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Video Summary

So you want a blog for your business, and you’re not sure how to start? Or are you thinking about a blog, and you’re not yet convinced you should even have one?

According to some numbers I saw recently, more than 409 million people view blog posts every month. And those people look at more than 20 billion pages! You want your business to be among those pages to get that attention. If your business does not appear in those search results, then you are losing a lot of potential clicks, a lot of potential visitors!

Find out why blogs are important as well as some easy tips to start your own business blog here.

Video Transcript

Hello, my name is Jeffrey Kirk.

So you want a blog for your business, and you’re not sure how to start? Or are you thinking about a blog, and you’re not yet convinced you should even have one? And, hey, if this is the first time you’re watching one of my videos, go ahead and hit subscribe right now. I put out new stuff every week, and by subscribing you can stay informed.

This video is about how to get started with a blog for your business, but in case you’re not convinced that your business needs a blog, let me say a few words about that first… If you already know you want a blog and you don’t need any convincing, then you can go ahead and just skip the next minute…

Do You Have a Blog?

For almost as long as blogs have been around, I’ve been recommending them for business use. And that’s because they do several things really really well…

Blogs show Google that your business is growing. Every time you add a new blog post, your website gets one page bigger. And in the online world, bigger is better!

Blogs teach Google what keywords apply to your business.

Blogs help your business show up in more searches. And blogs demonstrate your expertise to your site visitors and they help to create authority in your industry. And this authority helps connect you to your target audience when they’re searching for answers that your website provides.

Blogs are also an excellent channel to keep relevant content in front of your visitors to keep them on your website for a while. And if your blog is good enough, they might even keep coming back. These are just a few reasons… Are you convinced yet? But let’s get onto the topic of starting a new blog for your business. How do you do that?

Starting your Business Blog

The first thing you need to do is identify and understand your audience. Who do you want to target, and what do they need? Are you looking for millennials, or maybe new business owners? Whoever they are, knowing who your target audience is, helps you focus on the content you need to create.

After you identify your audience, now find ways to solve their problems. Whatever your content intends to do is directed to your target audience. What are their pain points? What are they searching for? What do they want to know?

Now that you know who your target is, it’s time to plan your content! Presenting topics that are intended for your specific users will provide good authority and relevance to your website.

After identifying the kind of content you want to create, using specific keywords related to your business is a good way to increase your site traffic. Use keywords you think your users will use when searching for your specific services. I might want to use a phrase like, “How to Start a Business Blog.” Oh yeah, I did do that. And, look, you’re here!

Now what if you own a law firm that specializes in child custody issues? Then “Shared Custody Tips for Parents During a Pandemic” might be interesting. What if you have a dental practice? Then “What to Expect During and After Wisdom Tooth Extraction” will likely reach some of your prospects. What if you’re a CPA? Then, how about, “5 Tips to Survive Cash Flow Problems”? And, one more example. If you’re an electrician, maybe “7 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Electrician” would be a good blog post idea for you.

These are just a few examples of potential topics. There are good options in every industry because your prospects are using search engines and are looking for something! Keyword research does take time, and that’s why planning is a crucial step. To be most successful in your blogging efforts, focus on your target audience and then use that knowledge to find keywords that they will use.

I have several videos that teach you how to do effective keyword research. Look for the one called “Keyword Research – Start Here”. I have a link for that one here.

Time to Write!

Next, start writing! Remember, to create good content it means you must provide information that searchers are looking for. Start with information you would like to share. If your blog visitors want to share it too, well that’s even better. But the primary goal is to provide the information that they are looking for.

Also, remember to choose a meaningful title for your blog post. The title is the first thing your visitors see in the search results. And it can be the deciding factor as to whether they choose to click and see your site or not.

The title must also be truthful and related to your content otherwise you might get the click, but you won’t keep the visitor. I talked about titles and description meta data in previous videos as well. So check out the links to learn more about these things.

Within your blog posts, it’s good to include a call-to-action! While information is good, giving your audience an action to follow is even better. Calls-to-action can be simple like, “For more information on this topic, click here.” This helps someone move deeper into your website, maybe onto a main page instead of a blog page. Or maybe the call-to-action is that they should sign up to get something. Or maybe they should call your office. It’s up to you.

Now, here’s something very important. Pay attention to this… Post to your blog regularly! Search engines love new and updated content so the more you post, the more chances to rank high. I see businesses that write a dozen blog posts and publish them all in one day, and then they never publish another. Doing this does not help you. This invalidates all the great benefits of a blog.

What frequency can you handle? When you’re first starting out, perhaps once a month is all you can do. Well that’s better than nothing! In fact, that’s a lot better than nothing. Of course, two per month is better than one. And once a week is better yet! You get the idea. But consistency is more important than frequency. So do what works consistently.

Let’s Dive Into Some Technicalities

What kind of blog should you have? WordPress is the most popular, and it’s the one I would recommend. However, if you have a website created using a different platform, and that platform has built-in blog capabilities, then go ahead and use that platform. It’s always best to have your website and blog integrated into a single site if it’s possible.

If your website does not have the ability to add a blog, then you have two other options. First, you can migrate your site to WordPress and then you’ll have a blog. If your site is old or it’s small, this can be a good option for you to do right away. But if your site is new or it’s very large, you’ll have to weigh the costs versus the benefits.

The second option is that you create a second website for your blog. You get a WordPress blog site that remains separate from your corporate site. In this case, you effectively link the two sites together. You can include your blog in the main site’s menu with a link that goes to the new site. And the blog site contains a menu that links back to the main site. This is not ideal, but if set up properly, it can work very well.

Some other technical issues to consider… Is your website easy to navigate? How long does it take for your website to load in someone’s browser? Can your website easily adjust to small mobile screens?

Your site visitors will hit the back button the moment they find your website confusing or slow. Also remember to apply a little search engine optimization to all your blog posts. I already mentioned titles and meta descriptions earlier. These are important considerations for blog post SEO. And be sure to optimize your images and use alt text! Images play a big role in attracting visitors to your site and keeping them there.

Using the appropriate image and alternative text within images helps users understand your business more and it provides additional value to your content. And image size impacts SEO as well because files that are too large can slow your website’s loading time which has an impact on the overall user experience. It’s often a big, bulky featured image that drags down page performance.

And, finally, make sure your blog is shareable. What I mean by shareable is make sure people like your content. Social media provides a big platform for you to reach a tremendous audience to share your content. The bigger the audience, the more traffic you can get. The number of likes, and shares, or comments in these social media sites will translate to awareness of your business. And as people get to know your brand, it creates a chance for more engagement and potential sales.

On social media platforms, be sure to tell viewers what you want them to do next by using calls-to-action that ask them to do things like comment, share, like, and subscribe. Or even click through to your blog. Let’s face it, starting a blog can be intimidating at first, especially when you have to start from scratch and you’re staring at a blank white space in front of you. Maybe you want to get some ideas from my videos about different content types. Take a look at those.

And finally, if you want more prospects to find your business in the search results, I have a free webinar to help you out, get you to the top of the results where you can outshine your competition. Look for that link and please join me soon.

Your business deserves to be seen online, and I will help you get there.

Thanks for watching and have a great day!

How to Start a Business Blog