Posts
7 questions to ask before starting a business blog
Blogging is the latest buzzword in online marketing and public relations.
But with so many marketers who get on the blog train, few people think if blogs are really on their way, or take the time to consider the best ways to do it.
If you plan to start a business blog, ask yourself these questions before taking the final step.
1. Do you really need a blog?
Writing and maintaining a blog requires a certain degree of commitment, as well as a passion (or at least a taste) for chaining words in a decent sentence. If you don't like writing so much, you can always create an audio or video blog.
But would your business goals really be met when you start a blog? Or could other online marketing methods also work, such as SEO, electronic advertising or newsletter publishing, if not better?
2. Who do you want to contact with your blog?
The first step in reaching your audience is to understand where they are going to find information about their products.
If your audience is mainly made up of people who live in your city or use products they look for in newspapers, offline advertising might be more appropriate for your purpose.
However, if your target audience belongs to one or more of these segments, a blog could be just what you need to boost your business.
- Internet users
Does your target audience really use the internet? Otherwise, starting a blog (or any online activity, for that matter) will be a great waste of time and effort.
- Blog readers
Does your target audience read blogs? Or do you prefer to get your information in your inbox? If the latter is true, then an electronic newsletter could be a better option than a blog.
- Search engine users
A blog is a great way to increase your search engine ranking and get a list of many of your target keywords. If you know that your audience uses search engines to find information, a blog will increase your chances of getting your attention.
3. What do you want
- Increase your visibility and search engine rankings
- Brand yourself
- Build a community and a network with people who have similar interests
- Expand your reach
- Establish your credibility as an expert or opinion leader in your field.
- Put a human face in your business
- Reach potential customers and stakeholders
Deciding exactly what you want to achieve with your blog can help you focus, so you can devote your time and effort to activities that help, not hinder your business goals.
4. How much time can you spend
Serious business bloggers not only spend time writing their own blogs, but also spend a lot of time reading current events and finding information on other blogs in their field.
If you are prepared to devote the necessary time and effort to do that type of research, your blog will serve as a good brand tool for your business.
Otherwise, you should hire someone to do the research or seriously reconsider your decision to start a blog.
5. Which blog platform will best meet your needs?
Deciding your blog platform is an important step that you should take only after familiarizing yourself with the features and benefits of each option.
The reason why it is so crucial is because it can be extremely difficult to migrate an established blog to a new platform once it has been started. Moving your blog can cause you to lose your data, search engine listings and readers, so don't make this decision lightly.
Decide which platform will best meet your marketing goals, time constraints and personal preferences before making your first publication.
According to T.L. Pakii Pierce, who writes in "How to blog for fun and profit." if you have little time and want to spend more time writing, then a hosted solution like Blogger, Blogware, Squarespace or Typepad could better serve your purpose.
This could also be a better option if you want to start as soon as possible, if you are new to the Internet or if you are not familiar with scripts or code.
If, on the other hand, you are a fan of control (like me) and do not mind spending some time and effort to customize your blog, then software installed on the server, such as Wordpress, b2Evolution or Movable Type could be suitable for you.
6. promote your blog?
Why is it good to know this before starting your blog? Because it will help you decide where to invest your time and effort best when you need to generate traffic to your blog.
You will learn more about the methods to promote your blog when you subscribe to the email course below. Some of these tasks can be outsourced, while others you would have to do them yourself.
Decide what you want to assume and look for service providers to handle the other functions so you can start generating traffic to your blog as soon as possible.
7. How will you evaluate the success of your blog?
To determine how successful your blog is to increase your profile or earnings, you will have to measure your blog traffic and track sales or potential customers that have passed through it.
Planning this in advance will help you make more informed decisions about your blog's metrics, the choice of the blog platform and the degree of customization you need in your blog.
Understand that blogs are not for everyone. It is just another form of communication.
Don't get so obsessed with technology that you end up ignoring more appropriate ways to communicate your message.
Some things may be easier to communicate face to face, in a conference room or even through the old telephone.
But if you asked all the previous questions and decided that blogging meets all your goals, then a blog may be just what the doctor ordered for your business.
