Blogging. Why do we do it?
Well, for businesses, we blog because that’s how we build our brand. To the viewer, blogs make the company more personable while showing that the business knows their stuff.
(Basically, blogs are a way to show off our knowledge.)
Blogs for business are critical, especially for new businesses. As a new business, you don’t have many clients to vouch for you yet. So where do customers turn to for information about your company? You guessed it: the blog.
But before you take off and begin writing to your heart’s content, take a minute to look at the steps you need to take before your fingers touch the keyboard:
Schedule Your Time
Blogging takes more time than you may realize! It’s not as simple as sitting down, typing like crazy for an hour, uploading the final draft, and stepping away from the computer until you plan on writing the next post. (Although, wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy?)
In reality, it takes a few hours to create a good blog post. Think about it: you need time to form a solid idea, research it, draft, edit, and lastly upload a final copy.
So before you begin, schedule a dedicated blog-writing-time that works for you. Think about when creativity strikes you most often; is it in the morning or later in the day?
Also, schedule a few different times to write. Never write your article from beginning to end in one sitting, as readers will notice a difference in writing quality, not to mention, you’ll be mentally fatigued by the end.Allow yourself time to step away from the piece, mull it over, then take a fresh glance at it a later time
Befriend Your Audience
Now you’ve set scheduled a time to write, but who exactly are you writing for? This step is all about defining your audience and putting yourself in their shoes.
Having an understanding of your audience is done through extensive research. So get cozy, because researching may take a while.Understanding how your audience thinks is important. The products your audience likes, or better yet, products/services they don’t like are topics you should focus on when writing.
Going further is the writing style of the blog. What writing style will keep your audience’s attention? (We choose to lean more on the ‘conversational’ side, but that’s just our preference.)
Take your research a step further by blogging about common problems your audience has. Look at online question boards to find out what your audience struggles with, then write about how your business can solve those problems.
Befriend your audience! Show them how your business can help!
Brainstorm
Before you get started on starbursting, stepladders, word trees, and other methods of brainstorming, consider this question: Why does your blog exist?
The goal will probably be to build brand awareness, build engagement, or increase sales. Or maybe all three. Either way, keep the end goal in mind as you come up with blog topic ideas.
One of the best types of blogs are those that require action: tips, how-to guides, anything really, as long as it has steps for a reader to follow. Similar to how children’s stories have morals, you want your audience to walk away with a lesson or information they can test.
Consider alternating between actionable posts and sharing knowledge about your business’ industry.
While you may not know everything about your industry (you’re human, after all) don’t use this as an excuse to avoid topics you don’t know about. You have the internet at your fingertips which has information about everything. Studies, facts, research, tests, percentages, you name it and it can be found! Think about adding a few blog topics to the list that require you to research before writing.
Sprinkle in Keywords
Keywords are the words your audience will type into Google’s Search Bar. The more words your article has that match or are similar to it, the higher your post will appear on the results page.
And the higher your post is = the more people will see it.
Research Google’s algorithm to find out how to take advantage of the keywords. It’s good to incorporate many different keywords into each article, but tactics like keyword stuffing (having keywords appear way too many times in an article) will actually lower your ranking. Find a keyword balance that works for you and Google.
Promotions and Metrics
Once you’re done with writing and the blog post is live on the site, hooray, the work is almost over! Now all that’s left is to get people to read it.
Look back at the research you’ve done on your target audience. What social media platforms do they spend most of their time? Go after your audience online, then promote your blog through multiple posts over the span of a few days.
After a few days, peek at the metrics. You’ve done all the hard work of researching, writing, posting, and promoting. Now is the time to see how your blog post is doing!
Start by looking at the engagement: number of comments on the blog, amount of shares, links, mentions, retweets, followers, subscribers, etc. After you’ve published a few blog posts, analyze the posts that get more engagement and replicate their style.
Blogging is a great way to start building your brand. Before you blog, take the time to fully understand your audience. This way, you can write about their concerns and problems, then offer your business as the hero to save the day!
Also, the more you write about topics your audience is interested in, the more views those posts will receive, which can potentially lead to more sales.
How’s that for a win-win?
