content marketing

in action, right there.

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So that's the second reason.

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That you should start a blog ASAP.

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Is so that you can start

developing content that creates

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a relationship with your guests.

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So you want your box to show personality?

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You want them to get people

interested in what you do and

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what your business is about.

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So when you're writing cheap

kid-friendly activities in Charleston,

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Then you want to give a first person

account of the time you and your

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kids went around Charleston doing

things or make it fun and interesting.

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If you don't have personal stories

to share, you can still make it fun.

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Make it interesting.

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Share who you are.

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Add details, add little

anecdotes here and there.

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And that's really sounds hard.

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It sounds daunting, but you

can learn how to tell better

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stories with your marketing.

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You can learn how to write better.

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Content.

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You just take some practice.

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I promise.

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I have worked with a host.

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Her name is Shereen and

she owns my star VR.

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Out in Canab Utah, which is in the

middle of the desert near all those

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national parks, which now I've forgotten.

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The names of, and she and her

husband also have a they do a

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four Wheeler tours and Jeep tours.

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So she has a blog on her

vacate on her website.

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It's my star vr.com.

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If you want to go look and

I designed her website.

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So if you like it hit me up.

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But she writes the most amazing,

you can see some of her blog posts.

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She writes very personalized.

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Blog posts and they're great.

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I pulled an example from one.

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So she's talking about Going

to the grand canyon from canal,

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because they're like the closest town

to the grand canyon in that area.

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And she says, Everybody wants to go

to the grand canyon, one of the seven

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natural wonders in the world, but wait.

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Stop at Jacob lake, not really

a lake, just a gas station.

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Named for a guy, Jacob lake.

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Stop on the way.

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The lodge there has great cookies.

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Grab a few for enjoying at the rim.

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So she personalized her blog

post about grand canyon.

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And of course she does in other ways

as well, just by telling people this.

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Fun little tidbit of information.

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Grab a few cookies on your

way at this extra stop.

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And that adds personality, she also

talks about her grandkids and her hobbies

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and her husband and all of his hobbies.

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They you have to go see their website

and you have to look at their properties

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because they put them together.

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They're so great.

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One of them is based on movies.

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One of them is based on old cars.

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So they're themed properties.

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They get tons of reviews.

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But what is exciting is she has

people asking her all the time, actual

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guests asking her about her grandkids.

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Because they've read her blog posts

and they've signed up for her email

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newsletter and they have gotten

to know her through her content.

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There's no better relationship than

when somebody has fallen in love with

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your blog post or with any of your

content and wants to book with you.

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Not only because they see that

you have a great property or that

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you're in an O an amazing area,

or you provide the amenities, but

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because they fallen in love with you.

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That is the difference between

you and the guy next door to

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you with a vacation rental.

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That is one of your unique

selling propositions.

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Is who you are.

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To other people who your personality is.

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So I want you to think about

that when you're thinking about.

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Blogging.

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I want you to think about ways that

you can personalize the details in your

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blog posts and make them more engaging

and make people want to read more.

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The third reason that you

should start a blog ASAP.

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Is because your blog content can be

repurposed to other platforms over and

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over and over and over and over again.

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One blog post about things to

do in Charleston for families.

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Can become Facebook and Instagram

post once a month for eternity.

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You can even use the same exact post.

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You can copy the images.

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You can copy the caption.

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You can just repost it because guess what?

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Nobody is going to remember.

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And most of the time, the

people who are following you.

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Don't see it because . A

smaller percentage.

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Our own Facebook or Instagram

when you're posting content,

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so they're not going to see it.

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If they do see it, they're

not going to remember it.

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If they do remember it,

they're not going to care.

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So you definitely can do that.

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Now, if you're doing it on Instagram,

I do suggest you change out the photo.

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If it's going to stay in your

feed, just because people might

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go through and see it, but really

you don't even have to do that.

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Just set it and forget it.

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You can link to the article.

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You can talk about the

article and link to it.

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Or you can take little tidbits

from the article and turn

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that into a social media post.

