Start Writing Your Business Blog Now.

Here’s all you need to know.

Are you tired of hearing about the benefits of business blogging knowing you’re missing out? Do you want more prospects and referrals and a stronger brand identity?

You need to start blogging!

There’s no time like the present to get started! So, let’s begin! Here’s all you need to know.

1. Get Over Your Objections Now

Is Fear of Writing Stopping You?

If so, you’re not alone.

Many people are afraid to write. They don’t want to be judged. They’re afraid they can’t write well enough. There are so many reasons. But I’m here to encourage you and help you get started.

You own your business. You built it from nothing. You’re not the type to be intimidated by a common phobia.

What better way to reduce fear than to hear from the most popular horror writer – Stephen King?

He said about writing:

“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.”

OK. I’m not sure how much that helped, but I do love great quotes. But this will definitely help:

When people read your blog, they won’t expect the wit of Benjamin Franklin or the storytelling of Stephen King. They won’t even want it.

What they will want is information.

Business blog readers have questions, and they want to benefit from your answers and your expertise. If know how to talk about your business, you can write about it. Just write in a way that’s authentic to you. Be yourself.

Are you a lawyer with a sense of humor? Show it! Are you a veterinarian who’s passionate about your patients? Tell a heartwarming story about how you recently helped a hound. Think of ways to make your blog unique and memorable.

What’s that. . . it’s not the writing part, but the time commitment?

No denying it, having a blog does call for a certain time commitment. So, find ways to incorporate blogging into your daily schedule. Think about what you want to write over your morning coffee, or while commuting to work. If you’re mentally prepared and have been thinking about your new topic for several days already, the blog may almost write itself when you finally sit down to your keyboard or paper.

Remember that blogging is an important and proven way to grow your business. You won’t see results after one blog post but stick to blogging and you will start to see it pay off. It will be worth it!

Today prospects expect to see a blog when they visit your website. It bears repeating: These days you should think of blogging as part of your business – as important as getting a website or going to a networking event. Your contact with prospects, both virtually and in person, works hand in hand. The work is synergistic and will result in building a strong brand for your business.

2. Take That First Step Today

Make today the day you start your business blog. After reading this article, get a second cup of coffee and sit down with your laptop (some people like to write by hand – that’s fine too) and think about three questions your customers/clients frequently ask. (Don’t worry about remembering this. I’ll remind you later.)

For example, if you’re a Realtor I bet people stop you at the grocery store to ask:

• – How’s the housing market doing now?
• – Should I redo my kitchen before I sell my condo?
• – I’m planning on selling soon. Should I wait until the Spring market?
  

These are three good topics to start with.

3. Write Your Working Title

Once you have settled on your first topic, sit down and start to write.

First write down your working title.  There’ll be plenty of time later to come up with an attention-grabbing one.  Your working title will get you started and help to refine your idea. (More on titles later.)

Once you write your working title you will no longer be staring at that dreaded blank page!

4. Define Your Audience

When you write you need to know who your audience is.

Knowing your audience will help you tailor your writing for the person you want to reach.

This should be an easy one for you, the business owner. You know who your customer/client is better than anyone. Write to that person.

If you want to expand your business outreach, picture that new client/customer and write to him instead. You may want to visualize your reader right down to their haircut and the shoes they are wearing. This visualization exercise will make your writing even more engaging.

Just remember, like website readers – and I say this a lot — blog readers are not there for you. They are there for themselves. They’re not mean people – they just want to learn something or be entertained. Usually, both. They’re not in the mood to be sold to. You can mention products or services in passing but never think a sales pitch can be disguised as a blog post. You will quickly lose your audience.

Remember, whomever your audience is, they are friendly. They are good people. They want to learn from you. They just want to be inspired.

5. Now You’re Writing! Some Important Considerations

Write in One Voice

Proceed to write whatever comes into mind on your topic. (You will edit and write an inviting introductory paragraph later.)

Feel free to express your unique opinion or views; just make sure anything you say in your blog is in line with your business philosophy.

Your blog needs a consistent voice. Voice is determined by your use of syntax (the way you structure your sentences), your degree of formality, your point of view, and by your choice and use of words.

If your blog will have more than one writer make sure all posts are written in the same voice. When someone gets used to reading your blog you want them to think, “That was funny. I always enjoy Fred’s sense of humor,” or “Sally always writes in a way that makes it easier for me to learn.”

Readers will begin to visit your blog to hear from you. You don’t want to disappoint or confuse them by suddenly changing your voice.

This doesn’t mean you can’t change the tone of your writing. In one post you may be happy, in another blog you may be annoyed about your topic.

Format Your Writing for Online Readers

Since a blog is read online, try to write in simpler sentences. To quote my favorite remark on simplicity: “Make everything as simple as possible. Not simpler.” — Albert Einstein.

Break up long blocks of post with subtitles, like I’m doing in this post. It makes your blog post easier to read and scan.

