Blogging dates back to as early as 1994, but it took at least a decade for its power in the business world to be truly realized. According to Hubspot, as of 2020, marketers that prioritize blogging can see a ROI of 13 times more than businesses that don’t. If you don’t yet have a blog for your business, it’s certainly a channel worth considering!

Here’s how to get started with a blog for your business, plus some reasons why you might want to do so sooner rather than later.

Steps For Starting a Blog

While each business’s specific blog checklist may differ slightly based on industry, goals, and resources, there are a few steps that are particularly helpful for getting started with any blog. From learning more about your customers, to clicking “post” on that first piece, here are our core steps for starting a blog for your business.

1. Think about what your current (or future) customers find interesting, and how you can answer their questions through your blog.

When you decide to start a blog, it’s helpful to begin with a general idea of the purpose you want it to serve your business, as well as with an understanding of who your audience is. The better you know your customers, the more relatable your blog content will be.

• Consider the types of questions your customers might ask about your products or services, and think about how your blog could help answer them.

• Develop a persona of your ideal customer, including their interests and hobbies. The more details you can think of that apply to your customer base, the easier it’ll be to write blog posts that they find interesting and informative.

• Determine your top three to five core topics of interest that you’d like to centralize your content around. This will help guide your content strategy, especially as you’re getting started.

2. Think of where you will host your blog, and give it a compelling name.

Many website platforms give you the option to include a blog component, and most are relatively simple to add to your site’s navigation. By housing your blog within your website, you give blog visitors the chance to discover your products, as well as site visitors the chance to build an even deeper relationship with your business.

Once you’ve decided where you’ll have your blog live, it’s time to give it a name that reflects your business, and the content you’ll be sharing through your blog. While you can certainly update your blog’s name after you launch it, try your best to choose something that you feel confident could be relevant to your business even in the future.

3. Create a visual identity for your blog that ties in to your business’s look and feel.

While you might not need to create a whole new logo for your blog, it can be helpful to use your brand’s colors, or to at least choose colors that are compatible. The overall look and feel of your blog should mimic the overall look and feel of your brand— that way, your customers will be able to recognize it and how it connects to your business.

Most website platforms not only give you a way to host a blog on your website, but they also provide templates that save you time on setup. Use a template that works well with your current site, and update the colors accordingly. Once you have the setup complete, it’s time to move on to your 

4. Get started on your first post, then let it officially go live!

Sometimes the hardest part of starting a blog for your business is sitting down to write that first ever post, but there’s really no need to hesitate! Once you commit and post that first official piece of writing, you’ll likely find that the process gets easier over time.

There are a few directions you can go with your first blog post, and it’s really up to you to decide which will be most effective for your business.

• You might choose to make your blog post an introduction to your blog, letting readers know what you’ll be posting about, and why.

• Some businesses use their first blog post to highlight their team members and offerings, to personalize the experience for their readers.

• You can also choose to dive right into meatier content, whether that’s DIY tips, product features, or customer profiles.

There isn’t a “right” way to start your blog, but it is important to officially get started!

5. Announce the launch of your blog, and promote its content through your other marketing channels.

Once you’ve set up your blog, and found the courage to press “live” on your first-ever post, it’s time to introduce it to the world! There are many ways you can choose to announce the launch of your business’s blog. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Feature your blog on the homepage of your website, in an area that still allows your site visitors to have easy access to the product or service information they come there for the most.

• If your business has a physical location, consider setting up a sign at checkout or in your window that announces the launch of your blog.

• Create posts on your social media accounts that highlight

Why a Blog’s Important For Your Business

From connecting with your customers, to bringing quality traffic to your website, there are many reasons you could find value in starting a blog for your business. Here are a few of our favorites.

A blog gives you the chance to educate, and entertain

While the product pages of your website are helpful for sharing details about your offerings with potential customers, blog posts can help put your products and services into more of a real-world context than your traditional website likely ever could.

A blog gives you the chance to talk about more than just your products themselves, but instead, about how your offerings can naturally fit into the lives of the people who would most enjoy them. It gives you more of an opportunity to share your brand’s personality with content that teaches your audience in a compelling way.

Blogs offer fantastic opportunities to have conversations with customers

While many websites are completely one-sided and informational, or nothing more than merely transactional, blog posts give you the chance to engage your customers in a much deeper way. Posts that pose questions and spark conversations allow site visitors to connect with one another, and with your business, right within the comments section. This helps you build even stronger relationships with current and potential customers!

Thoughtful content and strategic keywords can drive more traffic to your site

Search engines regularly scrape web pages to find relevant content and bring it to the top of their results pages. When you build a blog that has the answers to your current (and potential!) customers’ questions, you’ll likely also help to bring more organic traffic to your website as a whole.

Each blog post can be a piece of shareable content for social media

Blog posts aren’t just helpful resources for your site; they also make for great content to share on social media. Every time you share the link to one of your blog posts on your other social accounts (be that your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram stories), you get another opportunity to drive interested traffic to your website!

Building Your Blog

It takes a strategic mindset, and a little bit of creativity, to start a blog for your business, but the time and attention you spend will be well worth the robust community your blog has the potential to inspire! 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and are struggling to get your business’s blog off the ground, or lack the resources to keep it fresh with regular posts, the team at Doukas Media can help with anything from strategic guidance to content creation and management.

Do you have a blog associated with your business/website? What types of content do you share on your blog? What do you feel you could use additional support with in managing your blog? Let us know in the comments!