So, you want to ‘start a blog’. Well, you’ve come at the right place.

A blog is a timely updated online diary or a personal journal. It’s a place to share your thoughts and express yourself to the world. Blogs are rated as the fifth most trusted source for accurate information online. Blogging is probably one of the most valued marketing tool. There is no easier and effective way to combine content marketing, social media and SEO than blogging. Companies use blogging as a medium to educate and build customer trust, brand persona, & generate leads. It is estimated that companies that blog get 97% more inbound links to their website.

In this blog, I have compiled the blogging tips & marketing benefits of a successful business blog. So without further ado, let us proceed with the marketing benefits of the business blogs.

1) Blogs helps drive traffic to your website. Every time you write a blog post, you add another indexed page on your website. The indexed page further offers an opportunity to show up in the search engines and drive organic searches to your website.

2) Blogs helps convert that traffic into leads. Each post offers the possibility to promote new leads. The catch is to provide a lead generating CTA (Call-To-Action) separately for every blog post.

3) Blogs helps in demographic targeting. A blog can assist companies to execute outreach & demographic targeting.

4) Blogs drives enduring results. Blog posts are “compounding". The effort you put in today can turn into thousands of views and leads in the future. You just require little fine tuning and consistent content updates.

5) Blogs help establish authority. With consistently in creating the content for your target customer, you can establish yourself as an authority in their eyes.

6) Blogs support Search Engine Optimization. Blogs are search-friendly. You can amplify it by focusing each blog post or article with high ranking keywords and backlinks.   

7) At its core Blogs incorporate a smooth-running, low cost and easy to use Content Management System(CMS).

8) Blogging helps you get discovered through Social Media. Via comments, social sharing, & guest posting, blogs offer the much needed framework to build social community.   

 Things you’ll want to consider

Before you start the blog, you must introspect and ask yourself following questions:

Why are you creating a blog?

— Identify your goals and let that guide the rest of your decisions.

Who is your target audience?

— Identify your target audience before coming up with ideas of what you actually want to create.

What are you going to talk about?

— Blogs are build on some solid ‘fundamental topics’ that are driven from your target audience, industry and the community in which you work. By maintaining the focus on the established topics, a blogger can provide a crisp ending and increased chance of mouth-to-mouth marketing from the readers.

How frequently will you be able to post?

— If possible, commit to post two post a week for few initial months of your blogging. Stick to the calendar and maintain the consistency.  

What type of content do you want to create?

— Great content is all about offering the desired information to your audience. Make sure that information is timely offered and in a crystal clear and easy language. Simply the Jargons, use pictorial illustrations, facts & figures to support your opinion.

Where will your content come from?

— Encouraging your friends, freelancers, acquaintances, family members and like-minded professionals to  get involved will help you to circulate fresh content on your blog site. It will also give the readers varying perspective on various topics.

Where do you want your blog to live?

— Many believe that while starting out, you should choose free blogging platforms. While I sincerely beg to differ. Right from the very beginning, it is advised that you start with the paid service. I prefer WordPress. Besides, make sure that you add a call for the readers to connect to your social accounts & a signup form for newsletters. Another option is use a drag-and-drop website builder, like Zyro, if you prefer a quick and easy platform to build a website. 

Okay, you know what you need to do! By answering these questions, you’ll already have the bulk for that first post written. Go ahead! Start with your first blog post and while you do that I prepare quick & easy blog writing tips for successful blog posts. All the very best!