You’ve heard it time and time again that blogging will help your business’s online exposure.

You’ve probably got your blog set up ready to go but there’s a question lurking in the back of your mind…

How do I start blogging?

If you’ve got this far you’ve probably already answered the question “why do I want to blog?” Just in case you haven’t, you need to think about it carefully.

A blog is an online platform from which  you can give your opinion and offer tips and advice. It will add value to your customers and provide a rich source of back links for your website.

If your answer was “because everyone else is doing it”, forget it. Blogging takes stamina – it’s not something you can do every now and then. If you want it to be effective you have to blog regularly – and that means at least weekly.

To illustrate this point you may be interested in a post that I came across on socialmediaexaminer.com outlining The 5 Pillars of Business Blogging Success which shows that blogging is about far more than writing random posts and sending them out into cyberspace.

In essence you must:

1. Plan  - define your target audience and write for them using your chosen keywords. Decide why you’re blogging and what you want to achieve from it. 

2. Content -  write your posts in simple language (no jargon). Make them interesting and relevant to your audience and pay attention to your headings to make sure they’re eye-catching.

3. Design – looking at the bigger picture, the design of your blog should be attractive and make people want to hang around. Make sure it’s clean and uncluttered.

4. Marketing – if you want people to read your blog you have to tell them it’s there. Promote your post through social media and get an RSS feed showing the latest posts of your website.

5. Engage – write to your reader (use the second person). This makes it personal to them as though you are confiding in them.

There’s a lot to think about when blogging.

If you are going to be successful you have to be committed and be able to generate a constant stream of valuable information.

Not only will it benefit your customers by giving them advice and tips it will also help your SEO strategy by building links to your main website.

Have you had success blogging? If so leave a comment and share your experiences.

Are you a serial blogger?

You know, the type of person who churns out a post, forgets about it and then churns out the next.

The content you produce for your blog is very valuable so you must make the most of it. Unlike other forms of communication, a blog post won’t disappear or be used as tomorrow’s chip wrapper.

Once you’ve hit ‘publish’ it’s up to you to make the most of that content and keep it alive.

If you want a long shelf life on everything you post, follow these 6 simple steps.

1.  Follow up

The world is constantly changing so your original blog post may need updating at some point.

Rather than going back to it and adding new information, write a follow up post and link it back to your original one. This will help drive traffic to your existing content as well as add value to your reader by updating them on new ways of thinking.

2. Internal links

If possible, relate new posts to old ones by linking to them, especially if they are linked by subject or (as in the case of number 1) are providing extra/updated information.

3. Re-Tweet

Twitter and blogging go hand in hand. It’s a great way to promote your content to a wider audience and a way your readers can spread the word for you by re-tweeting it.

Plus, you can always breathe life into past posts by tweeting them from your archives, especially if their content is relevant to something happening in the news.

4. Repurpose content

As you’ve spent time creating the content in the first place, why not reuse it? Spinning it into an article will help get your name out there as an authority on your topic. Plus using keyword rich links back to your website will help your SEO strategy.

5. Optimise

SEO isn’t just for your web copy. By targeting specific keywords within your blog posts you can drive targeted traffic to your blog. Choose well and your blog post could remain a prominent fixture in the search engine results for a long time.

6. Newsletters

Companies that send out monthly newsletters often find it difficult to come up with content. Well, if you blog, why not use some of your posts as the basis for news and information?

All you have to do is use a snippet of the text and add a ‘read more’ link to take your reader to the original post. This is a great way to pass on valuable information and boost your blog’s readership.

Blogging generates great and valuable content so make the most of it.

Do you have any other ways of making the most of your blog posts? If so leave a comment and share your ideas with us.

Are you looking for some blogging advice?

Be yourself.

The mistake many people make when starting their blog is they try and emulate their blogging heroes. There’s nothing wrong with turning to them for inspiration but your blog should be a reflection of you and not a poor imitation of one of the blogging greats.

Your blog is your opportunity to publish your thoughts and opinions and share information with others.  

Moving from novice to expert

Making the transition from a novice blogger to an expert is a gradual one. It’s not something that will happen over night but here are 4 simple things to remember which will help you reach expert status.

1. Be unique

By being yourself and not trying to copy someone else’s style, you’ll be offering something unique. There’s only one you so use your individuality to your advantage.

There’s nothing wrong with reading other blogs to see what people are saying and to get inspiration but make sure your posts reflect you. That way your readers will get to know you.

2. Be regular

That doesn’t mean you should dash out and stock up on prunes. As your blog readership grows your audience will get to know when you post – so find a frequency that works for you and stick to it. 

