6 Tips to Start a Successful Blog for Your Small Business

The benefits of business blogging

Just like email marketing, social media, and direct mail, a business blog is a marketing channel that helps grow your business and attract customers by creating brand awareness. So, you’ll want to make your blog stand out from your competitors as the go-to place for customers searching for your product or service. 

There are a number of reasons to begin business blogging.

• Blogs drive traffic to your business’s website.
• Blog content can be repurposed for social media, which equals more customer reach. 
• Readers can become customers — just add a call-to-action button on each blog page, prompting customers to learn more about your product or service offering.  
• If your content provides readers with answers to real questions, it has the potential to add value long-term. 
• Blogging helps with link building, an important SEO metric that can help your website rank higher on search engines. 
• You can use your blog as a space to show customers what goes on behind the scenes, which can help alleviate haggling or discussions about discounting.

Getting started on your business’s blog

Now you know the benefits a business blog can bring, it’s time to start blogging. 

You’re probably wondering where to begin. Before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), there are a few things you should do to give your blog the best chance of success. Below are a few blogging tips for small business that will help you get underway. 

Set a consistent blogging schedule

Consistency pays off. Space out your blog articles so that new content is added weekly. Studies have indicated that posting 16 posts per month can generate three and a half times more traffic than posting just a few times per month. 

It’s a good idea to set up a posting schedule to ensure that you are always adding new posts to keep customers engaged, and prevent your blog from going stale. 

Write a list of topics

Coming up with small business blog ideas may seem like a complicated task — and it certainly can be, without proper planning. Yet coming up with a list of blog topics can be as simple as writing down all of the most common customer queries you receive. 

For example, if your business sells specialty bed sheets, then you’ve likely been asked about the differences between different types of material. A blog post explaining what thread count means, and another exploring the differences between bamboo cotton and other materials, will be of interest to your potential customers. 

If you’re in the hospitality business, you might like to use your own expertise as the basis for your blogs. You could publish a recipe and a story about its origins, or write an article about how to match wine with food at home. Think about the conversations your staff have tableside; business blogging allows you the opportunity to take those conversations online, and reach even more people. 

Service-based business owners could provide updates on the latest trends and industry news, such as on-trend hairstyles for hairstylists, or comparisons of grass types for landscapers. If you blog about what you know, it will be a much easier task. 

Your blog posts should focus on what your business specialises in, and provide thoughtful and entertaining content. The key is to look for content ideas that are relevant to what your business is selling, and will engage readers at the same time. 

Conduct keyword research

You’ll want your blog to be read — otherwise, what’s the point in writing? The way to attract eyes to your blog is to get it as high up the search results as possible, for relevant keywords. Put simply, when a potential customer searches for something relevant to your business, you want to appear. 

For example, if someone in your local area types “Sir Walter vs Palmetto” into Google, you want them to find your article exploring the benefits of each type of grass. That way, when they are ready to landscape their garden, yours is likely to be the first business they’ll call.  

Having the right keywords will help you target your local market and bring new customers to your business. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a strategy that will achieve this by helping you find localised keywords. It will also help you generate ideas for topics to blog about. Nail your SEO, and your business may also appear in Google’s 3-pack — making your business discoverable to your local area. 

Read our blog for more tips to help your business’s website rank higher on Google, and be seen by more potential customers.  

Write your blog

The ideal word length for blog posts is 2,000 words. Now, you’re a business owner, and more than likely won’t have the time to write 2,000-word posts — and that’s okay. Quality over quantity is what it comes down to. 

Ensure what you’re writing about is relevant and has a catchy title of six to thirteen words for it to rank well, and receive traffic. Also, readers like visuals — so if you’re trying to explain something and there is a picture or diagram that helps illustrate your point, use it. 

Distribute your blog 

There are numerous strategies to get people to read your blog and drive traffic to your business.

Consider the following ways to distribute your content. 

• Email newsletter: invite your customers to sign up for your newsletter, and keep them updated with tips and other content that will keep them coming back to your business. 
• Social media: publish posts with links to your blog, and promote them on the socials via organic or boosted posts. Boosted posts are easy to set up, and can be targeted to a specific area. Read our blog to discover more tips and tricks to get your content in front of the right audience.
• Google My Business: claiming your Google My Business listing will further increase your business’s exposure, and encourage your customers to leave reviews. Having a listing here will also help your website’s SEO. Read our blog for a step-by-step guide on how to make Google My Business work for you. 

Scaling your small business blog

Launching a successful blog that readers find engaging and drives business outcomes (red: more sales) takes more work than simply writing a few blog posts here and there. A successful small business blog requires a considerable amount of time, effort, and planning — however, when executed well, it can be a valuable part of your business plan that will help grow your business and brand awareness.

Once you’ve set up your business blog, where to next? Think about content planning, tracking keywords, and incorporating guest posts. Your goal is to make your blog the go-to source of information for your product or service, and that takes time and planning.