You’ve probably never envisioned yourself as a blogger. In the end, you are a proprietor of a small business, and probably not a professional writer. You don’t have to be a master at writing to make interesting and captivating posts. Crafting a prosperous blog only necessitates having a strong love for a particular theme – a feature which you as a daring entrepreneur already have Writing a blog can be an effective and inexpensive way to increase your small business’s visibility and establish trust with your readers, making it beneficial for everyone involved.
Blogging offers the advantage of ownership of your content with no need to rely on outside sources to make your blog whatever you want it to be. You will have full command over all the content on the website, guaranteeing that the feel and nature of your blog is in sync with your corporate ideals. Constructing a blog from the ground up requires some effort, but this article will aid you by providing off a strong foundation, as well as insight into the various methods other companies use for blogging.
Why start a blog for your small business?
When considering the material for your blog, the 80/20 social media rule is a useful tool to bear in mind. This widely accepted principle of social media states that it is acceptable for companies to dedicate up to 20 percent of their marketing tactics directly advertising their services and products, while the rest of their posts, or 80 percent, should be helpful and enjoyable for their followers.
The concept is to give consumers a positive experience by providing entertaining, informative, or educational content instead of flooding them with promotional messages. You likely desire to contribute something of significance to your customers’ lives, and a blog is an ideal platform to accomplish this! Posting this material can not only bring in more people, but it can also start a conversation with your current devotees, creating a more robust digital community. Blog entries can be reused on social media platforms, thereby creating more material for your company.
Here are some reasons blogging is a good investment:
Highlight your knowledge
Customers are looking for confidence that the companies they are purchasing from are dependable and reliable, and blogging could be a fantastic method to pass on your experience and knowledge in your specialized area. CEOs, founders, and other employees can increase their influence as thought leaders by using blogging to convey what they have learned from their own professional paths.
Expand on your brand’s values and goals
It is not always suitable to use Twitter threads or Instagram Stories to deliver a comprehensive explanation of your business’s objectives. Blog posts provide the ideal opportunity to delve into the ideals of your company, and you can utilize them to display your ambitions as a business owner.
Document and share transparently
Managing a company is not a simple task, and observing the highs and lows of the experience can be advantageous for both entrepreneurs and their customers. Distributing helpful information to feature might incorporate a schedule of firm benchmark achievements, four-monthly examinations, and a communication honestly depicting the obstructions in managing your business enterprise and how you vanquished them. People who make their work public have experienced a number of positive outcomes, including forming a connection with other people and increasing their notoriety. Viewers will also be made aware of this openness, potentially helping them to observe the people behind your business in addition to merely looking at it as another firm.
Include keywords in your post
Creating blog content with keywords related to your goods and services can increase visits to your website. This is a great approach to increasing your brand’s organic search visibility. Be aware that it will take a certain amount of time for the search engine optimization of your posts to be successful. Even if you create content of high quality that has been created to accommodate search engine algorithms, your articles may eventually begin to rank better on search engines such as Google. If you wish to gain further understanding, these are some SEO tools that might be of assistance.
How do I start a blog for my small business?
Now that you’ve got a grip on the essentials of creating and controlling a blog, dedicate your effort to think of more blog post topics.
In conclusion, it’s not enough for your blog to just be stagnant with no activity for months or just have new posts that are barely-disguised sales pitches. A successful blog doesn’t merely advertise – rather it demonstrates to your buyers why you are distinct from your opposition.
Below is a list of ten topics that can help increase recognition and bolster connections in the business world.
- Customer success stories: When you receive a good testimonial from a happy customer, get permission to use it. You can turn it into a blog post that will solicit more customer stories and show visitors that are new to your blog how great your business really is.
- Play off someone familiar: Mention a musician or popular actor, and you readers will take immediate interest. It will help build trust and create an instant connection between you and your readers.
- Mention a popular post: If you stumble upon a popular post that has gained a lot of attention, write something that bounces off of it. Share your point of view and make sure you link back to the original post. Don’t forget to share with that blogger that you commented on what they wrote. This also opens up the possibility of a content exchange arrangement.
- Discuss trends: Establish your authority by discussing and commenting on industry trends. You convey credibility when you acknowledge the evolution of your trade.
- Share snippets of upcoming plans: A sneak peek at future plans for your business is a good way to reel your customers in. It will pique your reader’s interest and leave them wanting more.
- Create an infographic: To create a post that will get a lot of shares, make an infographic. Posts that are fact-filled gain a lot of attention on social networks, which can drive people back to your site and let them see what your business is all about.
- Share your community involvement: If you give back to your community, humbly share your experience. If you cleaned up a park or served food at a local soup kitchen, post a video of you and your team hard at work.
- Be inspiring: Oftentimes, people just want to feel good. Write about something you found inspiring in the last few days or take some time to share how you stay positive during the workday.