And don’t forget that if your readers take the time to leave a comment on your blog (that’s not spam) respond to it. Even a simple ‘thank you for your comment’ shows that you care and enjoy interacting with your readers. .

3. Be personal

Letting your personality shine through your writing will help you connect with your readers. If you’re writing about something that’s happening in your industry include your opinion or relate it to something that’s happened to you. 

Make sure you don’t post in haste. At times people will wind you up but it you immediately write an emotional post in response you may regret it. Always think before you publish.

4. Be attractive

It’s the content of your posts that will connect with your readers but your blog still has to look inviting. With a vast array of free templates out there, there’s bound to be one that suits you. But try and keep it simple and unfussy – less is most definitely more.

Blogging is a great way to engage with people, voice your opinions and share information. I’ve been blogging for 3 or 4 years. It has helped me develop as a writer, put me in touch with some amazing people and it’s proven to be a valuable part of my search engine optimisation strategy for my business as a copywriter.

What are you waiting for? Start your blog today by using a platform such as Word Press or Blogger and start writing.

Blogging is an excellent way to boost your business’s online presence.

Yes it takes time but, believe me, it really does work. I’m a copywriter and have been blogging for several years now and it has really helped be cement my position within the Google rankings.

Blogging means you are constantly putting fresh content out onto the web. This constant content feeding generates traffic which is vital for your search engine optimisation strategy.

As you know SEO is all about getting found on the web for your chosen keywords. So by writing your blogs in line with your SEO strategy (i.e. using the keywords you want to be found for), you’ll attract readers and as a result, visitors to your website.

To help you get the most out of your blog posts and their SEO potential I have put together the following 5 tips.

1. Quality content

People want quality. They want to spend their time reading something interesting, informative and helpful. By adding value to them in this way, you’ll strengthen your relationship with them . That will keep them coming back for more and help build those very important back links.

2. Keywords

Of course great quality content is useless if you’re not targeting the right audience. Once you’ve written your post, read it and think about what terms your reader would use to search for it. The primary keywords tend to be quite obvious, but other terms are not so clear-cut.

There are various tools you can use to identify your keywords such as Google’s keyword tool. To find associated words, tools such as the Google Tilde search are useful but there is also another more visual tool you can use.

Try Google Wheel. When you’ve entered your search term into the Google search box, if you look to the left of your screen you’ll see Wonder Wheel.

If you click on this it will produce a wheel diagram with your main search term in the centre (in this case ‘dog training’) with associated terms around it:

You can then click on any other outer terms to receive further results:

3. META Titles and descriptions

The META title and description are there to tell both the reader and search engine spiders what your posts is about. If you use the WordPress.com platform for your blog you can use the All in one SEO Pack to specify these fields.

When writing your titles and descriptions make sure your keywords are near the beginning. There is also a character limit for each (Titles – 72, Description – 165) so you’ll have to carefully plan your words.

4. Links

Both internal and external links are important when writing your posts. Your internal links (utilising related keywords) link out to other posts, while external links take the reader to other related websites. In both cases make sure you use keyword rich links rather than something like ‘click here’ which has no value.

Your external links can also be used to encourage inbound links from other websites as ‘trackbacks’ inform that web owner you have linked to  them. Therefore they may in turn link to your posts.

5. URL

The last item on my list is your URL. This I the web address used to link to your post. Make sure you use your keywords within this as it will instantly show the relevance of your post.

Make sure it is meaningful.

By utilising each of these techniques and tools, you will produce meaningful, interesting blog posts that will be found through the search engines. Not only that, but by ensuring you create quality content you will attract links and build your reputation as an expert in your field.

Blogging is an excellent way of getting your voice heard.

The power of a blog is a wonderful thing.

It gives you the opportunity to get your personal view of things out there in the open where others can read them.

You can share tips and advice. Engage your worldwide audience and share your knowledge to position yourself as an expert in your field.

You can create a buzz and a following that gets your name and your business noticed by potentially thousands of people.

Of course there is one downside that puts many people off:

A blog is for life, not just for Christmas

If you want to make an impact with your blog you have to be dedicated, blog regularly and come up with an endless stream of content.

Dedication

A good blogger is a dedicated blogger.

They live to engage with their readers and provide them with an endless stream of quality content.

Their posts generate debate and a following. Sounds impossible but you too can achieve this through regular blogging. Posts that are relevant and interesting to your audience will get you noticed. People will come back to your blog time and time again and share it with others through social media.

Adding value

Regular blogging is all well and good but only if it adds value which means you must generate great ideas.

