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Hi there.

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It's Sue.

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And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

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These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

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things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

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If you'd like to submit a topic,

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DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,

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before we get into the show today,

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I want to make sure that you know about the newest

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thing happening over here.

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It's called the gift biz bash a zoom party that turns

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into a podcast episode.

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Several weeks later,

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the party consists of a short training with Q and a,

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from yours truly.

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And then an opportunity for you to give a shout out

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about your business.

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You can tell us about a promotion you currently have going

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on or share a collaboration that you're considering so that you

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can find a perfect partner for the event.

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A little bit of learning and visibility for your business.

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What could be better?

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There is a catch though spots are limited to keep the

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party to about 45 minutes or so.

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That means you should grab your spot right away.

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It's totally free to make sure you're included.

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Why not do that right now?

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Pause this episode,

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go to gift biz,

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unwrapped.com forward slash bash to sign up and then come back

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and listen to the show.

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I'll see you at the bash.

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Maybe you're like most defaulting to the idea that blogs aren't

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meant for your handmade product based business.

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My aim in this episode is to help you see this

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differently. Am I here to convince you to start a blog

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tomorrow? No,

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but I want you to understand the many ways a blog

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can help your business.

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And then you can make your decision from there.

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Typically as it relates to business blogs,

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I'm not talking about those that are more like personal journals.

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Now we think of these blogs as being associated with service-based

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businesses. Those that have information to offer us on how to

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manage our money,

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lose weight,

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or find the perfect house,

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things like that.

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After all these industries lead to information sharing that is directly

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related to how they help their customers.

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And there's obviously information that can be shared.

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That connection to providing information may be less obvious for a

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product based business,

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but it's not really that different.

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If you think about it,

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there are lots of topics you could write about that.

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Have an association with the product that you make and can

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be interesting to your customer base.

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Let me give you some examples.

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If you make essential oils,

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you could write about how aroma therapy affects your mood,

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the proper way to store your oils.

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What's the best use of essential oils,

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how best to use essential oils,

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less known benefits that can boost your health with essential oils,

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why you're attracted to certain sense over others.

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And if you make custom tumblers,

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you could write about how you got into the business.

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You could share,

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drink recipes,

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why tumblers are good for the environment,

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what you need from a customer to create a personal product

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for them.

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Tumbler choices of the rich and famous.

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Okay. I'm getting a little carried away here with this last

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one. But my point is you can brainstorm a million topics

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that can relate back to your product.

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Don't know the health benefits of essential oils or how your

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tumblers help with protecting the world.

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Research has never been easier.

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Google it,

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and then create an article around the information you uncover adding

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in your own spin.

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Of course,

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these don't need to be long either.

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I mean,

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you're not setting out to write a book here.

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I just did a Google search for this and find that

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for 2022,

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the best length of a blog is somewhere between 1,760

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and 2,400

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words. When you get rolling,

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that's not a lot at all,

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but you still have to do it.

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Pick your topics,

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find some facts and call upon your own experiences and write

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that article.

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Is it worth that energy and time?

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Let me present my reasoning on why I would say overwhelmingly.

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Yes, here are the five ways a blog can benefit your

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business first and most obvious.

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It's great for SEO search engine optimization.

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This is the one way people are going to find you

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online through your website,

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SEO, without getting into all the details here about being ranked

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in search.

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Let's start with,

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if you're not there,

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you won't be found at all.

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And it only makes sense that the more you put out

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online, the more chances you've created to be discovered,

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isn't this what we're always trying to get more visibility,

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more people to know your brand more,

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more, more,

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but you might say,

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I don't see very many other people doing this.

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Exactly. And this is my second reason why you should.

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Most people haven't gotten the memo,

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but you're here with me.

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So you get to be in the know who said,

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you need to always look at others for an example of

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what you should be doing with your business.

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And the fact that others are missing this valuable asset allows

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your content to rank higher.

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When a topic is searched,

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another plug for increased visibility.

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One that doesn't have a shelf life,

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either mind you.

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Okay. Number three.

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How about an answer to why someone should buy from you

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versus another maker who creates a similar product?

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When you have a blog and write about things in your

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industry, ways to use your product and any other number of

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topics you become the authority,

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credible, trustworthy,

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and knowledgeable,

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not just out there for the buck in the sale.

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You're helping your customers in a way most never will.

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Number four,

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adding personality to your brand.

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When you blog your voice comes out the way you word

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things, the topic and content of your articles.

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These all give insight into you as the maker,

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and finally rounding out.

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My five reasons to have a blog is for social media

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content. When you have a new article on your website,

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you can direct people to it,

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through your posts on Facebook,

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Instagram, or my newest favorite Pinterest.

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In fact,

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Pinterest will give your article long lasting play.

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In the recent past,

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there had been a trend of posting long form content in

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a social media post.

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I'm sure you've seen that.

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I'm going to suggest to you now that the time spent

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doing that for a post that either goes away or gets

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buried in the feed is nowhere near as good an option

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as writing something on a platform that can work for your

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business for years to come.

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It sounds kind of obvious when you hear it right.

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Okay. Here's a summary of my five top reasons to consider

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a blog for your product based business,

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increased SEO to establish credibility and a leadership role.

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It adds personality to your brand,

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making you more trustworthy and finally for fresh and new social

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media content.

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Let's talk about some businesses who have put blogging into action.

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One of the first people I know who started talking about

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this is Marcus Sheridan.

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He has since written a book all about it called they

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ask you answer.

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I read this book years ago when it first came out

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and it's since been updated.

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I highly recommend it.

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By the way,

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I'll give you some headlines here about Marcus's story.

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He owns a pool company in the south.

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He started writing a blog,

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covering the topics most frequently discussed when his salespeople would go

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out to homes for face-to-face estimates,

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things like why they use the materials that they do.

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Maintenance questions,

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pricing, you get the idea,

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want to know what this has done for his business because

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of the SEO.

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More people found him through search.

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Most of the questions that his customer support team would spend

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time answering was done independently through reading the articles that he

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had written.

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And when a sales person does go out for an estimate,

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the close rate goes through the roof.

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You see those who found that Marcus's pools weren't for them,

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filtered themselves out and never requested a meeting,

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more sales in and less cost to acquire each one,

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a winning strategy.

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If I've ever heard one,

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Anna from limbo imports is finding the same thing.

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One of the biggest objections she hears for her gorgeous hammock

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chairs is how difficult it seems to be,

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to find the right place,

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and then actually put in the hardware to hang it.

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One article to the rescue,

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addressing this issue resulted in sales,

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increasing without any additional effort on her part.

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You can read this one and all her product related blog

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articles over on her website,

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limbo imports.com.

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So have I met my goal,

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getting you to think about a blog for your business.

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The reasoning is pretty compelling.

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Find some time,

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pour yourself a cool drink and give it some thought or

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better yet brainstorm some possible topics.

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It may even lead to your first article.

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That's a wrap.

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I'm a get to the point kind of girl.

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And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

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sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

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of yours.

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Share your handmade products with us.

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We want them and they bring us both so much happiness.