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.