If you’ve ever read a blog post, you’ve been exposed to content from a thought leader who is an industry expert. If the blog post was well-written, you’re likely to have gained useful information as well as a favourable impression of the author or brand that created it.
Anyone may use blogging to engage with their audience and get the benefits of organic traffic from search engines, promotional content for social media, and recognition from a new audience you haven’t reached yet.
If you’ve heard of blogging but are unsure where to begin, the time for excuses is over. In this article, RisePath shows you how to start a blog for your business.
Let’s get started with a crucial question.
Depending on your niche, blogging might mean a variety of things, so let’s start with this definition.
What is a blog post, exactly?
Any article, news story, or guidance that is published in a website’s blog area is referred to as a blog post. A blog post often covers a specific topic or inquiry, is instructional in nature, involves various media types such as photographs, videos, infographics, and interactive charts, and varies from 600 to 2,000+ words.
Blog posts allow you and your company to share information, ideas, and anecdotes about any topic on your website. They can assist you in increasing brand recognition, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can assist you in increasing website traffic.
However, before you can start writing blog entries, you must first learn how to start a blog. Let’s get started.
What Is the Best Way to Begin a Blog?
1. Know who you’re talking to.
Make sure you have a good idea of your target audience before you start writing your blog post.
Ask inquiries such as, “What do they want to know?” What will strike a chord with them?
This is when the buyer persona creation process comes in helpful. When choosing a topic for your blog post, think about what you know about your buyer personas and their interests.
If your readers are millennials trying to start a business, for example, you probably don’t need to provide them advice on how to get started on social media because most of them already know how to do so.
However, you might want to provide them with advice on how to change their social media strategy (for example, from a casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-focused approach). This type of modification is what allows you to create material on themes that your audience wants and needs.
2. Take a look at your competitors.
What better approach to get ideas than by looking at your well-known competitors?
Popular, well-reviewed blogs are worth studying since their strategy and execution are what helped them gain credibility. The goal isn’t to copy these aspects, but to develop a better understanding of what readers value in a good blog.
When conducting a competitive analysis, you should consider the following factors:
- Visuals: Look at the logo, colour palette, and topic of the blog.
- Copy: Examine the competition’s tone and writing style to see what appeals to readers.
- Topics: Find out what topics their readers love discussing.
3. Make a list of the topics you’ll address.
Choose a topic to write about before you start writing anything. To begin, the topic might be rather broad until you locate your ideal blogging niche.
Asking oneself questions like these can help you identify things to cover.
- Whom would I like to write to.
- How well do I comprehend this subject?
- Is this a topic worth discussing?
4. Determine your distinct point of view.
What unique viewpoint do you bring to the table that sets you apart from the competition? This is crucial in establishing the course of your blog’s future, and there are numerous options to consider.
- What makes you a trusted authority or thought leader on the subject because of your unique experience?
- What issue will you address for your readers?
- Will you express your thoughts on current debates?
- Do you want to show your readers how to do something?
- Is it possible to compare or share original research?
It’s entirely up to you to select what unique perspective you’ll take on various themes.
5. Give your blog a name.
This is your chance to be creative and come up with a name that tells readers what to anticipate from your site. Here are some suggestions for picking a blog name:
- Keep your blog’s name simple to pronounce and spell.
- Make a connection between your blog’s name and your brand message.
- Think about what your target market is looking for.
If you still need help, you can use a blog name generator.
Make sure the name you come up with isn’t already in use, as it may reduce your exposure and cause people to become confused while browsing for your material.
6. Register a domain for your blog.
A domain is a portion of the web address nomenclature that someone would type into a search engine to find your website or a specific page of your website.
The domain for your blog will be www.yourblog.com. As long as this domain name does not already exist on the internet, you can call it whatever you like between the two periods.
Do you want to give your blog a subdomain? If you already have a cooking company at www.yourcompany.com, you might want to start a blog at blog.yourcompany.com. On other words, the subdomain of your blog will be in its own part of yourcompany.com.
Some CMS platforms have free subdomains, which allow you to host your blog on the CMS rather than on your company’s website. It might look something like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However, if you want to construct a subdomain for your company’s website, you’ll need to register it with a website host.
Most website hosting services charge extremely little to host an original domain – in fact, when you commit to a 36-month term, website charges can be as little as $3 per month.
Here are some of the most popular web hosting providers to consider:
- GoDaddy
- HostGator
- DreamHost
- Bluehost
- iPage
7. Select a content management system (CMS) and set up your blog.
A content management system (CMS) is a piece of software that allows users to create and maintain websites without having to write them from the ground up. Domains (where you create your website) and subdomains are managed by CMS platforms (where you create a webpage that connects to an existing website).
After you’ve decided on a CMS and a domain or subdomain for your blog, you’ll need to choose a web hosting service.
8. Personalize the appearance of your blog.
Customize the appearance of your blog once you’ve set up your domain name to suit the theme of the content you plan to create as well as your brand.
If you’re blogging about sustainability and the environment, for example, green may be a hue to consider while designing your blog.
If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for it, make sure the article matches the website in terms of appearance and content. There are two ways to accomplish this:
- Logo: This can be your company’s name and logo, and it will remind readers who is publishing the content on your blog. (How extensively you brand your blog, on the other hand, is entirely up to you.)
- “About” Page: You may already have a paragraph about yourself or your company in your “About” section. The “About” section of your blog is a continuation of this higher-level declaration. Consider it your blog’s mission statement, which supports your company’s objectives.
9. Compose your first blog entry.
The only thing left to do is add content to your blog after it’s up and running. While the style and layout are entertaining and functional, it is the content that will entice your readers to return.
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