A beginner’s guide to blogging
Thinking of starting a blog, but not sure how to approach it? Perhaps you already have one, but feel like you need a new strategy? In this article we’ll cover the basics of blogging for small businesses, including the benefits, strategic planning and best practice.
What is a blog?
Let’s start with a simple definition: a blog is a website (or part of a website) where content is posted regularly, written on topical or informative subjects, in an informal style.
In practice, for most small businesses it’s a place on your website where you can put more dynamic content – for example news or opinion pieces – as opposed to the more static sections that deal with the products or services that you offer.
The benefits of blogging
If you need convincing about the business case for blogging, then consider the following key benefits:
1. A blog is a platform for you to demonstrate your expertise
Using a blog to showcase your knowledge and experience in a particular field can give you the edge over competitors. Writing about your specialist area helps to establish authority and build trust with your customers and other key contacts.
2. Blog posts provide high quality, searchable content
It’s important in terms of SEO (search engine optimisation) for websites to be kept regularly updated with high quality content, but this can often be challenging for small businesses. Blogs are a useful channel for providing fresh content in a manageable way, building up into a valuable, searchable resource
3. A blog helps you to engage with your target market
If you create blog posts that appeal to your customers (see below), and then promote these posts on social media and encourage people to share and respond, you will get to know your market better as well as extending your reach.
Planning your blog
OK, so you’ve created some space on your website for a blog – now you need a strategy in place to make sure that it’s kept up to date with great content. Your plan should address a few practical questions:
What will the blog be about?
Talk to staff, customers and friends and come up with a list of ideas for content. Be as imaginative as possible and consider things from different perspectives. What information would customers find useful and/or interesting? Is there a particular area of expertise that you want to highlight? Could you write a series of guides, or run a competition or promotion? Think about the coming months – are there key events, news stories or seasonal activities that you could tie in with? Remember that videos and photos can (and should) be used, as well as written content.
How long should posts be?
There’s no magic length for blog posts; they can really vary, and that’s fine. One blog post might end up being very long (1,000+ words) if there’s a lot to say on a subject, while the next might consist of a few photos or a video with an explanatory paragraph.
How often should I post?
It’s important to keep your blog reasonably up to date, but how regularly this happens will depend on your approach and style of working. You might find it easier to have a fixed timetable, and plan weekly or monthly posts; or perhaps you prefer a looser arrangement, for example allowing you to react to stories in the news. In all likelihood, it will probably be a bit of both.
Who’s going to write the posts?
If you have the skills and time to write the blog posts in-house, that’s great. If not, you could always outsource the work to a content writer. With proper briefing, they will be able to communicate your message and tone very effectively, and can also help with ideas and planning if required. Another option is to draft your posts in-house, and then get external help with editing the content.
What makes a good blog post?
When planning and writing blog posts, keep in mind the following checklist for how to produce the best possible content:
- It should meet your business needs – always remember that your blog posts should tie in with your business objectives; it’s great to be creative with content, but it still needs to be relevant. Use a tone that’s appropriate for your brand, and always include a call to action.
- It should be of benefit to readers – blog posts should also meet the needs of your customers, so make sure you’re clear about exactly what each post is for; is it answering a question, making an offer, stimulating debate?
- It should be reliable – your blog posts need to stand out in a sea of information, so utilise your expertise to write with authority and authenticity, and make sure all your facts are correct. Reliable content fosters trust and loyalty.
- It should be easy to read – capture the reader’s interest with an attention-grabbing title, and hold on to it by making your blog post easy to read, using simple layout techniques (short paragraphs, sub-headings and lists) and clear language (avoiding jargon).