You might think you have no idea what a blog is, but trust me, you’ve come across lots. In fact, you’re reading a blog right now!
If you’ve been thinking about creating a blog for your business and don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will discuss:
- What is a blog
- How is it different from a website
- The benefits of a blog
- How to start a blog
What Is A Blog?
A blog, short for weblog, is an online platform where a writer, or a group of writers (called bloggers) share their views on a particular topic. It is an easy way to present frequently refreshed web content.
Originally, blogs were online journals where people shared views on their favourite topics like fashion, travel, recipes, etc. These still exist of course, but blogging has come a long since then. Businesses use blogs to establish an online presence, drive traffic to their website and establish themselves as an authority in the industry.
How Is It Different From A Website?
To put it simply, all blogs can be websites or part of a website, but not all websites are blogs.
Non-blogging website are mostly static, with content updated less frequently. Blogs need frequent updates with new content and promote reader engagement. They encourage a two-way conversation by allowing readers to comment on individual posts.
So should I set up a blog or website, I hear you ask? Why choose? Do both!
In the next two sections, I talk about the benefits of blogging and give you tips on how to start.
What Are The Benefits of Blogging?
Many websites are boring. They don’t encourage audience participation and have the same content all year round. Once you’ve been on that site once, there’s absolutely no reason to go back.
The following are just a few benefits of blogging:
Search engine optimization
You obviously should employ SEO with your website. There are certain keywords that you’ll want to rank for that you’ll include in your web content. Let’s look at a practical example.
So imagine you sell running shoes online. Your website might be optimized for 3 – 4 keywords that relate to your business. With blogging, you can increase the number of keywords on your website with each article you publish.
For example, you write a series of articles about how to choose the right running shoe and the dangers of running in the wrong shoe, optimizing a new keyword with each article. Over time as your traffic increases, other sites start linking to you for information regarding ‘how to choose the correct running shoe’. Then one day you go on Google and see your website on the first page of the search engine results page for that phrase.
Send traffic to your website
There’s only so many times people can go to website to read your About Us and Service pages. These pages alone will not keep them come back.
Your blog can be a resource for your audience before they decide to buy from you. As a restaurant owner, you can become a resource for recipes, trends in the industry, etc. As a champion of local produce, you can attract local farmers who might want to distribute their produce through your restaurant.
When your audience is ready to purchase, you’ll be the obvious choice as you have already built the trust. That’s when they’ll be ready to visit your product pages. Don’t forget to create content for different stages of the sales funnel.
To demonstrate your expertise on a specific topic
When you want to demonstrate your expertise on a certain topic, blogging is the best place to start.
Think of your favourite resource that you use. Whether it’s your favourite place to look up recipes, fashion tips, how to lose weight guides, etc. These people have established themselves as experts and you trust their opinion and advice.
If nothing else, blogging will help you gain the credibility that so many seek, yet few people find.
Two-way communication with your clients
The biggest benefit of blogging and content marketing is that you’re not just shouting at your customers and telling them how great you are. You’re talking to them and most importantly, they can talk back.
Your can engage your audience and extract content ideas from them. When you know what your audience is thinking and struggling with, you don’t have to guess. You can map out your content to answer their questions.
Social media engagement
Share your content on social media to reach a wider audience.
If your content provides real value and is compelling, it will be shared. When this happens, you will attract new readers and more traffic to your website.
How To Start A Blog
The best thing I did for myself was conduct quiet a bit of research before diving into the blogging world. You can waste a lot of time doing things wrong. So I thought I should pass on what I have learnt.
Decide What To Blog About
The only things worth blogging about are the things people want to know and read about.
How do you find out what people want to know about? Research. Keyword research to be exact. There’s no use spending time and money writing about things no one wants to read about.
Align your blog with your business goals. If you’re a pet store owner, write about things your customers want to know about or what they are struggling with. It could be the right nutrition for their pets, grooming tips, etc.
It might be tempting to blog about photography, air crash investigations and the differences between a scuba diving and swimming wetsuit. These are obviously compelling topics that have a lot of readers. But you might struggle to find a lot of people interested in all three topics. If you have to write about these three subjects, rather start three different blogs and focus on each topic.
