In today’s online driven world, if you have a business, you need a website and if you have a website, you need to have a blog on your website. If you don’t, you need to find out how to create a blog for business, and get to blogging ASAP.
The days of being able to simply put up a “we’re open” sign and start a successful business are long gone. You need to have a strong online presence, and that starts with a website. And, it’s a fairly simple matter to add a blog to a website once you have one up and running.
A recent survey found that 61% of consumers use the internet to learn more about products and services. So if you’re not online, your are missing out on a massive amount of potential new customers. Worse, you competitors are getting first shot at them instead of you.
If you are online, but don’t have a blog on your website, you are missing a prime opportunity to educate prospect and customers about your brand, your business, your industry and how your products and services can help them and be the best solution to their problem(s) or wants and needs.
Blogging is where you build trust and good will within your market with prospects, customers, suppliers and yes even competitors. By providing high quality valuable information through your blog, you will become the goto source for information when customers and prospects have questions that need answers.
Quick Summary:
if you want to know how to start a blog for business, you should follow the following 8 steps to have the best odds of building a successful blog that will increase your business’s brand awareness, trust, customers, leads and ultimately profits.
- Set Goals and Make a Plan.
- Do You Have a Website?
- Who is your target audience and get to know them.
- What value does your blog offer your customers?
- How will you measure success?
- Decide What action do you want readers’ to take.
- Determine How you will promote your blog to gain exposure.
- Produce Quality blog articles on a consistent basis.
What is a Blog
What is a Blog?
A blog is a type of website where the content is presented in reverse chronological order (newer content appear first). Blog content is often referred to as entries or “blog posts”. Blogs are typically run by an individual or a small group of people to present information in an informal style.
Blogs evolved from online diaries and journals in the mid-90s. At that time, internet users were already running personal web pages where they published regular updates about their personal lives, thoughts, and social commentary. The term web log was first used during the late 90s, which later became ‘weblog’, then ‘we blog’, and finally just ‘blog’.
Blogs are a type of website. The only real difference between a blog and other types of website is that blogs are updated on a regular basis with new content, which is displayed in reverse chronological order (new blog posts first).
Typical websites are static in nature where content is organized in pages, and they are not updated frequently. Whereas a blog is dynamic, and it is usually updated more frequently. Some bloggers publish multiple new articles a day.
Blogs can be part of a larger website. Often businesses have a blog section where they regularly create content to inform and educate their customers.
I know what you’re thinking, why do I need a blog for my business? I’m not a writer, I’m a business person. I don’t like writing. We’ll get to that later, but just understand that a blog for your business will pay multiple dividends.
Why Create a Blog for Business?
Why is it important for your business to have a blog? In short, to grow your business. Coach Lou Holtz said it best: “In business, and life, you are either growing or dying”. A blog could be the first impression of your business new prospects see and be a major part of your overall business marketing strategy.
Most people search the internet for products, services and information long before they ever actually contact a business. By producing blog content that focuses on what your potential customers are searching for, your business can be the first solution they find to their problems.
You build brand awareness and trust with prospects which will make it much more likely that you can eventually convert them from prospect to customer. A blog lets people know that you and your business actually know what you’re doing and are familiar with their problems, pain point, wants and needs. This will help you stand out from your competition.
All of this then will lead to more customers, more sales and more profits. You will have a much greater chance of long term success by building trust and respect for your business and brand within your industry. Starting a blog for business will increase sales, but you need to decide on what you want to do by starting a blog.
Good blog content can bring in new customers without having to spend money on advertising. In fact, over 70% of people would rather learn about a company or product by reading blog articles rather than from an advertisement.
Business Blog Statistics:
- 20% of internet users’ online time is spent on content.
- 68% of people spend time reading about brands that interest them.
- 57% read content marketing titles at least once a month.
- 80% of people appreciate learning about a company through custom content.
In Addition, small businesses with a blog get:
- 55% more website visitors
- 102% more Twitter followers
- 126% more client leads
A successful blog, and business for that matter, will focus mainly on your customers and prospects. A few areas to consider when starting a blog for business are:
- What are the problems, pain points, wants and or needs of your customers and how you can you help?
- Highlight the special skills, abilities and expertise that your business offers.
- How can you use your blog to build the business brand awareness?
- How can you use the blog to improve your bottom line?
- How will you produce consistently valuable blog content and who will do it? It can be a full time job.
How to Create a Blog for Business
The number one priority, when starting a blog for business, is to provide valuable information that focuses on your reader/customer’s first. Leave the selling for the other pages on your website. If you are providing quality content that provides value to your prospects and customers, they will naturally end up checking out your products and services through the other pages of your website.
Now, if you write a blog article that focuses on a common problem your customers have, and you have a product that solves that problem, you can link to the product page withing the article without appearing to be selling. Remember, they are coming to your blog looking for answers, not to be sold. You want to focus on adding value by providing education and/or solutions.
