Blogging 101: Everything You Need to Know About Blogging for Your Business
Published on 4th July 2017
If you’re a small business owner looking to grow your company’s online presence, then blogging is the way to go.
When used correctly, a blog is a hugely effective way to get your business out there in front of more people, and can help you achieve your online goals without costing a penny, making it a powerful asset to any marketing strategy.
But how exactly do you go about blogging for your business? In this post, we break down the essentials of running a blog, giving you all the information you need to succeed:
Table of contents:
Why
One of the most valuable tools available to your business, a blog comes with many benefits. Here are the key reasons why you really should be blogging:
It will help you increase your website traffic – Blogging is a great way to add fresh, relevant information to your site. This is important because search engines such as Google give higher rankings to websites that are frequently updated with valuable content, meaning that you are more likely to be found by potential customers if you create keyword-rich blog posts.
You will be able to reach new audiences – By writing regular blog posts, you’ll be creating lots of original content to share on social media, helping you to boost your social following and encouraging people to visit your site. What’s more, you’ll also be providing your website visitors with content to share, helping you to reach even more people online.
Your blog will prove your industry expertise – By frequently sharing helpful, informative, and up-to-date articles about your field of work, you’ll be able to establish your authority and show customers that you are a trustworthy and credible business. You’ll also give visitors a reason to return to your website again and again.
Blogging will provide you with lasting results – It takes time to establish authority online, so your blog may not have an immediate effect on your marketing efforts. However, the long-term value of your blog posts as they continue to drive traffic to your website, attract new customers, create leads, and win you business should not be underestimated.
What
So, you’ve decided that you do want to start a blog for your business – but what are you going to blog about? Whilst it can often seem overwhelming in the beginning, starting a blog is a lot easier with a content plan to guide you.
First things first, remember that each and every post needs to be written to a high standard – this means that it should be free from typos and spelling mistakes, and most importantly, valuable to your target audience.
Not sure what falls into this category? Here are some ideas to get you started:
Search out your competitors’ blogs – Before you begin planning your content, check out what the competition is up to. This will allow you to see what keywords and topics are typically covered in your industry, as well as what works best. It will also give you the opportunity to carve out your own niche with subjects that nobody else is covering.
Solve your customers’ problems – Identify common issues that potential customers are experiencing that your products, services, or industry expertise could help them resolve. Writing posts that answer frequently asked questions will make your blog an essential resource for people and show your customers that you care.
Create helpful how-to guides – Your knowledge of the industry you work in will be second to none. Use it. Provide your customers with useful guides that will help them get the most out of products and services like yours. You can even experiment with different media by recording tutorial videos and embedding these in blog posts to boost engagement.
Share company updates – Let your customers know what’s going on with your business by sharing your latest news, such as new staff members joining, awards your company has recently won, moving to new premises, new product or service announcements, and much more. This will keep your customers interested and show that you are an active company.
Publish industry-related news – Make your blog a hub of useful information by sharing and commenting on the latest news and events happening in your industry. This will help to maintain your credibility as an industry expert and keep people up to date on all the developments that could influence the products and services that you offer.
When
The key to successful blogging? Consistency. Establish a schedule that works for you, and stick to it. Your audience will get used to your posting routine, and will come to expect new blog posts from you on a regular basis.
If you stop posting for a long span of time, you risk losing repeat visitors, and may also weaken your position in search engines as you will have less new content for them to provide potential customers with. On top of this, an out of date blog can give visitors to your site the impression that your business is no longer active, so frequently updating your blog is important for a number of reasons.
The best way to maintain a healthy blogging schedule is to plan your content in advance, and to write several blog posts ahead of time so that you can publish these as and when, especially if you know your business has a busy period coming up.
Remember, whilst written content is typically more effective the longer it is – say, at least 1000 words of relevant information – your posts need to be a minimum of 500 words long, so you do not need to be creating an essay’s worth of content each time for your blog post to have value.
How
Something to bear in mind when starting your business blog is that as a rule, you should be spending 25% of the time writing and publishing your blog content, and 75% of the time promoting it.
After all, if you don’t promote your blog posts, it’s unlikely that they’ll be seen by the very audience that you’ve written them for, and all the time and effort you’ve put into them will be rendered useless.
So, how exactly do you go about promoting your blog posts? Try these easy methods to get your content in front of as many people as possible:
Search engine optimisation – Optimising your blog posts for search engines is crucial if you want sites like Google and Bing to be able to find them. Make sure you’re following SEO guidelines by including keywords throughout your content and giving each post a unique page title and description – this will ensure that people see your posts in search results.
Social media – One of the most simple and speedy ways to promote your blog, sharing a link to your latest post on all of your company’s social media accounts should bring you a boost in website traffic, especially if you utilise hashtags and images when doing so. This will also allow you to easily interact with customers and see their reaction first-hand.
Email – Get existing customers and new website visitors to opt in to a mailing list or newsletter – this will then give you a direct line of communication with the people who are most likely to want to read your blog. You can then send out regular updates letting them know about your latest posts.
Sharing buttons – As well as sharing your blog post yourself, you should make it easy for your readers to share it on social media too. By incorporating social sharing buttons directly into your blog posts, you’ll encourage people to post it to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more in just a couple of clicks.
Links – Another great way to promote your blog? Your blog. By including links in each blog post that link through to other posts - as we’ve done ourselves here - you can create a network of relevant information for your readers that will encourage them to visit multiple pages and spend more time on your website, all whilst proving that you are an expert in your field.
Where
For your business to experience the maximum benefit from your blog, your blog needs to be on your company website. Whilst there are plenty of standalone blogging platforms out there, it’s no good having a separate blog if you want to move your business forwards online, as this will reduce potential traffic to your website and harm its ranking in Google search results.
Fortunately, when you opt for an it’seeze Max or Commerce website, you’ll have the option to add a fully integrated blog to your site at no extra cost.
Helping you to reach your potential on the web, our blogging feature comes with many advantages, and has been designed to be:
Easy to use – The unique it’seeze website editor gives you full control of your content, which means that regularly editing and updating your blog couldn’t be simpler.
Quick to manage – Our blog feature comes with all the essentials, including social sharing buttons, a tagging system for easy categorisation, and an archive for effortless navigation.
Fully interactive – A comments section is available on every post, helping to encourage customer engagement and discussions on your blog.
Search engine optimised – All pages on your it’seeze website can be optimised, and the blog is no exception, so you’ll be able to reach your target audience through Google and Bing.
So there you have it – everything you need to know about blogging for your business. It will take creativity, careful planning, dedication, and time, and success won’t happen overnight, but with patience and perseverance, your blog may just become your company’s most powerful marketing tool yet.
Want to find out more about it’seeze’s web design services and our easy to use blog feature? Get in touch with us today for a brilliant website and better results.
Tagged as: content marketing, online marketing
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