Blogging is an effective way to get more eyeballs on your small business and a valuable addition to any marketing strategy. The thing is it takes time so you’ll want to do it right.
Before you even put pen to paper or fingertip to keyboard there’s a few things to think to give your blogging a chance to be effective for your business. The last thing you want is to spend your precious time going full steam ahead into blogging without getting to grips with a few key things first. You want a return on your blogging efforts. Don’t you?
Here’s what to consider before you decide to start blogging for your business:
• Why are you blogging for your business?
• Who are you blogging for?
• Where are you going to put your blog?
• How often will you blog?
• When will you write your blog?
• What will you blog about?
• What makes a great blog?
Why are you blogging for your business?
Whatever you do in your business should have a purpose and help you to achieve your goals and objectives. And be sure to add fun in there too 😊
Blogging is no different.
Give your blog a purpose so they play their part in growing your business. Some examples could be:
• To increase traffic to my website by 60% in the next 12 months.
• To answer my top 10 most frequently asked questions about my product/service so I can reduce the time replying to emails by 35% in the next 8 months.
• To boost my email list from 50 to 200 in 6 months.
Your goals might not be anything like these examples but I hope they give you an idea of how to make your goals specific for your blogging activity.
Who are you blogging for?
You want to be blogging for YOUR ideal client. Not blogging for everyone and anyone.
Ideal client is sometimes called Customer Persona, Dream Client or Avatar.
What you call the ideal person you want to sell to is up to you. I’m going to use Ideal Client from here, just so you know. The key thing is that you know who you want to be selling to so you’re clear on who it is you’re spending your time creating your blogs.
If you’re not sure who you are blogging for, check out my blog where I explain how to identify who your ideal client and target audience
The truth is, you need to get clear on who it is you want to sell to so your marketing will stand out from all the noise in this online world of ours, and get in front of your potential clients.
Does it matter if your blog is read by those that aren’t your ideal clients?
No. I think it can be a good thing.
The reader of your blog may know someone who is in your target audience and may share your blog with them.
You want your blog to be building trust and for it to play its part in reducing the time it takes to convert your browsers into buyers.
Your target audience may be better placed to afford your product or service right now but there will be those that aren’t quite there yet. They’ll love your really useful and helpful content and see you as their go-to person with their questions because they’ll know you’re more than likely to have a blog to help them out. Then, when they’re in a position to afford your product or service you’ll already have a relationship with them and selling to them will be a no-brainer.
Thinking about your blog in this way might trigger the question “who can I help with my blog?”.
You’ll then be able to identify different groups you can write for and how you can help them where they are now.
For example, if you’re a website designer you may target larger organisations but your blogs are being found, read and loved by smaller businesses that learn so much from your free content. Who’s to say these smaller businesses won’t grow and become your target audience?
Where are you going to put your blog?
Your website. That’s the most obvious place to put it but it’s not the only place you can put it.
Where else can you share your blog after you’ve published it on your website?
A blog isn’t just for your website. There are so many other places you can share your useful and helpful content. Remember, make your blog earn its keep.
Publish it on platforms such as LinkedIn and Medium.com. to help people find your content.
But be sure to prioritise your website because you own it. Think of the other platforms as where you’re renting space from them. On a whim they could close down tomorrow.
Do you publish your blog onto another platform on the same day as your website?
Always publish onto your website first. This gives Google a chance to know that it’s there, then wait 7 days before publishing elsewhere.
How often will you blog?
Decide how frequently you’ll publish your blog AND what day of the week it will be published.
Why does it matter how often and on what day I’ll publish my blog?
With this decision made, you’ll be able to then plan what you’re going to write and when it’s going to be published on your website.
When will you write your blogs?
Writing and researching content for your blog takes time and it’s so easy to be drawn into doing something else that takes you away from getting done.
Think about when you’ll take the time to write your blog, when you’re your most creative and block this time out in your diary.
It might be you book one day out a week to create your content or two half-days but be sure to give it the time it needs.
What will you blog about?
Here we are. The blogging nitty-gritty. What on earth will you blog about?
In a previous blog I go into this in more depth (read it here) and show you how to make your blog relevant to your product, service or industry. I’ve included some fab blogs as examples for you.
You’ll then want to map out:
• Your blog ideas
• Your content plan
• Your blogging calendar
Check out this blog where I show you how to create your marketing plan for 12 month’s worth of content to support your business goals and objectives.
How to keep track on what blogs to write and what blogs you’ve written?
Keeping track of what you want to blog about can be recorded on a spreadsheet.
Have columns for your blog title, a column with the date you will write it, a column with the date you will publish it to your website, a column of the URL for the published blog on your website, and a column with the date you’ll publish it on other platforms.
What makes a great blog?
I always think a good blog is one that’s useful and helpful to you and your audience.
How can your blog be useful and helpful to you?
A great blog helps you:
– Drive more traffic to your website
– Get more leads and sales
– Build trust with your target audience
– Become the go to person for your niche, audience, industry
– Helps you to achieve your business goals and objectives
– Can reduce the time it takes a potential client to buy from you
– Gives you a bank of useful and helpful content to repurpose
How can your blog be useful and helpful to your reader?
A great blog for your reader:
– Gives them useful and helpful actionable content
– Let’s them know you know your stuff
– Let’s them know you understand them
– Let’s them know if you’re going to be a fit for them – or not
– Answers their big questions
– Has an eyeball grabbing title – straight away they know what it’s about and they can’t help but read it
– Starts with an attention-grabbing paragraph and sets the scene – They’re in the right place
– Your title and content do what it says on the tin – as they read your blog it’s answering their questions about the topic in a logical order
– Gets your reader to take action because you want your blog to be useful and helpful – it may be to think about something, do something, compare something to another thing. Make it clear and make it actionable
In Summary:
Before you embark on a blogging adventure for your business, it’s wise and sensible to get clear on a few important blogging-related details:
– Why are you blogging for your business?
– Who are you blogging for?
– Where are you going to put your blog?
– How often will you blog?
– When will you write your blog?
– What will you blog about?
– What makes a great blog?
Spend time answering these questions and you’ll have made a great start to blogging for your business. It may seem a pain to do but once you do it, you’ll have a greater understanding of the purpose behind your blog, recognise how blogging can become part of your marketing strategy and how much more impact you can make when you create useful and helpful content for your audience.
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