The Beginner’s Guide to Launching a Small Business Blog

The benefits of small business blogging are well-documented. A simple Google search will reveal one simple truth – businesses that blog generate more leads than businesses that don’t.

But how do you get started?

You can’t just flip a switch and start pumping out blog posts. Well, you can, but you probably won’t be successful.

More and more small business owners recognize the value of blogging but don’t know where to begin. Then they get bogged down with the day-to-day minutiae of running a business and the blog never gets off the ground.

If you’re thinking of launching a business blog but aren’t sure what to do first, start by answering these questions.

When I was in soccer camp as a kid, one of the trainers asked, “What’s the most important thing in the game of soccer?”

Scoring? Defense? Goaltending? Teamwork?

After we finally gave up, the trainer said, “The most important thing in soccer is the ball. Without the ball, you can’t play soccer.”

Duh.

But he was right. And you can’t launch a business blog if your content doesn’t have a place to live.

Can you add a blog to your website? If it’s an old site, adding a blog may not be as simple as you think, and it’s probably time for a website update.

Sure, you can publish on LinkedIn, Facebook or any number of online platforms. But there are a few problems with this approach.

You don’t own the content. You don’t set the publishing rules. You have limited customization options. You don’t drive traffic to your website, at least not directly.

Before you launch your small business blog, make sure it has a place to live – ideally, on your mobile-friendly, blog-friendly website.

When I say “own” in this context, I’m talking about someone being responsible for the ongoing management of the blog.

If the business blog isn’t an important part of someone’s job responsibilities, it’ll be the first thing to get pushed to the backburner when things get busy. Somebody has to own the blog, whether it’s an in-house employee or an outside service provider.

Even if you have a group of people contributing to the development and execution of the blog strategy, from content creation and the editorial calendar to posting and distribution, you still need one person in charge.

The business owner should have a say in the direction of the blog, but in most cases, a small business owner is wearing 17 hats.

The business blog shouldn’t be number 18.

Make sure you identify a point person to steer the blogging ship.

Business blogging is a marketing tactic. Marketing is supposed to achieve business goals.

Be aware of consultants who promise only to “get your name out there.” Top-of-mind awareness is a valuable benefit of blogging, but it shouldn’t be the only benefit.

Over time, your business blog should help you shape your brand, earn trust, establish your expertise, cultivate relationships and improve your search ranking. These benefits are valuable and shouldn’t be discounted. They’re also difficult to measure and attribute directly to business blogging.

There are other benefits that can be measured. Do you want to increase website traffic? Do you want people to fill out a form? Download an e-book or white paper? Watch a video? Register for an event? What are the benchmarks for success, and what metrics will be measured?

Determine what goals you want to achieve and make sure your blogging strategy is developed with those goals in mind.

Be as specific as possible. Use data, not assumptions, to identify your audience.

Avoid labels like millennials, stay-at-home moms, small business owners, and busy professionals. Get beyond basic demographics and general categories.

These labels may help you paint a clearer picture of your audience, but it’s important to remember that your readers are real people.

When you have a better understanding of who these real people are and what’s important to them, you’ll be better prepared to develop relevant, valuable blog content that speaks to their needs and deliver that content to the right places.

Once you’ve identified your target audience, you have to figure out where they go to consume content.

Obviously, people who sign up to receive your blog will get emails or alerts when you publish a new post. But if you rely only on email distribution, you’ll struggle to grow your audience.

What social media channels, and groups within those channels, cater to your target audience? What publications cater to your audience?

How can you optimize your content so people will find your business on Google when they look for more information about a topic you covered in your blog?

You need a targeted distribution plan that gets your small business blog in front of future clients and referral sources.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – knowledge of one’s business and the ability to type do not a writer make.

Your blog has to be more than well-written. It has to be interesting and helpful. It has to be written with business goals, marketing strategy and a specific target audience in mind.

If your company doesn’t have an employee with this kind of ability and expertise, or you have such a person but they don’t have the bandwidth to write on a regular basis, you need to invest in a content writer.

Let your team be a resource of knowledge about your company, industry, and products or services. Let a professional writer communicate that knowledge in a way that’s compelling and easy for people to understand.

This is a big reason why so many small business blogs fizzle. They run out of topics.

The immediate goal of your business blog should be to help current and potential clients and solve their problems. The company blog isn’t just another place to sell stuff.

What are common questions your clients ask before, during and after the sale? What are common obstacles to a sale? Each question and obstacle can be addressed thoroughly and without interruption in a blog post.

What new data and trends will your audience find relevant and helpful? The findings of a new study, and individual data points within that study, can inspire a number of blog posts.

What are people in your industry talking about on social media, in news articles, and at live events? What are your competitors talking about?

Keep in mind that topics will overlap, and you can cover the same blog topic more than once as long as you approach it from a different angle. You can take number five from your “top 10” post and turn it into its own post.

Listen to your clients. Listen to your colleagues. Listen to your competitors. And you’ll never run out of blog topics.

Once you’ve answered all of these questions, you need a repeatable process for publishing blog posts on a regular basis.

For example, you look at your editorial calendar and see that a post about retirement planning is scheduled to be published one month from now. You need to have a process that allows enough time to have the blog post written, reviewed, revised if necessary, approved, published and distributed.

If you plan to publish once a week, it’s not a bad idea to start with a frequency of once a month or every other week, and then ramp up when you’re comfortable with the process.

If you want your small business blog to be successful, you have to publish consistently. It’s much easier to publish consistently and avoid falling behind when you have a repeatable process to follow.

These questions will help you get started with your business blog, but there is no perfect formula that’s guaranteed to last forever.

Business needs change. Business capabilities change. Client needs change. Market conditions change. Distribution channels change. Any of these changes may require you to adjust your blogging strategy.

Also, the best marketing is often the result of testing and fine tuning over a long period of time. Blogging in particular is not about overnight success.

Successful small business blogging is about patience, passion, process, commitment, and a never-ending focus on the needs of your target audience.

But you have to know where to start. By answering these questions, you’ll create a solid foundation that can help you turn your business blog into a revenue-producing marketing tool.

Need help answering these questions and developing a sound blogging strategy? Don’t get frustrated and throw in the towel. Contact me to get the ball rolling.