Housework, exercise and meal prep: For many people, starting is often the most challenging part. Once the procrastination is over, the task typically becomes easier to accomplish.
The same goes for blog writing for your business. In the beginning, it may seem like a daunting mission. But once you make the effort to begin, blog writing isn’t all that bad.
Wondering how to start a blog for your business in the first place? The tips below can help!
Why Should Your Business Have a Blog?
Developing a strong web presence takes more than just launching a great website. To continue attracting traffic (and hopefully convert that traffic into sales), you need an outlet that constantly adds new, valuable content to your site without detracting from your site’s user experience (UX).
Contributing regularly to a blog is one of the best ways to keep your website fresh with up-to-date content. It provides a reason for search engine bots to come back and recrawl your site, which can help increase the visibility of your website on search engine results pages (SERPS).
Adding a blog is a great way to generate new content without creating clutter on your site. Google loves websites that make frequent site updates and rewards them with better SEO scores.
The Benefits of Starting a Company Blog
Ranking higher on SERPs is one of the biggest benefits of starting a blog – but there are many others, too:
Brand awareness
Use a blog as a platform to engage and communicate with your customers. Answer frequently asked questions, showcase popular products and services and write about what’s new in your industry.
SHAREABLE CONTENT
Writing a great article can be time-consuming, so get your money’s worth out of the completed content! Publish it on your social media platforms, include snippets in your e-newsletters or simply print physical copies and leave them out at your business.
form relationships
Blogs present an opportunity to connect with existing and potential customers about your products or services in a non-salesy way. Responding honestly and promptly to questions and comments left on blog posts builds trust with your target audience.
authority building
After you’ve been writing valuable blog content for a while, you will start to be viewed as the go-to source for expert information in your industry. This creates more inquiries and higher conversion rates.
the steps to starting a blog for your business
Trusting that you already have an SEO website in place, starting a blog begins with creating a new web page. Choose a template (or build a custom one) that enables an image, headings and text to be added. If you don’t currently have an SEO tool set up on your website, now would be a great time to do so. Once that’s done, follow these three tips:
How to Start a Blog, Step #1: Develop a Persona
Think about how you want to be viewed by your target audience and then develop an appropriate tone of voice.
For example, industries looking to be viewed professionally (i.e. funeral, legal and financial industries), may decide to use a more serious tone compared to an industry such as beauty or travel.
Perspective is also important. Writing in first-person is a great way to personalize your writing as it puts the writer centre stage. (It’s what we typically use here on our blog by using “I” and “we.”) We also regularly use the second-person point of view, which highlights the reader throughout the content (you).
Another option available is third-person, which writes content from the audience’s point of view (using “he,” “she,” “they,” etc.). Typically, this is less common as it makes it harder for your target audience to relate to your content.
How to Start a Blog, Step #2: Write the Good Stuff
You need content that answers readers’ questions and will show up on SERPs.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you likely know what questions are most frequently asked about your industry, but doing some research doesn’t hurt. Use the resources listed in this blog post to find great topics to write about. Be sure to complete proper keyword research!
How to Start a Blog, Step #3: Become Committed to Blogging
The whole point of a blog is to publish regular content so that web traffic is encouraged to continue visiting your site.
Set a goal of publishing a set number of blogs per month. Although there is no concrete answer as to how often you should blog, this article provides a suggestion based on whether a business is seeking organic traffic or brand awareness.
The overall rule of thumb? The more frequently you blog, the more website traffic you will receive.
Let Us Help You Start Your Business’s Blog
You’ve already got a lot to do every day as a small business owner; now you have to start thinking about contributing to a blog regularly, too? As experts in SEO copywriting, we know how to start a blog that will produce results.