Choose A Target Audience
Sometimes your audience is easy to identify. As a pet supplies store, your audience is pet owners. But, you can cast your net a bit wider with your blog to reach a diffent audience.
Your customers might not be the only people who read your blog. Your suppliers, competitors, people contemplating buying pets, etc can be part of your online audience.
Determining who your audience is will make content production a bit easier. The best part about blogging is that your audience can make comments on your post. Therefore you can get ideas from the questions they ask and offer answers in the form of a blog.
Choose A Blogging Platform
If one of your blogging goals is to drive traffic to your website (which I highly recommend), then host your blog on the same domain as your company website. While people are on your site reading your blog they can click on your About Us page, browse through your products and get to know you better.
If you don’t have a website, create one. Don’t host your content on someone else’s platform. Social media has a lot of benefits (a lot!) but it must be used in conjunction with your platform, not as a replacement. Read our blog post here on the benefits of having your own website.
At Wrapp Around, we use WordPress to host our website. But you can choose any platform you like.
Create An Editorial Calendar
It’s difficult enough trying to publish articles daily or weekly without having to come up with fresh topics all the time. Trying to do both can give anyone a headache.
An editorial calendar reduces the stress that comes with content production. I already know what I’m writing about in December. So as I’m surfing the net and come across articles that are related to my topic, I flag them and save them for later. I always find articles related to what I want to write about and try to do better job.
You can include the following in your calendar:
- Content producer and editor
- Dates for both publishing and creation
- Content headline
- Audience persona
- Call to action
- Any notes
Be Consistent
If you publish on the first day of every month, then stick to that calendar. Don’t publish every day one week, and then disappear for a whole month. Start with a frequency you can manage, then increase it as your resources increase.
Make Your Content Reader-Friendly
I might not want to read every single word of your 3000-word post on ‘The Best Sports Watch For Triathlons‘. I might only be interested in the section where you compare GPS accuracy or battery life. Your post should make it easy for me to spot the parts that interest me without having to read through the whole document.
Here are some tips on what to do:
- Divide your content into paragraphs so it’s easy to scan
- Write short concise paragraphs
- Don’t use complicate technical language (unless your article is aimed at a technical audience)
- Also, you’re not writing a Jane Austin novel or 17th century poetry. Use simple language and write as you speak.
Quality vs Quantity
It’s tempting to want to publish everyday because that’s what your competitor is doing. Producing that much content is great. You’ll have readers coming to your site daily expecting new content. Your ranking will also increase in response to the increase in traffic.
But, no one is going to continue to read poorly-written and cheap content that adds no value. Your readership will eventually suffer and your ranking along with it.
Concentrate on creating quality content once or twice a month. Then take the remainder of the time to promote and market what you have created.
Learn SEO
Search engine optimization is not a magic trick, it’s an investment. You invest the time and do it correctly, the rewards will come.
You don’t have to become an SEO guru. Learn the basics to make sure that your articles get discovered online.
Remember, write for your audience first, Google second.
Leverage Social Media
Use social media to direct traffic back to your website.
- Include links that direct back to your website
- Be consistent when you post
- Use relevant keywords to describe your content
Don’t Ignore Video
As a content producer, you have an option between text, images, video, podcasts, etc. Don’t limit yourself to one medium. Video has proven its success over and over again.
It’s A Wrapp
You might be thinking… so you want me to give away my secrets for free? The answer is yes!
Think about your favourite song, or any song for that matter. Where did you hear it? Probably on the radio. Did you pay for it? No. But that artist spent time writing the song, spent money on studio time, marketing, arranging the track, etc. But they gave you the song for free to listen to. Why do you think that is? And if you like the song what do you normally do? Go online and buy more or listen to the other songs on the album. If you hadn’t heard that song and liked it, what are the chances of you buying the whole album? Slim to none. Think about this before dismissing the idea altogether.
Blogging is not new, it just keeps evolving. The question is, will you evolve with it?
We recognize that not everyone has the time to write articles daily or weekly, which could be the reason why you haven’t started. Should you want to outsource this function, visit our website to see the services we offer.
Please let us know in the comments below the challenges you’re facing with regards to blogging in general.
