Blogging – Getting Started

Written by: Gary Horsman

Business Blogging – Getting Started

How to Start Business Blogging

Business blogging has certainly emerged as an effective and inexpensive way to reach your clients and potential clients. In a study conducted in 2012 we can estimate that 57 million American adults read at least one blog on a regular basis.

Of these blog readers the same survey revealed that 52 percent of them also regularly shop online and conduct a purchase and 93% conduct research online before making a purchase even if the purchase is not conducted online.

Also, note that 57 million blog readers represents about ½ of all online American adults. If you are thinking about setting up a business blog then you probably want it to help generate revenue, increase exposure for your brand and promote a product or service. You need to build up your readership, engage your readers and then maintain reader retention. You need the right focus, engaging content and to form the right kind of promotion. Here are some steps to consider when contemplating your business blog.

Before You Start a Blog Conduct Some Research

Read blogs that are associated with your industry. Note what you like and what you do not like. 2. Use the Google Keyword Adword Tool to research keyword phrases that relate strongly to your business and/or the product or service you what to present to you readers. This research will help you to define keyword phrases that you want to optimize your site for with the search engines.

Define Your Niche

To define your niche is very important. Niche readers will be more engaged and more loyal and long as you are consistent and create content that is on topic. Keyword research will help you to define your niche. Be specific and not too broad and this will help you to achieve success. To publish to a specific niche on a focused topic will also help your blog to perform in search.

Establish Your Authority

To conduct research on your topic and then to write about your topic in a high-quality manner establishes your expertise and authority. This can be a big business builder for you. People want to do business with experts and a blog will help you to achieve expert status.

Set Some Goals

In any business activity it is important to set goals and then measure your performance as it relates to your goals. With business blogging this is an important step to success.

Here are some goal ideas:

• Revenue generated from your blog
• RSS subscriptions to your blog
• Traffic visiting your blog
• Time spent by visitors on your Blog
• Number of Posts per month
• Search Position of your blog

Establish goals that are measurable, time bound, aggressive, and easy to understand. Define a one-year plan which includes checkpoints and reviews so that you stay on top of your objectives and make adjustments to ensure you meet them.

Network with Your Blog

Identify other business blogs that are similar to your own and start networking with their authors. It’s an easy way to stay informed. Also, networking is important to business success and you can network with your blog. Interview other bloggers that would add value to your readers. This is a great way to build relationships. Also, be willing to be interviewed by others. To publish interviews and to be interviewed by others adds to your credibility.

Business blogging is a great way to make superior business connections.

Content, Content, Content

Quality content is vital to the life and growth of your blog. Read and research as much as possible to ensure you stay up-to-date on the topic of your blog. Good content also engages and entertains. Have fun with your writing and give it some personality. If your content is stiff and technical, your readers will be turned off and your may lose them. Add an interesting graphic or image or even an infographic.

Your Persona – Be True to Yourself

You should inject your personality into your blog. Add details to your posts that let people get to know you. Be fun and add some humor from time to time. As your readers get to know you the tendency will be that they will be more loyal readers.

Be Consistent with Your Style

I want to emphasize consistency of quality. However, be consistent with your style and approach as well. If you publish interesting images with your posts then continue to do this. It is also a good move to publish on a regular schedule. Be consistent on as many blog aspects as possible. Your readers appreciate consistency. Also, as noted above, you need to stay on topic with your posts and consistent with your content. When you are consistent with your content you will maintain the loyalty of your niche.

Increase Your Exposure

Once you begin publishing your blog and have built up a body of work make a point to participate in other online communities such as Digg, Technorati, del.icio.us, and Blog Catalog. This will help to increase the exposure of your blog and build your traffic. Just like anything you do online you need to promote it. Learn Some SEO I encourage you to learn the post SEO basics. Get the HTML Title and Description Tags right. Use the H1 and H2 tags well. Work the keyword density to be 0.5% to 2%. Write a minimum of 300 words and include at least one image that is named properly and has optimized alt text. To have optimized content will help to build your traffic.

Publish Regularly

Regularly updating content encourages readers to return to your blog. If you allow comments the invite your readers to comment and, when they do, thank them. To publish regularly shows your commitment to your readers and subscribers.

To learn more about Blogging and SEO I invite you to visit the SEO Notebook Blog.

Also, if you want to learn more about content marketing then you may want to consider the full set content marketing tutorials that we have created for you. Here is a link to the Introductory Content Marketing Tutorial.