A good place to find what your prospects and customers are looking for is on google itself. Do a few google searches on your market or industry and see what google lists under “People Also Ask”. These are the questions and problems your customers are searching online for. Other good places to look for potential blog content ideas are online forums like Reddit and Quora, to see what your customers are asking.
And, that’s a great place to start with your blog content. By answering those questions, you will be bringing customers to your blog, website and hopefully your business. This is known as content marketing it’s about telling a story and providing value that connects with the customer.
It’s about building trust and relationships by sharing relevant information that solves a pain point, problem or provides an answer. Now that you have some ideas, how do you start? First, by setting goals for your blog and your desired results from blogging. Click the button below to learn how to write a blog and how to create a business blog for free.
1. Set Realistic Goals and Make a Plan.
Starting a blog for business will take work, time and planning. So, it will be very important to set some realistic goals as to what you want to accomplish with your blog and how you will measure success. Goals like what type of content you will produce and how much.
How many blog visitors and new leads you want to generate from your blog and over what time period. And, what are you goals for brand awareness. Once you have your goals in place, you can start planning your blog. You need to plan, not only the content, but who will be writing the articles and how often they will be producing articles.
How will you promote your blog to your prospects. Just because you start a blog doesn’t mean people will automatically see it. You will need to understand SEO (search engine optimization) or hire someone who does, in order for google to rank your blog content where your prospects will find it.
Once you have your goals and plans in hand, then we can move forward with building your blog for business. It will begin with your website.
2. Do You Have a Website? If not, Then Get One!
This should go without saying, but if you are going to start a blog, you will need to have a website. And really, if you are going to be in business in the 21st century, you need to have a website. I don’t care if you have a local donut shop or an international shipping conglomerate, you need to have a presence on the Internet with a website.
If you don’t have a website and need help to build one, I have an article on how to build a website that will guide you through it. It’s not difficult and anyone can do it so no worries.
If you want some over the shoulder step by step training, click on the picture for Commission Academy on the left and get some great 100% free training on building a blog and website.
3. Know Your Target Audience.
If you are currently in business, you should have some customers. Who are they, what do they look like, where do they hang out and what kind of problems, questions, needs and desires do they have? These are all important questions you need to answer in order to truly know your target audience.
If you had to draw a picture of your perfect, or desired customer, what would they look like? If you have a Luxury yacht company your target audience will most likely be entirely different than someone who has a Farm Supply Store. Some areas to consider when deciding on your target audience are:
- What is the gender, age and income of your target customer – think demographics.
- Where does your target audience work, and what are their hobbies and interests.
- What areas does your ideal customer want to grow, improve and have questions or problems? What are their needs, desires and pain points that your business can help with?
- Where does your target audience get most of their information, and where do they hang out (online and offline)?
Once you have determined who your target audience is and what they are looking for that relates to your business, you can produce blog articles that are specifically tailored for them ( aka custom content). This will build your brand awareness, and trust with your audience. Research has shown that 82% of consumers prefer learning about a company by reading “custom content”.
4. What value will your blog Provide readers?
If you want to be successful with your blog you will need to learn to give value first before you receive. Now that you know your target audience and what they are looking for that relates to your business. You will need to provide value to them through blog content that solves their problems, answers their questions and meets their needs.
Prospects and consumers are not going to come to your blog unless you have something of value for them. Remember, focus on what the customer is looking for and not on trying to make a sale. That is the quickest way to turn them off and damage your blogs reputation.
Starting a blog for your business gives you the opportunity to virtually shake hands with your target audience and introduce yourself, your business and begin cultivating relationships with them. When producing blog articles try to focus on providing specific industry knowledge or insights, solving problems and providing answers for your audience.
5. How will you measure success?
If you are going to invest the time, effort and money into building a blog for your business, You need to consider your goals and how you will measure success or failure of your blogging efforts. What is your return on investment (ROI)? What are the important goals you want to accomplish with a blog?
Starting out you may want to focus on number of blog readers’, google rankings and total website traffic, and link clicks to other web pages or offers or email subscribers.
Once you have some decent traffic coming to your blog, you may want to shift your goals more towards leads and customer acquisitions. Goals like scheduled sales calls, Link clicks to a specific product page, number of new leads generated or increase in sales volume.
Whatever goals you choose to focus on, be sure they are specific, realistic, achievable and that you have a way to accurately measure them. Set a time frame for both short term and long term goals and then make sure everybody knows what is expected and when.
6. What Do You want Readers to do when they get to your blog?
OK, so no you have readers’ on your blog, no what? You’ve gone to all this trouble of starting a blog and writing content to attract your target audience, what would you like them to do besides just read your articles. Known in the online marketing industry as a call-to-action CTA it can be any number of things.
Call-To-Action ideas include:
- Download a free report
- Sign up for an email list
- Schedule a consultation
- Share the article on Social Media
- Visit a specific page on your website
- Make a purchase
- Post a comment or question
Every single piece of business blog content should include at least one simple call-to-action. The number of readers’ that complete the action is the simplest, and one of the best measures, of how successful your blogging efforts are.