More About Your First Post

You can make your first blog post an introductory one. Tell readers about your business, its philosophy – remember no sales pitches. Make your blog engaging so that readers want to come back for more. It doesn’t have to be the greatest blog post ever written.  Make it memorable in some way. Offer a valuable insight about your field. Tell a funny business-related event that will make readers laugh. Write about why you love going to work every day. Write something memorable that no one else can write because it’s coming from you. As time goes on, you will get more creative with ideas.

Keep A Small Notepad with You

Keep a notepad with you to write down ideas that seem to pop up suddenly. I find this particularly useful. So many times, I get an idea and if I don’t write it down it’s lost by the next day.  Who am I kidding . . . by the next commercial.

Stay Away from Business Jargon

Informal language works for blogs. If you’re used to formal business writing, tone it down a bit. Don’t use business jargon that might not be understood by your reader. Assume your audience is intelligent but doesn’t know about your field.

The use of contractions like “he’s” or “you’ll” will keep your writing sounding informal. Having a more conversational tone will make it easier for your readers to connect with you and your brand.

Think About Using an Outline

Some writers prefer to first write an outline before they start. This is a great habit to get into if it works for you. An outline will keep your post focused and help you organize and cover the main points you want to make.

I never work with outlines when writing blog items for my personal business blogs. Maybe that’s why I find writing fun – I let it take me where it may. Or maybe that’s why I need to heavily edit my blogs after my first draft!

My point here is to find out which system works best for you and to go with it. There are rules for grammar and spelling but no rules for the creative process. Writing can be fun, satisfying, difficult and frustrating at the same time. But give writing a chance and you may find you love it like I do.

Just remember your blogging goal is always the same: to write informative and helpful blog posts for your readers.

6. Be Aware of Different Types of Blog Posts

Here are some common types of blog posts. Learning about them will help you come up with blog post ideas.

• – How-To posts — A How-To post teaches the reader how to do a particular thing such as cook lasagna or clean carpet stains.
• – List-Based posts – This post contains a list of items which are expanded upon, such as “The 7 Best Psychological Thriller Movies of All Time.”
• – Listicle posts– (No, that’s not a typo.) A listicle is a combination of a list-based post and an article. It uses sub-headers to break up the content so the blog can be scanned by the reader. Listicles are popular with readers because it organizes ideas into digestible and easy to find smaller sections. (You’re reading a listicle now!)
• – Thought Leadership posts – In a thought leadership post the writer shares their personal experience directly with the reader. These posts are written in the first person. The reader feels as though the writer is personally sharing events or thoughts directly with them.
• – Newsjacking blog posts. These posts talk about breaking news in your industry; they show your readers that you are on top of industry news. If you want to become a trusted source for new developments in your field, this is a great type of post to write.

Whatever type of blog post you are writing, remember your goals are to inform and help your readers. If you can get a bit of fun or humor in your post that’s even better.

 7. Link to Sources of Statistics

Adding an interesting quote or statistic and linking to it can make your post more informative, credible, interesting, or timely.

8. Include a Conclusion

Your reader has made it to the end of your blog post. Now what? You don’t want an abrupt “Goodbye, see you next week.” You want to leave your reader with inspiration and give them reason to remember your blog. After all, if they read it to the end they must have liked it.

Not all conclusions are the same. Here are some examples of what you can use as a conclusion:

• – Write a short summary of the points you have made. This will help readers remember the information you gave them in your blog article.
• – Encourage your reader to act on something they just read about. For example, if your blog were about starting to write a blog, you could ask your reader to start a list of three blog post topics they can write about. Hmmmm . . . anyone game?
• – Tease future content.  If this week’s blog post was about growing basil on your balcony, tease next week’s blog post that will feature five delicious recipes that use fresh basil.
• – Ask your reader to share your post so others can benefit from it.
• – End your post with a question. This can encourage conversation between you and your reader to strengthen your brand identity. (Make sure your blog is set up so that comments can be added.)
• – Ask readers to join your mailing list or download your new eBook. A mailing list is a great way to strengthen the bond with your blog reader. Be sure to make mailings helpful. Continue to send out business tips and information. Don’t take it as a license to bombard readers with sales pitches. Not only will your mailing list numbers shrink, but the goodwill you have cultivated with your blog will be destroyed.

9. Go Back and Write Your Introduction

Your blog post has been written. You know where your original idea took you. Now go back and write an introduction that points readers in the right direction. A good introduction can make or break your post; it should be interesting and honest about what is to come in the article.

10. Sprinkle in a Few Keywords

Now’s a good time to make sure you have keywords included in several places in your content.

You can talk to your web developer about the keywords they used for your business website. Use keywords that are easily incorporated into your blog.

 Try to include a keyword at least in the first and last paragraphs, and in the post title.

Never include keywords in a place that will sound unnatural for the reader. The search engines will know it they won’t be happy! Also, don’t become guilty of keyword stuffing – using keywords too often in the hope of impressing the search engines.

(Keywords deserve much more attention than a sprinkle. But our goal today is to get you started writing. There’s lots to learn about keywords. They’re important. But don’t go crazy thinking about them now. Even with the very best keyword strategy, I will always say that keywords should never interfere with what you want to say. Write for your readers first, the search engines second.)