Inspiration for topics can strike anytime so make sure you always have pen and paper close by so you can write down your ideas when they strike.

Be useful

Long posts, short posts. Each topic and your own preference/writing style will dictate here. But if you keep your posts relatively brief, the information is more likely to be easily absorbed and will get them to come back for more.

Mix it up

People absorb information in different ways.

Some like to read, others prefer to listen and some like to watch videos. Offering a range of posts that use all these methods will widen the appeal of your blog.

What it comes down to is this – if you want to build a blog that draws in readers you have to write regularly, well, with variety but always it has to have interesting content.

Blogging really can help your business – it doesn’t matter if you’re a copywriter, a plumber, a solicitor or an accountant – a well written blog can help you by positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

Why do you want to blog?

That’s the first question you need to ask yourself. You’ve probably read quite a few, seen people become established experts and gather loads of loyal readers. In fact it’s probably the content of your favourite blogs that has inspired you to become a blogger.

So how can you replicate the success of your heroes?

First off, you can’t. If you’re going to blog you have to be yourself and offer people something new. What’s the point in producing a copy-cat blog? No one will read it.

So how can you become a better blogger? These 5 tips should help.

1. Don’t compare yourself to others

If you try to replicate your blogging hero’s style, you’ll produce something that’s sub standard because it doesn’t reflect you.

You are unique because there’s only one of you so use your posts to highlight your individuality, Use your own personal style and flare to carve out your own niche.

Will you please everyone? No – but you never will. Just be yourself and those who do enjoy your writing will become dedicated followers.

2. It’s not a closed club

The blogosphere appears to be controlled by a few big names. Forget about trying to be as good as them – just be you.

The internet and your potential audience is huge so there’s nothing stopping you from becoming a ‘name’ too.

3. Be unique

You have an advantage – no one else thinks like you, writes like you, or conveys a message like you.

Through your experiences, personality and ideas you’ll be able to write in a way no one else can emulate. By making your work your own you will attract readers.

4. Fresh ideas

Topics are constantly recycled in blogs. The secret to making yours stand out is to find a new angle to look at. It is this constant re-shaping of information that feeds the internet and helps generate new ideas and concepts.

5. Look at me!

Stand out from the crowd by incorporate your own personality. People love being entertained so if you write naturally in a humorous way use that to your advantage. 

Above all be true to yourself and don’t try and force yourself to write like someone else. It is tough coming with with new material but it’s a great way to get your ideas and opinions ‘out there’.

Give it a try—you’ve got nothing to lose.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter and blogger

People blog to get readers. Those readers then (hopefully) see them as an expert in their field, grow to trust their opinion and consider doing business with them.

Producing great blogs will facilitate this trust process, but your blogging platform and look will also have an impact.

Prolific blogger will write numerous posts. A few will grab people’s interest and be linked to, tweeted and referenced by other bloggers. Many however will be posted and then instantly forgotten about. So how to the big hitters manage to hit gold with their blog posts time and again?

Why are their posts so readable?

It all has to do with the whole package.

Focus

A lot of people write in  the first person – “I think the only way to generate great quality traffic to my site is through professional SEO copywriting”.

So what? That’s your opinion and right now it means nothing.

Changing the focus to the second person means you’ll address your reader directly – “Your website needs traffic to feed your sales. You can either pay through the nose with PPC or you can make the smart move and invest in professional SEO copywriting.”

It’s a small change but one that makes your post more relevant to the reader.

May I help?

Why do people read blogs? Mainly because they are looking for the answer to a question. So you have to ensure that no matter what you’re writing about it relates to a common problem that you then solve.

It could be about how to reduce your marketing budget, how to whiten your clothes first time every time, or how to reduce wrinkles. Giving your readers a solution is vital if you want your post to resonate with them.

Don’t over stuff

Keep you post focused on one main theme. Trying to incorporate several ideas your post will lose its focus and leave the reader somewhat bewildered.

Look nice

A solid wall of text is not attractive. If you want people to read your posts keep your paragraphs short so the page doesn’t look ‘stuffed’ with text. Headings and sub headings will break things up and show your reader what you’re covering within your post.

Write for your reader

You must write about subjects your reader cares about. Researching your market is if you are going to provide what they want. Just because you find a particular subject really interesting doesn’t mean your audience will.

Be natural

Many people think if they are writing about a subject in a blog they have to be very business-like and stiff.

Nope - the best blogs are written in a natural, conversation style that resonates with the reader.

That’s all there is to it, other than coming up with a great list of subjects of course. Just remember to write naturally, write to your reader and make it attractive on the eye.