How and why to start a blog for your business

For the majority of businesses, a blog page on a website will go hand in hand with a variety of benefits that will ultimately attract prospective customers, alongside building brand awareness within your industry.

Whilst the prospect of committing to a regular blog may seem daunting, with the right strategy in place, your business could find itself becoming a hub of invaluable information to fellow professionals.

Starting your blog

How often should you blog?

The number of times you update your blog on a weekly or monthly basis will depend entirely on the capacity you have within the business. You want to aim for quality blog posts not quantity; one truly valuable blog post is worth much more than four with no real worth to your clients. When first starting out aim for two blogs a month, and if you find that you could fit in more, gradually increase this number.

Planning your content

One of the trickiest parts of blogging consistently is thinking of relevant and valuable content to share with visitors to your site. Research and brainstorming a long list of ideas at the outset will put a stop to any delays in content, and as you begin to write you will more than likely continue to add ideas. Your employees will also provide a wealth of ideas, due to the fact that they speak to clients on a regular basis and will be well aware of frequently asked questions surrounding your industry.

Scheduling your content

For some, making the time for blogging comes much easier when done in bulk. Therefore, if you have written all blogs you want to share for the week or month, many website platforms (e.g. WordPress), will allow you to schedule them to go live in advance. In doing this, you not only save time but you also ensure that your content is published on a regular basis, which both search engines and audiences like to see.

The benefits of blogging

Sharable social content

Blogs present a great opportunity not just for your website but for your social media marketing strategy, presenting quality, relevant posts that lead followers back to your website. And even better, if you make a habit of writing evergreen content, then these blogs can be shared time and time again without losing their relevance.

Highlighting your expertise

Blogging is an ideal way to show your expertise within your particular industry and to set you apart from your competitors. This includes not only writing relevant, informative guides and tips, but also jumping on industry news and updates quickly, so that you can be perceived as a leader within your field.

SEO

Search engines love to see websites that are updated with quality content, and therefore blogging regularly can have a tremendous impact on your keyword rankings. By researching relevant topics and keywords, you can boost your position within results by writing content on information that people are actively seeking.

Increase traffic to your site

Of course, with more content on your site for visitors to digest, whether visiting directly, from social media or from a search engine, you are likely to significantly boost traffic to your website and therefore increase the number of leads you receive.

As we have highlighted, starting your own blog can have wide and far-reaching benefits for the success of your business and will often genuinely help, guide and inform prospect and existing customers.