There’s a short answer and a long answer to the question, “Should I blog for my business?” The short answer is YES! The longer answer: if you have a web presence, want more users to come to your site, and want customers to view you as an authority in your field, then YES!
If you haven’t run a blog before, getting started can seem extremely intimidating. Lucky for you, I’ve been running a blog as part of my job for nearly 7 years now. Here are the most important things you should know about getting started.
Pick a good host for your site
Choosing a host is step one for having a site at all. Pick an interface that is SEO friendly, easy to work with, and can grow with your business. Companies like HubSpot, Webflow, and WordPress offer tons of customization options and are the most SEO friendly, but they are not easy for beginners to work with AT ALL.
Even at this point in my career, if we were going to use one of those tools for our site, I’d have to hire a professional to design and code it. I’d strongly suggest a simpler alternative to start out with, like Squarespace or Weebly.
Know your audience
Knowing your audience is not only important for your blog, but for your business too!
Professional creators never set out to please everybody. Could you imagine how terrible the Simpsons would be if it was trying to win over the Law and Order, Oprah, and Golf Channel audiences? Yeah, we’d live in a terrible hellscape.
You shouldn’t try to please everyone with your content either. Pick 1-3 target personas and try to tailor your content to fit their needs and interests whenever possible.
Write about things you’d want to know about
If you were on the other side of the table, looking for a service like the one your company provides, what would you want to know?
Make a list of those topics and address them in your first few blog posts. Any time new strategies, information, tactics, or best practices evolve in your business, write about those changes to keep your customers informed. It doesn’t have to be difficult to come up with topics!
Share on social media
The show’s not over once you hit publish. Take that link and share it on all of your social media accounts.
And don’t just share once! If a post is popular, you should look to share it every month or so on your social networks to get fresh eyes on it.
Be consistent
Try to set a rough schedule and stick to it as best you can. Posting frequency is actually important for SEO, but more importantly: it’ll get you in the habit of putting new content on your website.
Don’t get discouraged if you have to skip a particularly challenging week, but do try to get back on schedule as soon as you can.
