Business Blogging for Beginners

Are you wondering just how to get started with blogging for your business? Here are my suggestions.

(You can also click on the embedded links for more information about each topic.)

1. Decide if blogging is a good strategy for YOUR business. Consider these top five benefits of blogging and the blogging for business formula. Find and review other blogs in your industry and notice what you like and don’t like. During this process, be sure to bookmark the ones you like best – these will provide inspiration and ideas for your own blog posts, as well as content to share with your social media networks.
2. Make a commitment to blogging. That includes spending the time, energy and attention, and in some cases the money. Decide on a blogging schedule that works for you, and how you will make the time.
3. Get a blog onto your website. It’s a lot of work to move a blog from one platform to another, especially once you’ve already written a mountain of content (believe me, I know!). So get this right from the start – when people are visiting your website to read your blog posts, they’ll be one step away from doing business with you. Upgrading your website to include a blog may take some time, but don’t let that stop you from blogging – get the posts ready and you’ll already have great content for when your blog goes live.
4. Create a blogging plan. Include a mission statement (who will read your blog, what you will deliver to them, and how that will improve their lives or businesses), categories, topics and titles that will fulfill that mission, and an editorial calendar that will help you deliver that content in a balanced way. Remember, you don’t need to write a full-length feature article every week – use connective content to keep your blog fresh.
5. Follow your blogging schedule! For example, you might devote time one day to research and blog planning, while the next day you can start drafting your ideas. Reserve your peak creative time for writing, and don’t forget to edit. Give yourself plenty of time to find a photo, format and publish the post, promote the post on social media and respond to any comments or conversation.
6. Review your results regularly. Just be sure you’re tracking the most meaningful things for your business. When people comment on and share your blog posts, it helps increase your visibility and credibility, but don’t get too caught up with your popularity on social media. When certain posts get a lot of activity, write more blog posts about those topics, but at the end of it all, do you want a lot of comments, or a lot of calls from new customers?

P.S. Want to get the best results from your business blog? Be sure to avoid these ten business blogging mistakes.

P.S.S. For help with your business blogging, check out Content Mastery Guide’s blog writing service, blog editing, and content curation services.