If you own your own business, your own product line, or you offer any type of service – you probably have a website. You’ve probably put lots of effort into the design of your website, you’ve hired copywriters to provide well-written copy, and you’ve ensured that your website is mobile friendly and has accelerated mobile pages. But what about adding a blog?
If your website doesn’t already have a blog, you should start one at your earliest convenience. Why? Because blog posts increase your website’s Google ranking, and blog posts are great ways to bring in more traffic to your website. Blog posts also inform visitors about your products or services.
It’s not very expensive to build or maintain a blog. Yes, you have to write blog posts and upload them, but just one blog post per week is fine. This means you’ll likely only invest about 3 hours of your time per week to your website’s blog. There are, however, a few things you’ll need to know before you start a blog. Here are 5 things you should know before you start a blog:
- You Should Create Quality Content Ahead of Time
Each blog post for your website should be a quality piece of content. This means it should be well-written, SEO-friendly with good keywords, have a stand-out image to go with it, and be informative and engaging. You should create quality content ahead of time, with subject matter visitors will enjoy.
Blog posts shouldn’t read like a sales ad. They should be fun to read, and subtly inform readers about your product or service without ‘selling’. Not every blog post should be about you, your product or your business. Pre-plan by creating a bunch of blog posts ahead of launching your blog. You’ll also need to pre-plan your blog’s launch. Launching a blog is much more successful if you build buzz around your new blog before your launch day and before your blog is live.
- You’ll need to Prepare a Blogging Strategy
Before you start your blog, you should research your plan when it comes to strategy and implementation. This may include a strategy for promoting each blog post (how will you get it more views?) and an outline of article topics you’ll be writing about, with a strategy on how to best approach these topics. Your blogging strategy should also include an SEO strategy to ensure you have the right keywords and tags to be found on Google. This is crucial since you want people to find your blog posts on Google, thus bringing new visitors to your website.
- You Must Post in a Predictable Manner
Blog posts must be published in a predictable, consistent manner in order for Google to trust and recommend your blog. For example, you might decide that you’ll be posting new blog posts every Tuesday. That consistency is key. Blogging on the same days of the week trains Google to keep coming back to your site more frequently and helps you build trust with Google. So don’t post sporadically, and instead, stay organized with scheduled reminders.Similarly, promote your blog posts on social media on the same day each week. If you want to promote a blog post 3 times, choose 3 days a week and keep doing the social promotions of blog posts on those same days.
- Your Articles Must be Original
Copyscape is a service that checks a blog post for plagiarism, to make sure the writing is original and not copied from another blog post. Your blog articles must be original, quality content that has not been published elsewhere. Again, this is to build trust with Google and with your audience.
- Each Blog Post Should Offer the Reader Something Valuable
Your blog posts should all tie in with your general brand’s story. Each blog post should offer the reader something valuable, whether that be useful information, great tips or an inspiring story. Think about who your target market is. Who visits your website? What kind of information, tips or stories would they find valuable?
If you nail this and you start posting content that your audience finds extremely valuable, your audience will start sharing the content. This is key to the success of your business, since if a blog post is shared by someone, they’re sharing your company website and your brand along with it.