- Create a series: If you want to delve into a topic, break it up into several posts. Or select a day each week or month that you cover the topic. This is a great way to get your casual readers to become regulars.
- Share hints and tricks: Give readers suggestions and hints on how to best use and maximize what they get from your product. These tips could come from the customer service team, the product team, or customers themselves!
How other small businesses approach their blogs
The great benefit of running a blog is that you can be varied in the material you post. If you need inspiration, you can use other small businesses as a reference to get you started.
Documenting their journey
Weblogs provide the ideal way for patrons to stay informed about the latest developments or announcements from companies.
Highlighting products
You may be accustomed to making your commodities known primarily through social media, yet blogging offers a unique opportunity to market them.
Choose a Content Management System
There is a plethora of content management systems you can select for your blog. Here are just a few options:
- WordPress — WordPress is used in 41 percent of websites, and for good reason. The platform is simple to use while also offering more advanced features for those who need it. The basic version of WordPress is free, but most brands and businesses will probably require a plaid plan.
- Tumblr — While Tumblr may be known as a social media platform, the user-friendly interface is perfect for writing blog posts. It’s also a great choice if you want to infuse your posts with trending memes and a more casual tone. Best of all, Tumblr is free.
- Blogger — A free Google product, Blogger has been around since 1999 and has been credited as being a game-changer in the online publishing space. Blogger provides simplicity, easy-to-use templates, and can be linked with all of your Google accounts. A plus? Google Adsense can also be integrated into your site.
How to Promote a Blog Post
At this point, you have built up a pattern of publishing content and you are pleased with the blog’s usefulness to your present and prospective customers. Now you are pondering how to advance your blog to draw more guests and openness for your image.
In order to make sure people see the hard work you have put into your blog and all its content, you will have to use time and resources to increase awareness of it.
Content promotion is actively advertising relevant material to a specifically chosen crowd using a variety of unpaid tools and paid advertisement channels. It’s essentially the “marketing” half of “content marketing.”
Here’s how to promote your blog:
Social media
Writing in an organic fashion on social media is made up of personal posts, sharing in online groups, and adding content on the pages of your company. Engaging with people on social networks is about having genuine conversations, as well as creating worth. Still, remember to select an appropriate social media site (which means, don’t post on Facebook if that’s not where your target audience truly invests time!).
Figure out which websites or apps your target demographic is active on, then begin constructing a social media presence on one or two of them to begin with. Investigate the most successful strategies for that social media channel and study how to effectively communicate with your desired followers there. On Twitter, utilize hashtags in a strategic manner, however, do not apply hashtags on LinkedIn. Gaining expertise in the two primary platforms is the first step, then you can build on it.
Once you have gotten accustomed to using organic social media, you may wish to move on to running advertisements through Facebook or Twitter. These advertisements permit you to extend your materials to people in particular assemblies based on their hobbies, whereabouts, place of work, and plenty more. You can employ targeted ads that are specifically aimed at that certain part of consumers.
Email marketing for bloggers
Sending email is an excellent method for quickly disseminating a new blog post to a wide audience.
Dispatch the highest quality material to your subscribers in an email transmission. Create an enticing glimpse into your post by writing a paragraph that piques your reader’s interest and include a link to the full post on your blog. Splitting up your email list is necessary for making the topics you talk about applicable and making sure that your blog articles are shown to the most specific group of individuals that you can.
In your monthly newsletter, you could choose and display your best content and add hyperlinks to three to five of your most popular blog entries. Consider other forms of communication that you use, and brainstorm ways you can add links to relevant material in these messages. If you don’t employ a newsletter, this is an excellent opportunity to stand out.
Diversify delivery of content
This is an easy way to ensure your content is seen and consumed as much as possible. Different people prefer consuming content in different ways. Some people have a preference when it comes to taking in information, either visually or aurally, and they would rather hear a podcast or watch a video blog. The best thing is that after you initially produce the content, it should be more straightforward to reuse it in different variations.
Here are some formats you could try:
- SlideShare: Turn your blog post into a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation and upload it to SlideShare. Start with a cover slide, one slide for each of the steps, a page with a call to action, a link back to your blog post, and an “about” page for your company, product, or service with a link to more information.
- Video: Shoot a high-value video and upload it to YouTube and be sure to optimize your video with SEO keywords to generate maximum organic traffic. Place a link to the written blog post in the description of the video to make it easy for people to find. Once your video is uploaded, you can embed it within your original blog post and share it on your social channels.
- Join a blogger community like Triberr: Triberr is an incredible resource and community that was designed specifically to amplify content to targeted groups of people, called “tribes.” Register for an account, add your blog, find a tribe, and begin sharing your blog posts.
Conclusion
Essentially, devoting a lot of effort to a small business blog can turn out to be a huge drain on resources if it is not managed properly. It may be an advantageous expenditure that brings in more funds than it consumes. Consistently providing valuable content and details that should draw in the kind of people you would like to convert into customers is your best bet.
