10 Oct How to Start a Successful Business Blog in 3 Easy Steps

Dare to be you, be organised, be on point – and see your business blog flourish

Written by Daniela Cavalletti

8 min read

I have absolutely no idea what to  $&##%@ write about for our business blog this week …. Arrrrggghhh!!!

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking along those lines (perhaps peppered with a few more choice adjectives) then you’re not alone. It can be $&##%@ difficult to come up with a topic and then create coherent, useful and clever content every week (or even every month). But, … being regular, so to speak, makes for a successful business blog.

This is especially true if you’re aiming to publish your blog posts a couple of times a week to give your search engine ranking a leg up, and want to consistently connect and communicate with your audience.

Believe you me, blogging is worth the time. It’s a cost-effective way to promote your products and services, which will lead to more sales, increase customer loyalty, broaden your market reach and establish new business alliances. If done well, it will also establish you as an industry thought leader (nice!). It’s no wonder that more than 50% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.

So where then do you start if you want an interesting and successful business blog? What should you base your content plan and actual posts on?

Thought you might ask! … Read our step-by-step guide below and get writing.

3 Easy Steps to a Successful Business Blog

Step #1. It’s About You, But Not About You!

If you feel comfortable bringing your own experiences and personality into your business blog, that is excellent. You want your reader to get to know and trust you, feel a connection with you. But … always keep your actual audience in mind, even when telling your stories. It’s about their needs, worries, fears and hopes. Not yours. You’re the expert who you’re readers (and clients) are looking to for help.

Show them you care and understand, don’t sell to them.

1. How is what you’re writing about going to inform, educate and entertain your potential or existing clients and customers? Make a list of your blog post’s objectives before you put fingers to keyboard. It can be as simple as making a list of and answering the regular questions you get. Or posing a particular problem and then explaining how your business can help. Show understanding of your audience’s problem – then show them the solution you can offer. And show them how you are different from your competitors.

2. And here is another crucial question: Who exactly is in your audience? Who are your groups of clients or customers? Likely, you have more than one target market for your product or service. Create an avatar of your different ideal clients. Then ensure in your content planning and creation that you speak to all of them in turn: create the right balance of blogs aimed at each of them. A good business blog post is based on understanding your reader’s particular situation and offering them appropriate solutions, ideas and conversations.

Step #2. Successful Business Blogs: Subject to a Subject List

There is no doubt that keeping up a regular blog can be like a hungry beast that requires relentless feeding of ideas and inspiration. Once you get into the groove of things, it becomes progressively easier; trust me on that one. But only if you keep yourself focused.

1. Planning is your friend (especially while you’re still trying to find your blogging groove).

Rather than trying to blindly write a blog on an ad hoc subject, put some time and effort into developing your ideas at least a month in advance. Use one of the many free blog content calendar templates available or create your own. Remember to include blog post information such as:

• Frequency
• Length
• Main subject idea/theme
• Points to include
• Target audience (primary, secondary, tertiary)
• Information sources
• Blog objective
• Author
• Primary keywords

2. “Well that’s all well and good … but where will my topic ideas come from?!” I hear you cry.

Sharing your own experience and knowledge – i.e. writing about something you should feel utterly comfortable with – is going to make for the most authentic and useful blog content. Believe it or not, you actually have access to tonnes of successful business blog ideas; they’re right at your fingertips. You just have to see, separate and clearly formulate them. Try looking at some of the following bits and bobs to help you put your blogging calendar together:

• FAQs – received through website contact forms or through phone call queries
• Staff – ask your staff about what they get asked about most, questions they have, and for their blog ideas – they may even like to write some posts. Get them to commit to sending you three ideas each.
• Survey – send out a survey to your existing customer database asking them what they’d like to know more about
• Profession – get inspiration from industry and competitor blogs
• Online ­– hook into social media comments and conversations
• Industry – use a quote from an industry expert, or some newly released statistics to get you started
• News – read widely on relevant business, world or product news
• Subscribe – to useful newsletters
• Values – talk about a great photo or staff story that illustrates your company culture and beliefs
• Expertise ­– showcase a case study of a successful project
• Learn – if that’s not enough to get you rolling, here are some more ideas for you!

3. Remember to think outside the box.

Don’t just always write predictable if useful content (and never, ever create cookie-cutter-content, or – yikes! – plagiarise someone else’s work). Be quirky, be unique … be you!

Compounding blog posts are a great tactical tool: they are blog posts that are evergreen. Broad topics that will be googled over and over – increasing the chance of your site being visited and re-visited. But reading only content like that will be utterly boring for your readers in the long run. They want a mix of the useful and the entertaining, the unexpected. Show a bit of personality and idiosyncrasy once in a while … and your readers will know and like you that crucial bit more.

We’ve written blogs for accountants on paintballing (long story, but oh so fun!) and for real estate agents on meditation. A simple announcement about your new staff member can be turned into a blog about modern day hiring peculiarities or your company culture. If you’re a plumber, try writing about how bathtub design has evolved (and why) or a humorous post about folding vs. crunching your toilet paper. You may be in finance and muse about your big embarrassing investment flop before (or even after) becoming the expert.

As long as your blog post authentically informs, educates in a relevant way, and/or memorably entertains – and is somehow thematically linked to you or your business – you will be on to a winner.

Step #3. Include Some Key Ingredients

To round it off – here are some important elements you need to make your actual post-writing fall into place:

• A catchy heading – put some time and effort into this and incorporate your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keywords and some action verbs. If you’re stuck, go for a question or a solution-focused list, like ‘5 Ways to…’.
• Introduction – this has to capture the attention from the get go, so be intriguing and make it relatable.
• Eye-catching images – there are plenty of free pics available online to suit the tone and subject of your blog.
• Bullet points or number lists – these break up the copy into more sizeable and easy-to-read chunks.
• Subheadings – use strong ones that incite curiousity to make them want to read on.
• Links – including a couple of these per blog to your other posts or website pages, or reputable external sources all help your audience with more information and will be looked on favourable for search engine ranking.
• Call to action – getting your reader to commit to a next step, whether making contact or signing up for a newsletter is the goal of your blog, so give your call to action some love.
• Share it – Post your blog articles far and wide on social media, and ensure others can share and comment on your blog.
• Monitor ­– Don’t forget to monitor the response to the post on your now successful business blog via a web stats program like Google Analytics. Particular subjects that get more hits or comments are worth revisiting – just make sure you vary the angle or theme.

 
If you follow the above steps, you will be well on your way to running a successful business blog. A final tip: write when you feel at your most mentally alert or playful. For some that is first thing in the morning or for others it is after dinner with a glass of wine. Your energy and enthusiasm will shine through so choose a time that works best for you.

Now, what are you waiting for? Grab that coffee or vino, relax – and get writing!

PS:
Finished your post? Congratulations!
Why not share it with us in the comments below? We’d love to learn about and from you.

See, it’s not all that hard to develop a successful business blog if you take care of some basics. But if you’re still stumped for ideas or simply short of time, give us a bell to see how our business blog ghostwriters can help. We’ll develop ideas, write them up for you, and even find you a great image – no muss, no fuss!