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Maybe you have six

ideas you want to share.

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For a dog friendly hiking trails.

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And over the next six months, you

have one post every month about

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one of the different hiking trails

and why it's a great dog friendly

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trail and how much you enjoyed it.

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And maybe here's a picture of you and

your dog enjoying this hiking trail you

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can turn it into additional content.

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You can turn it into an email newsletter.

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You can turn it into just a

story for an email newsletter.

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You can turn it into a real or a Tik

TOK video by creating a storyboard

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of the shots that you want that go

along with the outline from the blog.

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So once you have the blog down, Then you

really have your entire content marketing

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strategy down for four year and for more.

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' cause, you can just keep regurgitating

that same content over and over again.

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The other thing you have when you

have a blog is you have a reason

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to put your content on Pinterest.

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A lot of people want to

start a Pinterest for their.

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Vacation rental.

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And what they do is they just start

posting photos of their vacation rental.

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Leading them back to their website.

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And people on Pinterest may see that

and they make Pinot or whatever.

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But really what people on Pinterest

want to see are articles like this,

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that they can pin and save and

share and read because they want to.

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Learn more about things to do.

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Pinterest is a place where people plan.

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Vacations where they

get ideas for vacations.

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So Pinterest is a great

place for you to be as well.

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If you have blog content, but

if you don't have blog content,

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don't even mess with Pinterest

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Those are my three.

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Reasons why you should start a blog today.

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And what are your action

items going to be?

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I want you to make a

commitment to yourself that

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you're going to start a blog.

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And even if you don't have a website

right now, Then you can get the ideas

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together and start writing the content

and getting it ready for the day.

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When you do have a blog.

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On then on Friday's episode, I'm

going to go over some ways you

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can start a blog now without even

really any money invested in it.

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And just to start getting it

out there, get used to it.

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That's what you want to do, even

if it's not getting any traction,

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even if you're not doing direct

bookings, it's going to get you.

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Into practice of doing it

and it's going to help you.

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Now people make tons of money

with their blogs just by being

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engaging and developing an audience.

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You can get people to read your posts.

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And follow you more and learn

about you and sign up for your

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newsletter and book your vacation

rentals, just from reading a blog.

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I have clients who have done just that.

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So I know it can be done in all

sorts of different locations and

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destinations you can do it too.

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Your next action item.

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Is I want you.

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To think of.

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Blog topics.

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Even though you may not don't know

how to do the keyword research

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that actually tells you the amount

of searches and all of that.

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That's something that I teach in my.

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In my marketing or coaching program

and in my content marketing courses,

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but you can definitely start by just

coming up with ideas that are perfect

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for your specific guest avatars.

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I want you to just jot down some

ideas, maybe get some post-it notes.

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Go through and create a list of

topics that you can write about.

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If you already have a blog.

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Choose one and write about it.

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And again, in my vacation rental

marketing group coaching program.

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I go over ways to make your Bo

blogs better, make them more

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personable, make them reach the right

audience, make sure that they're

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targeted to your guest avatar.

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So even if you're not great with

that right now, you can get better.

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I think it's important for

you to just start today.

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Okay, this is all I've

got on blogging today.

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I hope that this helped you decide

that you need to start a blog and

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that you're going to take action.

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To get started with the blog,

or if you already have a blog.

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You're going to improve your

blog and make it the bad-ass blog

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that I know that you could have.

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I on Friday's episode, I'm going

to be going over some ways you can

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start blogging without a website.

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If you don't have one yet.

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And I'll also be answering

any questions that I get about

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bogging between now and then.

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I'm actually a day late

on getting this out there.

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So you don't have as much time to get

back to me with a question, but if

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you do, then I'll answer it on Friday.

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And if you have a question in the

future, feel free to email me.

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DM me hit me up.

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Anyway that you can, and I

will try to answer it for you.

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If you want to join my group coaching

program, you can go to the wait list.

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It's Jodie borne.com backslash wait list.

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Okay, I'll see you later.

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Bye y'all.