11. Perfect Your Title

Earlier I told you to start writing your blog with a working title. Now that you have completed your blog post you want to revisit the title. Does it still address what the article is about? If not, don’t’ be surprised. Often articles can take an unexpected turn when being written. The title needs to be changed to accurately reflect what the blog is about. No one wants to waste their time reading a blog that never gets to the subject it promised.

I could write a whole blog post (and I probably will) about how to write a great title, but for now I’m just going to offer a few basic ideas. The important thing is that you now start writing without fear. Don’t get hung up on creating a killer title. It will come in time.

• – If your blog offers instructions to readers the title may simply state that. For instance: “How to Fix Your Leaky Faucet and Finally Get Some Sleep”
• – Readers like to see numbers in titles, like “7 Spectacular Flowering Plants That Love the Shade.” Numbers let readers know they can scan the article for information. It also gives them an idea of how long the blog post will be.
• – Titles that make the reader curious or use strong emotion can work very well. For example  “Why You Need A Business Blog – Even If You Hate To Write” will interest reluctant writers.

Try to keep the title under 65 characters if possible so Google won’t cut part of it off in the search results. But write for your readers first! Don’t sacrifice a brilliant title to keep it under 65 characters.

12. Always Edit and Proofread

After your post is written, and your first draft is completed, you will want to edit your post. I like to put the post away for a day and then look at it later with fresh eyes. You’d be amazed at how different your writing sounds after some time has passed.

Sentences you struggled with may now write themselves. You realize other sentences are better off deleted. As with many things in life, things often look different the next day.

Here are a few helpful editing ideas. Ask yourself:

• – Do the paragraphs and sections naturally flow, and follow logically?
• – Are you being repetitive without intention?  If yes, hit the delete button fast! You won’t miss it.
• – Do you have large paragraphs that look scary on the page? Not in a haunted house type of scary but in a way that makes your reader think, “Gee . . . I’m not up to tackling this right now.” If so, break the paragraph up using techniques spelled out in my blog post about writing for the web.

Ways to visually break up long paragraphs include numbered lists, bullet points, and sub-headers.

Finally, run the blog post through a spellcheck and grammar check on Word. And then read again. Spellcheck has made some funny corrections by wrongly changing words; it also misses serious mistakes.

Some people find that reading the blog out loud helps catch all kinds of mistakes.

13. Select an Image

Unsplash.com is one of several companies that supplies free images for use in your blog. As you continue to blog you can sign-up for a site that charges a fee but has more photos to select from. Images are great for drawing readers into blog posts.

Use at least one image for your post. Some readers like to see lots of images in posts, and some topics or businesses will naturally lend themselves to more images. Only use images that will enhance your post’s appeal.

Make sure images are optimized to prevent slow loading of the page.

14. Wait – You Don’t Have A Business Blog Set Up Yet? That’s OK. Still Write!

For the sake of keeping this article at a reasonable length, today I am only addressing the writing process. For tips on setting up a blog you can read these three posts of mine which discuss the subject in depth.

• – “7 Reasons Your Business Needs a Blog – Even If You Hate Writing”
• – “Websites and Sub-Domains and Blogs. Oh My! Which Blog Setup Is Right For You?”
• –  “What’s in A Domain Name? More Than You Think.”

If you don’t have a blog set up yet, begin to write blog posts and collect them in Word. Having several blogs pre-written and ready to publish is always a good idea; you never know how your week is going to shape up. This way you won’t fall behind on your blog postings. Just make sure that before you publish a blog that any time-sensitive information is updated.

No Blog? Use LinkedIn.

If you don’t have any immediate plans to get a blog, you can always publish your article on LinkedIn. It’s free and easy to do. Use relevant hashtags and everyone on LinkedIn can search for your blog content. Publish on a regular basis and you’ll gain followers, connections, and referrals.

Once you do publish, try to publish your blogs on the same day each week. This way when people start to follow your blog they’ll know when to check back for your latest post.

Whew! That was a lot! But nothing you can’t handle!

Give blogging some time and it will have an exciting impact on your business outreach. And if your blog is attached to your business website, it will over time improve your search engine ranking as well.

So, get ready. You’ve come this far. Now is the time to start thinking about your new blog.

Grab that cup of coffee and write a list of three topics for your new blog.

Then:

                            1. Select a topic

                           2. Write your working title

                           3. Write the main content

                           4.  Include links

                           5.  Write a conclusion

                           6. Go back and rewrite introduction

                           7.  Sprinkle in keywords

                           8.  Perfect your title

                           9. Do final edit and proofread

                          10. Select an image

                           11. Publish or store in Word

Congratulations! You’re a blogger!

If you’re having trouble thinking up some blog post ideas, leave a comment and we can come up with some ideas together!

If you want the benefits of a blog but still have no desire to write one, contact me (link) at lefreelancewriter.com.  It’s what I do!

Laura Elton is now a full-time freelance content writer specializing in website content, articles, and blog posts. While she respects technology, her number one professional passion is always writing. Previously, as owner of Laura Elton Marketing & Web Design, Laura developed websites using HTML and CSS and wrote great content. Reach her at laura@lefreelancewriter.com. Join her mailing list for tips on content writing and web development, and for complete blog posts.