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Getting Started With Blogging

blogging | resources by Shannon Noack on March 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

Starting a blog can be intimidating, although it doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming. We’ve been blogging for a few years now and have some great tips for people that are getting started.

Blogging can be an invaluable tool for any business and it’s important to start on the right foot and continue in a positive direction so your blog doesn’t cause more harm than good. The biggest question we’ve seen with most new bloggers is “What do I post?” and we’ll address that and other things below so you can start strong and use your blog for positive business growth.

Define Your Audience

The first step you should take is to decide who your audience is, and what kind of material they would find interesting to read. Before you do that, it’s hard to get your blog setup and started because you won’t know who you’re writing for. If you currently have a blog and are just going through this process, your audience doesn’t have to be who currently reads the blog, but more importantly, it’s who you want it to be.

Create a Post List

Next, you’ll want to sit down and create an idea list. If you’re a business owner, think of questions your audience or clients might have had, your readers will probably find the answer to that question interesting so it would make a great post. Make a list of at least 20 ideas to get you started. When you sit down to write a post, you can use this list for post ideas so you aren’t sitting there with a blank screen thinking, “What should I post about today?” Make sure you continuously add to the list as well so it’s never empty. Some people find it helpful to organize their list into a certain order so everything is planned out. You can use your list however it best suits you though.

Define Your Posting Frequency

In order to entice readers to subscribe and stay interested, you’ll want to post fairly often, we suggest at least once a week. Posting less often or irregularly makes it seem like you don’t keep up with it, and when it’s connected with your business, that will reflect poorly on your company. So make sure to post often and regularly to keep people coming back for more. We also suggest adding a couple of posts to your blog before you start publicizing it so people can see what your schedule is and what kind of posts you’ll have.

Make Sure to Give Value

This is really important for your blog, if readers don’t find your posts valuable, they won’t subscribe and come back and they won’t share your posts. Blogging is a great way to get more shareable content, but if your content isn’t valuable or relevant, it won’t provide the benefits that it could for you. So when you come up with your post list, make sure to include things that your audience will enjoy and find interesting. Offer resources, tips and advice, free stuff, or anything that would be relevant for your audience.

Promote Your Blog

One of the tough parts of starting a blog is how to promote it, but it’s important in order to grow your following and increase readership. Remember, readers are people that can potentially share content which will expand your community and hopefully grow your business. You can promote in many different ways:

  • include your blog link in your email signature
  • setup your blog to post automatically to your Facebook and Twitter profiles
  • add easy sharing icons to allow people to like and share on each post
  • offer contests and deals through your blog

Blogging offers tons of great benefits for your company, and getting started right is important for your blog’s success. Continuing with a solid plan is also important, so make sure you keep up with everything you put in place in the beginning and your blog will do well.

What are your best tips for running a successful blog?

1 Comment »

  1. The Best of Snoack Studios Blog from 2012 | Snoack Studios Blog
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