It seems like everyone is starting a blog today; from the business professional to the stay at home mom, everyone has a story, information, or helpful tips to share. A blog can be a great marketing, informational, and educational tool for your clients or potential customers. The difficulty is getting started, staying focused, and making your blog work for you.

If you’ve been considering starting a blog, but aren’t quite sure where to start, follow these helpful tips:

 

• Define your goals or purpose for starting a blog. So you’ve been thinking about venturing into the world of blogging. Why? To share information, to relay a story, or to promote your business through helpful to-do lists or tips. Whatever your motivation is for starting a blog, define it. Be sure to write it down so that in times where your focus is lost you can redirect yourself to your original purpose.

• Choose a blog platform. Depending on your purpose above and whether or not your goal is to make money with your blog, you’ll need to consider what type of platform to use. For instance, you may be able to add your blog as a new page on your current website. If your goal is to “get out some information,” a free host, like Blogger and WordPress.com may be the route to go. With these free sites, you’ll have less creative license and limited ability to turn your blog into revenue. On the flip side, hosting your blog through WordPress.org is easier to turn into a revenue stream. With more creative control and add-on tools, there are many features to take advantage of in the development of your blog.

• Develop a blog content calendar. Sit down, consider your goal or purpose in blogging and write down a list of keywords, phrases, or topics you will be blogging about. These ideas will help to serve as a guide to blog topics or titles and to strengthen your SEO numbers. You’ll also need to consider how often you’ll be blogging. Whether monthly, weekly, or daily, what matters most is being consistent.

• Start writing! Now that you know what about and how often you’ll be blogging, start writing! If you ever get lost, recall your initial purpose and your list of keywords or phrases. Simply, get back to the basics!

 

Need help to get started? Give us a call at Piccolo Marketing at 615-348-7768 to take the next step in developing your marketing strategy.