Small Business Blogging: Introduction
Are you the owner of a small business looking for ways to spice up your blog to attract new customers? Or perhaps you’re a part-time blogger who is wondering how to best increase your web presence? Maybe you’ve heard bits and pieces about SEO and effective marketing strategies, but you’re not sure how to tie it all together? Well in that case, welcome to our how-to guide designed to help you create an effective blogging strategy to market your small business or campaign!
1. Make it Rain in Your Brain
Sit with a pen and paper and do some intense brainstorming. Try to answer the following or similar questions: What is the purpose of your blog? Who are your ideal customers? How can you maintain a customer-friendly relationship? Who are you main competitors? How will you ensure your blog remains unique? Come up with detailed answers and underline the important topics or keywords. Check with your friends and business partners. Reevaluate your answers. When you’re done, come up with simple, powerful statements that best summarize your business and your blog.
2. Do the Keyword Research
Small business blogging should start by carefully studying keyword data. Make a list of proper keywords and create composite keyword groups. Use keyword tools such as Google’s free AdWords Keyword Planner to come up with the best keywords to suit the occasion. Always run your blog with free keyword density checkers for the most SEO-ready content. Take advantage of Google Trends to search for keyword “hot topics.” Lastly, proofread eveyrthing. (See, we can be funny too!)
3. Fix a Schedule and a Budget
If it’s your first time, start small. Once you get used to it, build a core creative team with copywriters and graphic designers. Make a schedule, slot duties and see to it that your blog is properly updated from time to time. Keep your contributors happy by paying them on time. Keep a tab on your site’s web traffic by noticing when you have the most amount of visitors and time your posts accordingly. Overall, this one is especially important for small business owners who have to juggle a lot of things at once. Make a plan and stick to it!
4. Promote your Blog via Social Media
Maintain a powerful social media presence. Keep your Twitter handle up to date by tweeting about the trending hashtags. Have a Facebook page, and directly engage with the customers and clients. Request for their feedback and take criticism very seriously (but not personally). Send out monthly newsletters, host contests and give away surprise gifts to loyal followers. Be active and engaging, or else your social media and blogging strategy might actually backfire. By making your visitors feel like part of a friendly community, you stand to build a powerful and intimate relationship with your customers. If your blog is visuals/graphics-oriented, keep an Instagram account or a Youtube channel specially dedicated to it. Once again, incorporate important keywords in your posts but do not overdo it.
5. Make Sure Your Site Looks Professional
Use the free tools available online to know to what extent is your site search engine-friendly. Use XML sitemaps and double check the validity of web documents. Make sure your blog is not only aesthetically appealing but also easy to navigate with simplistic fonts and designs.
6. Keep an Eye on Your Competition with Backlinking Tools
If you want to know what your competitors are up to, use tools such as Backlinkwatch and Moonsearch to be updated with their latest strategies and tactics. Compare different websites using Open Site Explorer and keep a close tab on their domain stats as well. Use this information to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your own blog.
7. Content is King (especially for Small Business Blogging!)
High-quality content is always a must, and there will always be interest for easy readability and originality. Make sure your content is free of plagiarism by using Copyscape-like software or any other plagiarism checker. While JuicyStudio assess a website’s readability factor, it really pays to have an experienced copywriter if you aren’t doing the blog yourself as the small business owner.
Don’t forget: With the rise of the smartphone-addicted generation, do try and build a mobile-friendly site too for your blog.
Our Conclusion on Small Business Blogging
We hope this guide was a helpful one on small business blogging. Whether your brand new, or if you’ve been one of those SEO beginners who has a blog already but isn’t maximizing SEO benefits, you now know the exact steps to take. Good luck building a killer blogging strategy for your small business!
