The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging for Business: What to Write About?

by | Apr 16, 2014

You know you need to be active online to grow your business. You know that consistently generating quality content is absolutely essential for being found on search engines, and for building credibility with your potential customers.

You probably even know that a blog is one of the best ways to ensure your website always has fresh, new, and relevant content.

But there’s a problem. You don’t know the first thing about blogging!

What will you write about? How should you format it? What if you run out of things to say? What are the best practices?

In this blog series, we will walk you through some of the fundamentals of blogging, to help get your fledgling blog off the ground – the right way.

So let’s get started with a concern we’ve encountered time and time again: what should you write about? Where will you get your ideas?

Write What You Know 

“Write what you know”, an often repeated writing mantra, is particularly true for business blogs.

No one knows your industry better than you. You’re the expert!  Together, you and your colleagues have a wealth of knowledge about your industry.

You know your services, your products, the common mistakes people make, how to solve typical issues, frequently asked questions, and so on. All of this is perfect material to write about in your blog.

Don’t Be Afraid to Engage in the Online Conversation 

Another great strategy is to “curate” content from other bloggers and websites. To do this, find an article about your industry that you either agree or disagree with. Think of some points you could add to the article, or a comment you’d like to make on its content.

Then, introduce the article and briefly summarize it. Do not take any text directly from the article unless you put it in quotations – and do this sparingly, one or two lines at most. Then, engage with that content by adding your spin on it. From your perspective, and with your experience, provide your opinion on the subject.

Important Note: For this type of blog post, it is essential that you give credit to the original source of the material, with a link back to their article. You never want to plagiarize someone else’s work. This is also why you must quote any text taken directly from the source.

Try a New Angle 

Don’t do only one blog post on each topic. There are many different angles with which to approach every subject.

Try presenting a topic you’ve already talked about in a new way. Focus in-depth on one aspect of the topic, or talk about how to solve a specific problem rather than writing in general terms.

For example: If you wrote a post about massage therapy in general, you would still have many different angles to discuss on the subject. How does massage relieve stress? Headaches? What are the different types of massage? Who benefits from massage? What are the best massage techniques? Etc.

Another example: If you wrote a post about one of your products you could address: What specific problems can your product solve and how? What are the common mistakes people make when using your product? What are the latest trends related to that product? Is the product best on its own, or does it work in conjunction with other products/processes/techniques? Etc.

Having a Promotion? Contest? Offer? Event? Perfect! 

Promotions, contests, offers, and events are all ideal blogging content. You want to promote what your organization is doing, and your blog is the right place to do it.

If you’re having a contest, explain details and tell people how to enter. Then, when someone wins, feature them and their entry on your blog (with their permission).

If you’re having a promotion or offer, do a blog post to outline exactly what you’re offering and why people should be interested.

If you’re attending an event, do a post about what it is and invite your readers to meet you there (especially if you have a booth they can find you at!).

If you’re hosting an event, you can do multiple blogs promoting it. Give the outline and the details. Remind people if sign-up is limited. If you have speakers, do blogs introducing them and what they will be talking about. If you’re doing a training or informational session, explain what attendees will learn.

You can still have dedicated pages on your website, content on your homepage, banners, emails, etc. to promote your offer or event, but your blog is another great place for bringing the event to life.

Let Your Target Market Guide You 

Always write your blogs with your prospects, influencers, and customers in mind. Write as though you were speaking to them.

If you find that prospects are asking you the same questions repeatedly, write posts covering those topics. If customers are encountering the same problems repeatedly, write posts covering how to address those problems. And so on.

You already know there is interest in those subjects, so you will be creating value for your target audience. It’s a win-win.

The Bottom Line

Coming up with blog content ideas can seem daunting, but once you get started you’ll be surprised at how much material you have. Whenever you come up with a new idea, capture it immediately so you’ll have a resource for when you’re feeling low on inspiration.

In our next Beginner’s Guide to Blogging post, we will outline the must-do components for blog post formatting.

>> Core Online Marketing will work with your business to ensure you have quality, on-going content for your blog. Attend our free seminar to learn more about online marketing fundamentals or contact us today to find out what we can do for you.

Like this? You might also like:
5 Types of Content That Increase Close Rates
Mix Up Your Online Marketing Content
What is Content Marketing?

 

Ben Molfetta
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