Blogging for business 101

If the thought of writing blogs overwhelms you, it’s okay! I have a few tips and tricks that can help get you organized and started on the process, as well as the many benefits of blogging for your business.

Business blogging is a standard marketing tactic to increase online visibility. From engaging more with clients to increasing sales, writing blogs can benefit your business and help you accomplish your goals.

Benefits of blogging for business 

At T&S, we write our own blogs and post them every week. Before deep-diving into blogging tips, let’s discuss the benefits of writing blogs for business. Blogging for business can:

• Increase website traffic
• Increase brand awareness
• Build customer or client relationships
• Amp up your email subscriber list
• Educate and inform your prospects and current clients
• Answer your audience’s frequently asked questions
• Help establish your company’s voice
• Attract new customers or clients
• Help you move up in Google’s search engine

Yes, so many benefits! But, don’t just take our word for it; there are statistics out there that prove blogging is beneficial for business! According to HubSpot:

• 56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it’s effective, and 10% say it generates the biggest return on investment.
• Short articles, less than 3,000 words, ranked third in the B2B content assets that generated the best results in the last 12 months.

Before you get started, determine your specific goals for blogging. What do you hope to accomplish with your blog? Is it to reach a wider audience, increase sales, or engage with clients? Consider how a business blog can help you meet those goals and what topics will best accomplish them.

How to create a blog content strategy 

If you approach blogging with a thought-out plan, it will make writing your blogs much easier and quicker. Here are a few tips to help you create your content strategy!

1. Define your target audience. Who are you marketing to? Who are you writing for? Document this information!
2. Research your competition. To get ahead of your competition, see what they are doing and how they are doing it. 
3. Conduct keyword research. This will help your blog appear higher in Google’s search engine.
4. Create a content calendar. Decide how often you want to post—once a month, bi-weekly, etc. Fill in your content calendar with different topics you’d like to write about. This way, you have a guide and can avoid repeating a topic. It’s helpful to plan one to two months ahead.

Once you create your content calendar, it should be smooth-sailing from there. Now that you know where to start, let’s discuss how to write blogs for your business!

How to blog for business

So, you know the benefits of blogging, but now what? It’s time to start blogging! Let’s dive into how to blog and where to start.

1. Focus on blog structure. Think about the different topics you’d like to discuss, put them into categories, and keep track of each topic you do. For example, say you are a roofing company that wants to blog. You can put different blog topics into categories such as insurance process, maintenance, roofing advice, etc. This keeps your content organized and makes it easy for your audience to find.
2. Research and use common key phrases from Google’s search engine. If you want to discuss topics and answer questions that people ask about your industry, Google can help. For example, if your roofing company wants to write a blog about how to prepare for storm season, you can type in “how to prepare for storm season” in the search engine to see if it’s a common phrase. Ultimately, the goal here is to include common key phrases so that your blog has a better chance of being found. We also wrote a separate blog about how to optimize blogs for SEO you should check out!
3. Write lengthy content. This doesn’t mean you have to write a novel as a blog. Our rule of thumb is always to have at least 300 words, which is very doable. However, we recommend including long-form content (around 1,000-2,000 words) once a month or bi-monthly, depending on your goals.
4. Make sure your blogs are scannable. Please don’t write long paragraphs with no breaks! It makes your readers want to fall asleep (trust us). Add short headings throughout each paragraph for easier reading. You can also add bullet points or numbered lists just like we’ve done here.
5. Use pictures and infographics. People love visuals! You can use your own pictures or sign up for an account on a stock photo website, such as Depositphotos. You would pay a monthly fee, but you get to avoid potential copyright issues. We’ve also written an article on where to find free images for commercial use.
6. Share your blogs on social media platforms. This will bring more traffic to your website and allow more people to read your blogs. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are among the most popular.

Blogging tools 

You don’t need any special software to write a blog, but there are some tools out there that can make life much easier.

Most modern CMSs—Content Management Systems—will let you write, schedule, and publish blogs. Our preferred CMS for both your blog and your whole website is WordPress.

WordPress allows you to easily add new pages and posts without needing HTML skills. Since it started its life as a blogging platform, it is arguably the most robust option out there for blogging. In expert hands, it also lets you have more control than most other options, which can help with SEO and other aspects of your website.

When was the last time you wrote a blog for your website? If the answer is “never,” that’s okay! It’s not too late to start. Whatever you do, don’t overthink it! It’s a process, but once you start planning and implementing, you’ll begin to see the benefits blogging brings. If you need guidance, have any questions, or need someone to write your content, we can help! Head over to our website or give us a call at 405.285.0348.