5 Things You Need Before Starting a Blog For Your Business
If you’ve been following my content for any amount of time, you know that I’m a blog stan (i.e. devoted fan for my people out there that can’t keep up with the TikTok lingo - I feel you) and I believe that most brands and businesses need to incorporate blogs into their content strategy.
I share more about why I believe that in this blog post, but long story short, the main reasons are that:
you OWN your blog content (unlike your social media content) and have ultimate control
your blog content has a way longer shelf life than other types of content
having a blog increases your chances of ranking higher in search by 434%
Aside from all the reasons I believe you should have a blog in your business, there’s also a few reasons I believe you should NOT - more on that here.
Many times I find that when business owners are ready to start a blog for their business, they’re actually missing one or more of the prerequisites required to do so.
So if you’re in that boat - the one where you’re sold on having blogs in your business and you’re ready to start them - make sure you have these 5 things FIRST!
When you do, you’ll be able to implement blogs with 100% ease and confidence!
5 Things You Need Before Starting a Blog For Your Business
1. You need to have a website.
Okay, I know this sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people I hear from that are planning to launch their blog yet they don’t have a website.
This often happens with small business owners who haven’t prioritized their website yet because let’s be real… when you’re just getting started, sometimes you have to fly the plane while it’s being built.
Which means that sometimes a LinkTree or Stan Store acts as your “website” until you get around to creating a *real* one.
While I love that there are tools out there like LinkTree, Milkshake and Campsite that make it easy for you to set up your link in bio and display your products or services, if you’re in your business for the long haul, a website IS a requirement.
Those tools that I mentioned only let you do so much. When you rely on those alone, you’re limiting yourself by not being able to be found in search, not being able to connect with your audience through your copy and not being able to to build the value of your products or services.
So, if you’re at a point where you’re ready to take things to the next level in your business, but you haven’t yet prioritized a website, now’s the time to do so!
Once you have a site, you can easily implement a blog into your content strategy AND be found on Google.
I know that building a website might feel like a big feat, but a starter site doesn’t have to be complicated. I’d recommend using an easy builder, such as Squarespace or Wix.
While it might feel overwhelming, remember my motto: start NOW, refine LATER. The first website you build, won’t be the one you have forever. But starting is always key.
If you’re searching for more hands on help creating your first website, I recommend connecting with my girl Nicole - she’s a full service Squarespace website designer with built-in brand and copy that specifically works with emerging, service based solopreneurs!
2. You need to know your target audience.
Again, this might seem obvious, but similar to having a website, sometimes people try to put the cart before the horse and it just doesn’t work.
Before implementing blogs into your content strategy, you need to know who exactly you’re talking to.
If you’ve already been creating content on social media, there’s a chance that you probably already have a good idea of who your audience is, but if not, make sure you do this first.
If you don’t identify your target audience, you risk spending a lot of your time and energy creating blog content that doesn’t reach the people you really want to reach.
So to avoid that, make sure you’ve identified your target audience with ICA (ideal client avatar) work before writing your first blog post.
To do this, you can conduct market research to better understand what problems and challenges people are facing, how they feel and what their biggest pain points are.
When you know this information, you can then start creating content that speaks to them directly and guide them to your solution.
3. You need to know what you want to achieve with your blog.
The last thing I want is for you to feel like your blog is just another checklist item that you need to do each week. Instead, I want you to view it as something that you do for a very specific purpose.
When people come to me wanting to start blogs for their business, the first thing I want to know is if they’re going to treat blogs as a core part of their content strategy.
If not, this is the first thing I encourage. When you make blogs a core part of your overall content strategy, you always have the ultimate purpose in mind and that purpose will really serve as your blog content guide.
Common goals for blogs in your business include:
Increasing brand awareness
Generating leads
Boosting sales
Increasing website traffic
Being seen as a thought leader or expert in your industry
Becoming a go-to person for information and education in your niche
Providing ultimate value for your audience on specific topics
Spoiler alert: ALL of those things are possible when you implement blog content in your business, but choosing one or two that you’re specifically going to focus on will help you create content accordingly!
4. You need to define your blog categories/content pillars.
One of the common hesitations I hear from people about starting a blog for their business is that they aren’t sure what to write about.
And I hear you! Blogs are long form pieces of content, so they do require a bit more writing than a social media post or email.
But typically the people who are saying this simply haven’t defined their blog categories or their content pillars yet.
Content pillars are key topics that make up your entire content marketing strategy. They serve as your main areas of expertise and are the top things that you focus on throughout all of your content.
Typically, these pillars will be more broad and general, while the content under each pillar will be more specific. When you have content pillars, it’s very clear to your audience what you do, who you help and what they can expect to learn from you.
Here are a few examples of different industries and their possible blog categories/content pillars so you can see what I mean:
Life Coach: Mindset, Personal Growth, Relationships, Wellness
Brand Strategist: Strategy, Design, Identity, Customer Experience
Copywriter: Messaging, Copy Tips, SEO, Content Marketing
When you have these categories defined, it’s usually much easier to come up with your blog content topics.
These categories will typically be displayed on your blog like this ⬇️ so that all of your content can be organized and searchable for your audience.
5. You need a consistent blog content plan and strategy.
Lastly, once you have all of the above, you can then create your blog content plan and strategy.
Note: sometimes the word strategy can feel like some crazy, overwhelming thing that you have to figure out. But in reality a strategy simply means a plan.
For blog content specifically, the strategy includes your content pillars/categories mentioned above, your actual blog topics, the frequency that you plan to publish and how you plan to promote your blogs after publishing.
To help you create a specific blog content plan for your business or brand, I encourage you to follow my 4 Step Blog Planning Process, which includes:
Deciding how many blogs you want to publish per month
A massive brain dump of all possible topic ideas
Considering any upcoming holidays, national days and internal business events or promotions
Dividing your content into quarters
When you go through this process, you’ll end with a plan that helps you confidently take action on writing blogs for your business!
Need a Hand?
If you want to start a blog for your business, but need an extra hand honing each of these things, a 1:1 Strategy and Planning Call is for YOU!
In this one hour strategy call, together we will:
Define your blog content pillars, so that you have clarity on what type of content to create
Set specific goals for your blog, so you can create content accordingly with your ideal client in mind
Create an entire quarter’s worth (up to 12) blog topics, so that you have a plan to take immediate action with ease
If you already have all (or most) of these prerequisites and you’re ready to implement blogs in your business, but want additional help getting started, there are a few ways I can help:
The Kickstart Kit is perfect for the person that already has a TON of content via social media, but you’re ready to take that content and turn it into blog posts so it can serve you and your audience for years to come.
With the Kickstart Kit, you’ll receive 4 blog post outlines written based on your existing content, a 1 month blog content plan based on a 1/week posting plan, title recommendations for each outline and topic and repurposing recommendations for each outline and topic.
If you’re launching your blog for the first time or if you’re launching a new website and know that you want to incorporate blog content, the Blog Blitz is for you.
With this option, you’ll receive 6 written, researched and titled blog posts in just 7 days so you can easily load and publish a set of binge-worthy blogs on your site right away!
More Blogging Resources
For more resources to help you get started with consistent blogs in your business, CLICK HERE!