Business Blogging Tips and Tricks : A Summary
A couple of weeks ago, one of the members of a lovely local group I'm a member of asked a question about business blogging. She sparked off several questions, and I shared a blog post about why bother to blog, which I had, coincidentally, written the month before. That led to being asked to lead a session on blogging for business at our April monthly meeting in Bridlington. These are business blogging tips and tricks to help you get started!
Here is a summary of the session with Bridlington & The Wolds Women In Business group, and some of the questions about blogging that we chatted about.
I didn't do slides, as I wanted to chat through relevant points in response to questions from the attendees. And this blog post is intended to signpost you to detailed 'how-to' content to help you leap from 'I fancy having a go at business blogging' to learning some proven steps to get you there, without overwhelm or time-wasting!
The first question was actually, what is a blog post? This was a good place to start!
Here is a great answer paragraph from Hubspot (a fantastic respected resource on blogging and content marketing)
A blog post is any article, news piece, or guide that's published in the blog section of a website. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational in nature, ranges from 600 to 2,000+ words, and contains other media types such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive charts.
Blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can help you drive traffic to your website.
A blog is a marketing channel to help your business GET FOUND, GET KNOWN with the intention of GET CUSTOMERS. Each post is an opportunity to educate and help your ideal customers. Blogs are also 'evergreen content' which can be discovered for years. Compare that with the very short life span of a social media post, which likely never surfaces again!
I explained about the concept of EEAT which Google uses as a way of 'assessing' if content is relevant to a search query someone has input. Google always wants to serve up quality relevant results to their 'searchers'. Understanding this really helps you to understand why blogging would be worth the effort for your business - if done well! Understanding the EEAT concept also helps you to see why proper blogging helps you to stand apart from all the crappy AI generated content that is proliferating.
So What Is EEAT?
- EXPERIENCE
- EXPERTISE
- AUTHORITATIVENESS
- TRUSTWORTHYNESS
Your blog posts help you demonstrate your credibility, your notability and highlights your transparency around your business and services. All crucial TRUST indicators I'm sure you'll agree! So think about how you demonstrate EEAT within your blog content. I think this is one of the key business blogging tips and tricks I wanted to highlight, and a massive reason why it's so beneficial to get started!
Is Blogging Right For Everyone?
Another good question. Many of those present could benefit from blogging, and there were a couple for whom other marketing channels would be more effective as a way to reach their target audience & customers. And if you don't like writing... then it's not the right channel for you either... you just won't do it, will you?
Always Ask Yourself:
- WHY you are creating a piece of content?
- Who is it aimed at?
- What do you want them to do next?
- What specific question, topic or pain point does the post answer?
- Is this what your audience are searching for?
What Do Blog Posts Look Like?
We chatted about the 'style' of blog posts, and I shared 3 main styles that are a great starting point for business blogging.
- Diary Style
- How-To's
- FAQ's
Diary Style Blog Posts
These are a familiar style, and where lots of blogging started 'back in the day'. However, they provide a great starting point for writing blog posts for your business and are also brilliant way to demonstrate those EEAT principles and show your personality. These type of posts are unlikely to pop up in search BUT give an insight into you, your business activities and your point of view. I suppose this post is in a diary style, since it is summarising the in-person session I led on blogging!
'How-To' Blog Posts
These are perfect for writing content which is valuable for your target customers and are designed to be found in search. Keeping to the point and writing a well structured and optimised for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) blog post also helps with EEAT factors as well as being written to help your audience. 'How-to' content is the most searched type of content on YouTube too.
FAQ's Answering Frequently Asked Questions
Another type of blog post also written to be helpful to your potential customers AND to be found in search. I love the book 'They Ask You Answer' by Marcus Sheridan and took my copy along to the meeting too! He also advocates that you create a 'Learning Centre' / 'Knowledge Centre' on your website which houses your blog posts and also videos. It's an alternative, perhaps more modern' name for your blog!
Find all about They Ask, You Answer at their Learning Centre - it's fabulous!
What To Talk About?
A common concern about blogging, and indeed for writing social media posts si that you don't know what to write about, or that you will run out of things to write about.
If you start with the 3 styles of blog post highlighted above, honestly, you won't ever run out of relevant and interesting blog post topics. There will always be things you can help and educate your customers about. There will always be things your business is working on and doing.
And How To Write Blog Posts
You might not think you are a very good writer but, honestly, like so many things, writing blog posts is something you can learn. Follow a structure and a process to get your message across. There is lots of info around on how to write blog posts.
One expert I follow is Ann Handley. She writes great posts and books about writing and publishes a good newsletter called 'Total Annarchy'
Here is a recent post about how to write using a process.
She suggests by starting with Pen and Paper!
I love scribbling and doodling with pen and paper, and I love to use mindmaps too. They are brilliant for brainstorming ideas for blog posts, and it's amazing how many ideas you can come up with in a reasonably short time.
Make sure you capture those ideas somewhere! Maybe a spreadsheet, or a Trello board or just keep them in a notebook - whatever works for you! The important thing is that you can work off that list and plan a series of blog posts, spark off new ideas. Then you won't forget those ideas and won't be sat there wondering what the hell to write either!
Your Blogging Learning Journey!
As we wrapped up our session about blogging, I raised the point that yes, this is a skill that you will have to learn about to do well. Just like anything else in life!
Key Learning Actions:
- Learn about the structure and process of blogging
- Learn about Keywords and Keyword Research
- Learn about SEO Search Engine Optimisation
These are key skills to help you write blog posts that are helpful for your audience, they address what they want to know, and that can be found.
And please don't just ask Chat GPT etc to write you a blog post. Hopefully after reading this post you will understand why doing that won't help your business at all!
Here's a short article by Tom Fishburne, a marketer who uses cartoons to illustrate his Point of View. He is talking about content marketing, writing, SEO and chatGPT
Popular Resources About Blogging & Content Marketing
Yoast.com is a brilliant place to learn about different aspects of content creation, blogging and particularly SEO. They have loads of free learning resources, and also have great resources on SEO specifically for Shopify and ecommerce store owners.
Hubspot another brilliant place to learn about Blogging & Content Marketing. They also have loads of free learning resources and tools. Start with this in-depth blog post on How To Start A Blog and How To Write A Blog Post
AnswerThePublic is a great resource to discover keywords and keyword phrases with their rather cool online tool
There is also a Yoast keyword suggestion tool
And if you want to take a look at your website homepage and content with a fresh pair of eyes then I highly recommend the book 'Marketing Made Simple' by Donald Miller
I also spotted a specific podcast about your website on his Business Made Simple podcast. Episode 145, called, 'Your website probably stinks!
HAPPY BLOGGING!
I hope that this summary encourages you to think about if blogging would be a valuable marketing pillar for your business. There are a million different business blogging tips and tricks you can dive into over time. Yes there is still value in making a start. Take it step by step, block out time to learn and do it. And be kind to yourself.
If you want to hire me for a brain picking session to help you get started with blogging, work out where to start, and also help with practical aspects, then you can hire me by booking a power hour strategy session with me.
You know I'm always cheering you on,
Sue xxx