7 Things To Start A Small Business Blog

Choose A Blogging Service

Choose between WordPress, Blogger, Posterous, HubSpot, etc. and start a blog. This should take no more than 10 minutes.

WordPress is usually the way to go; it’s user-friendly and comes with tons of plugins and features that can really help you jump start your blog, not to mention it’s for free. But of course, as your blog gets popular, expect to pull some money from your pockets and make some upgrades to support the growing demand.

Host Your Blog Right On Your Main Site

If you leave your blog site on its default domain name (say thisisanawesomeblog.wordpress.com) you won’t get any of your SEO credits from any SEO efforts you’ve done. Also, if you read your Terms of Service of your blog, it says – you don’t really own that blog. All the contents you wrote are owned by your host. Getting your own domain name will give your blog credibility, and more flexibility. However, getting a domain name is a paid service, so prepare some money to get it from your preferred hosting site (which in this case would be, thisisanawesomeblog.com). It is very tempting to use keywords only for your domain name, but if it’s not catchy and meaningful, it will not go further. Besides, you can always do the optimization later. Contact your developer (or anyone good with computer and some programming), or even do it yourself and learn. It’s a small investment that will pay off big in the long run.

Consider Your Target Market

Think of the problems and questions your prospective readers and target audience may have in mind that you want to solve. What is your business about, and how can it help your target audience? What would they type in search engines to search answers for that problem? Identify these queries, and you’ll get your first keyword.

Have A Content Plan: Brainstorm

For Keywords Brainstorm for keywords related to your blog, your business, the niche you’re in, and what your prospective visitors may type in search engines to see your blog. Write them all down, and focus on long tail phrases, 3 to 4 words long would be great. If your blog is geographically specific, then include your city (state, country, etc.) in your keyword phrases. Opt for more obscure keywords, they have lesser competition and are easier to rank.

Write Your First Blog Post

Write your very first blog post to educate readers about your business and what you do with the blog. Get rid of sales pitch, and state what you can do to help. Keep your posts informative for your readers, include links to other relevant resources online, and provide the best value for readership in every post you make.

Make Your Blog And Posts Easy To Share

As a blogger looking to earn a living from his blog sites and posts, you need more activities from your reader’s end. This means more reader engagement, from comments, responding to comments, sharing your blog posts to social media (Facebook and Twitter). Make it easier for them to share your content by setting up share buttons or widgets. Visit their blog and add those loyal ones in your blog’s fanpage. Comment helpful things on their blogs.

Being a responsive blogger attracts subscribers, and attracting more subscribers means establishing relationship with people who are interested in your blog and business, which obviously leads to more traffic.

Get Social

This is related to the previous item on the list. Setting up profiles of your blog on Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn can make a lot of difference; it can automate sharing of your news posts and updates. You can also set up a channel in YouTube and make video blogs for your blog site. The idea is to get your URL everywhere to invite more people to click and visit your site.

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