My Small Business Blog – Where Do I Start?

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 newcorridor

Now that you’ve decided to create a blog for your small business, how do you get started?

First of all, congratulations! You’ve made a critically important decision to start a small business blog. Every small business can benefit from a blog today. In fact, blogging has become such an effective and essential marketing and communication tool, no business should be without a blog.

OK, you get it. You want to get that blog started for your business, but you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, and you’re not sure where to begin. Here are a few suggestions that will help you get off on the right foot.

These first steps are easy to take. Do the right preparation in the beginning, and you will pave the way for measurably better results with your small business blog down the road.

In many ways, getting a blog online and operational for your small business is considerably easier than setting up a traditional web site. But it’s completely understandable if you’re feeling challenged.

Are these challenges preventing you from moving forward with your blog?

Technical – you’ve heard that blogs are easier to setup and manage than traditional web sites, but you’re still feeling like “your all thumbs” when it comes to anything technical. You’re not alone, many people are still intimidated and fearful when it comes to the technical side of the Internet.
Fear of writing – do you feel that you’re not a good enough writer to publish a blog. Or is writing a painful and difficult process for you that you avoid at all costs? If so, you’re in the same boat as lot’s of folks out there. We’ll share some good techniques that make the writing easy, if not actually fun and something you’ll look forward to doing.
Content – what to write about – one of the most common stumbling blocks that holds up the new blogger is coming up with ideas on what to write about. If you feel like you have nothing to say, we’re going to help you fix that right away!

Many people tend to feel paralyzed around the technical challenges. Perhaps it’s a simple fear of technology. We’ll cover more about the technical steps in future posts, but for now, keep this in mind …

When it comes to the technical steps, like many other aspects of your business, you have three choices:

Do it yourself - if you have the skills, aptitude and time, you can learn to handle the technical side yourself.
Delegate - if you have someone on your staff with the appropriate technical skills (handles the computers in your office, likes to work with the Internet), consider delegating the work.
Outsource – If you’re not up for the technical challenge yourself, setting up and administering a blog is a common and easy step to outsource.

We’ll cover more about the technical aspects later on, but first …

Let’s focus on the planning.

One of the common mistakes that people make when they start a brand new blog for their small business is insufficient planning. I’m not talking about a 6 month tedious business plan flushed out in every detail. Just a little simple planning up front to help you stay focused right from the beginning.

In fact, this little bit of essential planning and focus up front will actually make the launch of your new blog much easier and less frustrating.

Start by answering a few essential questions about your new blog.

What’s the purpose of your blog? Seems like a simple question, right? It’s amazing how many small businesses get off track. You may have different answers to this question but let me help you with the general answer that should be at the foundation of every small business blog. I’m also going to assume you’re in business to make money? So the purpose of your business blog is to help your business make more money and generate more profits. It will fulfill this purpose by helping your business to …
- reach more prospects
- convert more prospects to new customers
- improve retention of your existing customers
- improve customer service and satisfaction
- and help you achieve more sales from your existing customers
- So who wouldn’t want a blog that does these things for their business?
What’s your blog about? Well, for a business blog, your blog is about your business. Obvious right? Again, many small businesses get off track. Start your business blog off by narrowing down the set of subjects you want to discuss to include your business, your products, your services and your industry. And as you share your knowledge and expertise about your business, your products, your services and your industry, your blog becomes the perfect platform to establish yourself as an authority. And this, in turn creates trust and confidence with your prospects and customers. Maintain the focus on your customer, and aim to keep the feel more conversational, engaging and informal. Here are some more content ideas on what you can write about on your blog.
Who is your target audience? If you already have your business up and running, you’ve probably already given this question some thought. Your blog’s target audience is the same as the target market and target customer for your small business. Know your target audience, and keep the focus on them. Remember, you want to keep it interesting for your audience. Talk about them. It’s much more about your reader, prospect and reader than it is about you.