When it comes to setting up a blog, you have lots of options.
On Your Site vs. External
One option is to blog exclusively on a third-party platform, such as LinkedIn, Google + or Facebook.
The advantages of doing it this way are that it’s easy and usually free to set up, and that those sites already have lots of visitors, so you may be able to get some of that traffic if your articles catch people’s attention.
But the downsides are that you’re subject to the limitations of those sites (where the rules can change at any time), and also it’s harder to convert those readers into customers, which is, after all, the ultimate goal of this exercise. You have to rely on them clicking through to your website to find out more about you.
If you set up the blog on your own website, on the other hand, everything’s under your control. You can set it up as you like, and any traffic you receive is boosting the profile of your site, not someone else’s. Also, you can more easily convert your visitors into customers, since they are already on your site.
So I’d recommend setting up the blog on your own site, and using social media for promotion.
Which Platform?
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform, powering one in four websites, but it’s not the only option. There are others, such as Blogger, Tumblr, Ghost, and more. Some of them provide hosting as part of the package, while others provide only the software, and you have to host the blog yourself, but with Neo Genesis WEB you can have easily your WordPress blogging platform ready for only $7.99 at month.
Make It Look Professional
This blog is representing your business to potential new customers, so you want it to look just as professional as your business cards, brochures or signage.
While most platforms have quite serviceable free themes (e.g. in the WordPress Theme Directory), you can often get more features and better designs by choosing a premium theme. You can find premium themes for WordPress on our official Market Place.
Read Company Blogs That Work
Before you dash ahead and write your first post, it’s worth taking the time to think about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how you can do it better.
A good first step is to read other company blogs. By all means check out other firms in your own industry, but also look farther afield to get more general ideas.
Choose Your Angle
Each blog has a particular angle. It might mix different types of content, but it has a general approach and sticks to it.
So as you’re planning out your blog, think about the approach you plan to take. Will you be teaching people how to use the products you sell? Telling personal stories about your experiences as a business owner? Inviting your employees or even customers to tell their own stories? Covering news or trends in your industry?
Also think about a name for your blog. Some companies just go for “The [Company Name] Blog”, which is fine, but a separate name like Zillow Porchlight or Marriott on the Move gives it a stronger identity.
What are your goals for this blog? Are you trying to increase traffic to your website, get people signed up to your mailing list, get people to become customers, or simply increase your overall profile and credibility?
Who is the target audience? This is likely to be similar to your existing target market for your business as a whole, but it could be different—if, for example, you’re trying to expand your customer base by attracting younger customers, or wealthier customers, or more women in a traditionally male-dominated market, etc. All of these things affect the type of content you’ll create.
As you’re coming up with your angle, remember the following key points:
- Define your target audience clearly, picturing your ideal customer as a single person with his or her own personality, hopes, dreams and frustrations, and write as if you’re talking directly to that person.
- Provide information that your target customer will find useful and/or entertaining.
- Don’t be too salesy or self-promotional—nobody’s going to like, share or comment on something that sounds like a press release.
- Your niche needs to be small enough that the blog has a clear focus, but large enough to allow you to come up with new posts on a regular basis for the next few years.
- Stories work well in blogs, but only if they’re interesting and have some relevance to a wider audience (and if they don’t sound like effusive customer testimonials for your company).
- Consider different types of content beyond written posts—videos, audio podcasts, images and info-graphics are all good strategies, either for the whole blog or as extra content to mix in with the text.
Create a Content Strategy
Now that you’ve set up your blog, got a sense of what works, and decided on your own angle, it’s time to create a content strategy for your blog.
What does that mean? Think of it as a vision and plan for your blog. It starts with the picture of your ideal customer that you defined in the last step. Give that person a name and a face, and describe him or her in as much detail as you can. Think about what that person wants to know about, what problems he or she wants to overcome, and how you can be of service.
Then create a list of keywords that this person might search for online, and use these keywords to inform the posts you write. The aim is not to cram keywords into posts purely for SEO purposes, but to write content on subjects that your target customer will search for, discover, enjoy, and share.