Your call to action can be anything but it should reflect on your overall plans and goals for the blog and the specific needs of your target audience and how you can provide them value. Make sure your call-to-action is clear and specific. So your audience knows exactly what you want them to do no that you have their attention.
7. How will you get Traffic to Your Blog?
Once you have your business blog up and running, the work of promoting it begins. If will do you no good if nobody finds in and reads it. But how do you get your audience (traffic) to your blog? This will mean marketing and promotion of you blog on your website, social media, newsletter and sales materials.
It begins with your content creation. Every blog article should have:
- A focus keyword targeting a specific question, problem or pain-point of your target audience. This will then generated organic exposure and traffic from search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.
- Backlinks to other websites to build relevance and trust.
- Thorough research and references to demonstrate expertise and knowledge on the subject.
- Compelling headline/title that grabs the readers’ attention.
- SEO Optimized meta description and URL tag to make it easier for search engines to rank
- Shareable content such as images, videos and quotes.
- Social sharing buttons so readers’ can share the content giving you more exposure.
You will get the greatest exposure for your blog when you put all of these steps together in one coordinated blog promotion plan. The best part of blogging is, that when done right, you get free “organic” traffic. In other words, you get your target audience to your blog without spending money for ads.
| For More Info on Getting Traffic to Your Blog |
|---|
| Read: How do I get Traffic to My Blog – 16 Proven Tips |
8. Produce High Quality Blog Content on a Consistent Basis.
A blog can become one of the most important source for leads in your business. But, before that can happen, you will need to organize, plan and produce quality blog articles that provide real value to your prospects and customers. You need to plan your blog content like you would any other important area of your business.
Don’t just throw blog content together and hope somebody will find it and read it. Approach it with a firm set of goals and plans. Then you will need to produce blog articles on a regular and consistent basis to keep google and your audience interested. Remember this is a long term project for long term business success.
You will need to produce articles for your blog at least once per week, and the more often the better. By putting in the time and effort to outline goals and a make a plan for your business blog, you’ll get a far greater return on your investment. What this simply means for you is more credibility, traffic, leads and ultimately sales!
Pros and Cons of a Blog for Business
Starting a blog for your business, and blogging in general, has it’s Pros and Cons. Like anything else, you need to do your due diligence and assess your needs, abilities and time availability before you take on another business project.
The table below are just some of what are, in my opinion, the Pros and Cons of starting a blog for business. If you can think of some others, please leave them in the comment section below.
We can all learn from each other and sharing ideas will make us all better at business and life.
| The Pros of a Blog for Business |
|---|
| Build Your Brand and Increase Business Exposure |
| Gain Authority and Trust with Your Target Audience |
| Generate New Leads, Customers and Sales |
| Grow Your Business without the Cost of Ads |
| Set Yourself apart from the Competition |
| The Cons of a Blog for Business |
|---|
| It will take time and a lot of work |
| May need to hire someone to run Your Blog |
| It’s a long term Commitment |
| Results won’t happen overnight |
A Blog for Business to Grow Your Business
If you’re in business, you need a website. And, if you’re in business and have a website, you need to have a blog on your website. It will build trust with your customers and prospects and draw new customers to your business. You can build your brand, increase sales and grow your profits by delivering valuable quality content through your blog.
With the continued growth on the internet, and online shopping in general, starting a blog for your business becomes an imperative if you want to stay relevant in the market place. A well run blog, using good SEO strategies, will keep your business in front of your prospects and customers.
You will become the authority in your market, as your blog will increase trust and respect for you and your brand. So follow the eight steps below that we covered here today, and you will be well on your way to building a successful blog for your business.
- Set Goals and Make a Plan.
- Do You Have a Website?
- Who is your target audience and get to know them.
- What value does your blog offer your customers?
- How will you measure success?
- Decide What action do you want readers’ to take.
- Determine How you will promote your blog to gain exposure.
- Produce Quality blog articles on a consistent basis.
Blogging for business is another important tool in your long-term marketing strategy. It costs very little to implement and the potential return on investment is huge. The costs of not starting a blog for business could be devastating. Your competitors will be blogging, and if you’re not, guess where most of the prospects and customers will end up. If you have any questions or need help with starting a blog, just leave them in the comment section below and I will get back to you ASAP.
I’m Looking forward to working with you,
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Rex
P.S. If you have any questions or are unsure of anything, I am here and I promise I will get back to you on all of your questions and comments. Just leave them below in the comment section. Follow me on Twitter: @onlinebenjamin1, Instagram: dotcomdinero, and Facebook: Online Benjamins
Hi,
Thanks for stopping by and congratulations for taking the first steps to building your own online business. I’ve been in business both offline and online since 1997. I would consider it an honor to help you build your business. Father of 3, life long outdoorsman with an education in Genetics and Economics. This site is about cutting through the BS and finding the real opportunities in the online world. I look forward to working with you.
