7 Key Steps to show you how to Create a Business Blog

So you’ve got a business website and have finally decided you want to stop paying for all your traffic.

Maybe someone told you that a blog is the best way to generate organic traffic while providing you with another communication channel to your customers. They were right.

You see a website once indexed in Google isn’t likely to change too often and the only way you’ll improve your website in the search ranking is through more backlinks and just naturally over time.

Your other option is to continually add new content to your website and try to take advantage of the Long Tail of Google’s search traffic.  But there are only so many times you can write about the limited inventory your have.

This is why a business blog is so powerful.

A business blog gives you an opportunity to write regular content whilst adding value to your customers. It’s this content that will eventually create new leads and bring in much needed free organic traffic. So what type of business blog are you going to create?

Business Blog Examples

Yes, even the biggest names in business have business blogs and there’s a good reason for this. A blog can help you turn customers into raving fans. You just need to give them the fuel and they’ll spread the word for you.

So what are you going to blog about?

7 Business Blog Ideas

#1 – Customer Success Stories

There’s nothing better for social proof than success stories straight from your customers mouths. Use your best customers and write case studies about how your product has changed their lives.

#2 – Discuss Future Plans

Stop trying protecting your IP and publish a roadmap of where your business is heading. Your loyal fans will take this opportunity to brag about you and share your story. Don’t be afraid of your competition as they are probably busy with their secret ideas. If they beat you to market then iterate and deliver a better product.

#3 – Create ‘How To’ guides

Let’s face it, the manual is the last deliverable and often the most rushed during the New Product cycle. Add value to your products by creating hands-on “How To’s and include video demonstrations and step-by-step instructions. When you lower the learning curve for a customer, they’ll master it quicker and be able to further promote you products.

#4 – Industry News Updates

It’s likely you’ll be keeping track of the competitors in your industry so why not do regular roundup posts of all the Industry News in your market segment. You don’t need to report on the information, just relay the information by linking out to the relevant news sources.

#5 – Answer Customer Feedback

You probably already have a customer contact centre, so why not get them to write a few a paragraphs about common questions and then answer them directly on your blog. This type of information can be easily referred to and customers will learn to self-serve from this pool of Q&A.

#6 – Employee Profiles

People deal with people and not companies. Use your business blog to publish employee profiles. You’ll be surprised at how this will improve the customer contact experience, especially when they recognise a name for an employee that’s already been profiled.

Employee profiles for outsourced contact centres is also a way for the customer to get to know the people they talk to.

#7 – Go Behind the Scenes

To show your customers how busy you are delivering great products, take them behind the scenes and reveal a little more about how you conduct business. This will also improve the trust between you and your customers.

These business blog ideas should give you enough enthusiasm to get started, but how do you create a business blog?

How to Create a Business Blog

#1 – Choose a Domain Name

First you’ll need Domain Name but most likely you already have this sorted. Some companies create a subdomain for their blog like blog.mycompany.com whilst others publish their blogs to a subfolder like mycompany.com/blog.

However in Samsung’s example above, they’ve created a whole new marketing website just for their blog.

#2 – Where will you host your blog

If you’re starting a New Business and need a blog as well as a business website then I recommend getting a host that allows for multiple subdomains like BlueHost or Hostgator, these hosting packages usually come with a domain. However, if you just need to purchase a new Domain Name then Godaddy is one of the most popular places to buy from.

#3 – Blogging Software

Once you’ve got your hosting sorted you’ll need some blogging software and I only recommend WordPress, because it’s the easiest software to use and has the largest range of plugins of any of the blogging platforms. Best of all, most of these plugins are free. WordPress Plugins will allow you to create the right look and feel for your blog.

#4 – Design your Blog

There are many free templates available from WordPress.org but, you’ll most likely want a professional template for a business. Remember your websites are the gateway to your customers and should reflect the professionalism of a business

I always use Professional WordPress Themes because I don’t want the headaches of chasing up the free theme developers every time a WordPress update breaks the theme. For me, 100% website availability is important. Here’s what I think about my Professional WordPress Themes provider.

#5 – Do your Research

I’ll let you on a little secret. You can game the results in Google search to an extent. It’s called Keyword Research. Basically, you write blog posts with common phrases that your customers use. This exact pattern matching or keyword phrase gives you a boost in Google search results. I’m using the term ‘How to create a business blog’ right now because I know that’s a phrase people often type into Google when looking for a Business Blog.

You can do your own keyword research to improve your organic traffic or get a Professional Done for You Keyword Research Service like the one I offer. Either way you should pay close attention to the language your customers are using and continue to use that style of language in your blog posts.

#6 – Write your Blog Posts

Once you’re all setup, then start publishing as soon as you can. It’s a good idea to publish consistently on regular days of the week as this encourages your customers to come looking for what you have written. Quality over quantity is more important for a Business Blog.

Make sure you create a Style Sheet for your blog so the language that’s being used is similar in each post,  regardless of who is doing the writing.

#7 – Promote your Blog

Finally, you need to promote your blog.

Include your blog URL on business cards, email signatures and newsletters and social media profiles.

People linking back to your blog will ultimately improve your search rankings. Make sure people have easy access to social media share links to minimise the resistance to share your work.

That’s about it for creating your business blog, and if you’re still trying to imagine what it’ll look like then just have a look around to see what’s out there. There are many styles and formats you can use, but more importantly you communicate your brand message with words and images. So take the time to get it right.

If you liked this post then please like and share and if you need more help creating a business blog then you can always contact me on twitter @DIYBlogGuy . Good Luck and Happy Business Blogging!