Business bloggers face a few different challenges than other bloggers. Business blogs often have specific objectives – the blog is usually a marketing or community building tool – and the blog, once public, becomes a public display of life for a company.
Business blogs must be:
- Timely
- Exceptionally well-written
- Extensions of a brand
- Cost-effective
Additionally, business blogs should have a desired return on investment and some way to measure it. Blogs will require an investment of time and money, and every business investment should bring something back into the business. That could be brand awareness, or subscriptions, or traffic, but this is something that needs to be talked through before the launch.
How to Prepare for a Business Blog
The presentation below walks through 8 things every business blogger should do before kicking off a blog. Resisting the temptation to jump in feet first will pay off in the long run. Planning is everything.
Summary
If you don’t have time to view the presentation, here is a summary of the 8 steps.
1. Figure Out Why You’re Blogging
- Ask yourself: What are we trying to achieve, and how will we know when we’ve achieved it? Both of those questions are a critical part of blog planning.
2. Figure Out Who Your Target Reader Is
- Who are you hoping will read the blog? What are their online habits? What types of information do they need or care about? What will get them talking?
3. Determine Your Blog Marketing Strategy
- How do you plan on reaching your target audience in order to bring your blog to them? The key to remember is that digital conversations are already happening. Your goal is to either join in, or start one of your own, but either way, a solid marketing strategy is paramount to success. The marketing plan will incorporate all of these tasks.
4. Assign Ownership
- Who will write the content? Who will manage the community? Who will promote it?
5. Create an Editorial Calendar
- What will you publish and when you publish it? An editorial calendar is comprised of frequency as well as the actual post topics and outlines.
6. Set Up Promotional Tools
- A blog cannot be an island. It must have some roads people can use to get in and out (sharing). So you’ll need to set up your social media channels and social bookmarking, and hook up your blog to existing networks like LinkedIn and Facebook.
7. Create a Takeaway
- Create a carrot that will give people a reason to subscribe to your blog. RSS traffic can be the most reliable, steady traffic you will ever have, so long as you treat your subscribers like gold.
8. Meet with Design & Development Teams
- A business blog should be professionally designed and developed. Once you have all of the above in place, you should meet with experienced team or teams who will help you get the right user experience for your blog.
Your turn: Which part of preparation is the most essential? Can any of this be left out? Is there anything missing?
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About Tia Peterson
These are some excellent tips, I completely agree with the last one is get a development team, your blogs image is going to reflect your business and you don’t want it looking all shabby or that’s what they may think of your company ! :)
Terrance recently posted..Inexpensive Date Ideas
Great tips! This factors are indeed necessary before starting a blog. You have to make a plan in order to make it successful. Making an editorial calendar would greatly help you with your blogging efforts as this will keeps your focus on your goals.
Niche niche niche. This is so important and the reason its so important is because it’s vital in standing out from the crowd.
You do want to stand out, right?
Yes, you do!
This comes right on point with Tia’s #2 above – who will be reading your blog.
Think of your ideal customer, right down to where he/she lives, what they do for a living, what they like to do for fun, etc.
Niche, niche, niche.
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I like this site very much… Very informative and relevant information. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks for all the helpful pointers. Business blogging is really what will represent the business, products and services. If people become interested with what you write then they may become a potential customer.
Great post Tia, A great road map for starting a business blog. For me point 4 is the most important aspect of running a business blog ESPECIALLY “Who will manage the community?”
When making a proposal to Senior Management for the implementation of a blog – this is the point that must be hammered home. There will be a need to manage the Comments on the blog itself and related promotional platforms like Facebook etc.
And to build on JB’s comments, I think it is worth creating additional profiles in Analytics which is separate your main site from the blog so as not to dilute the bounce rate, per visit goal value, etc. data of your main site.
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I am really glad I came across this, I have just started one of my businesses blogs (another one to go!)and I am happy to see I have already covered most of this points. PS thank you for the summary, I did not have time for the video.What I really need to do is calendar posts!
Cool presentation there Tia :)
regarding tip #3, what I can really suggest for this step is to first find at least 20 long tail keywords (3 – 6 words) that is very related to the overall theme of your blog. Then focus on writing blog entries that are strictly about each longtail keyword, since they can easily rank on SERPs in just weeks (especially if they have little competition, well mostly they do). Well, that’s the best way to get your targeted audience within a month.
Regards,
Jason
Jason Acidre recently posted..Free Links – 18 Ways To Get High Quality Free Backlinks Instantly
Great post, i think you are absolutely right, business blogs should be professionally designed and developed. Thanks for the round-up!
Fabulous post Tia, i agree with your post absolutely. One should plan out things properly before starting a blog. Thanks for the share!
Great stuff Tia,
I would agree with all 8. I would also add one more.
Keep track of your blog analytics and stats. Finding out what the most popular things your audience is reading or searching on your blog can make all the difference in the world. Their are WordPress plugins and services like Google Analytics that can help you keep track of all the stats that your blog has to offer.
Again great stuff.
JB
JB Brathwaite recently posted..Would You Pay To Keep Your Twitter Username
Hi JB!
I agree – tracking should always be part of the strategy. Measuring what works and what doesn’t is the best way to plan for growth and also you need a way to measure ROI.
Thanks for your comment!
Tia Peterson recently posted..Are You Properly Protecting Your RSS Feed
Point 1 is very important.
Many people start blogging without a plan and this is best way for failing.
Alex recently posted..Microsoft Security Essentials gratis anche per le piccole aziende
Absolutely! And you’re right that it’s a recipe for failure. There has to be a strategy in place.
Thanks for your comment!
Tia Peterson recently posted..Are You Properly Protecting Your RSS Feed
This is a really good post. I have been thinking for a while to start a business blog, though I’m afraid I don’t know that niche well enough.
Alex Dumitru recently posted..How I Got Over 23 Million Visits in Just 18 Months
Thanks, Alex. You should definitely have a really good reason for starting a business blog – whatever the niche. Usually, a business blog is a blog owned by a business – like Netflix or Microsoft or even small businesses in a home town.
Tia Peterson recently posted..Are You Properly Protecting Your RSS Feed
Twitter: Ileane
says:
Hi Tia, excellent presentation. Looking back I would say that unless you plan to hire someone to do this, it takes a few months to develop enough skills to accomplish all of these goals. If you have the skills already (like you!) this guide serves as an excellent blueprint for success. Thanks for outlining this so well. (btw – love the webbedinked logo)
Ileane recently posted..Learn the Basics of Guest Blogging
Thanks, Ileane! That logo was designed by Jessica of PixelPeony.com. She did a GREAT job and i love it, too.
I think you have hit on something here, which is that it’s worth it for business owners to outsource the blog preparation. It’s a lot of work and it takes some understanding of blogging and social media first. So, yes, people who are totally new should spend a few months getting to know the landscape first.
Thanks for your comment!
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