If you own a small business you likely have heard about blogging. You may have even decided your company could benefit from a blog. But if you are like most small business owners you likely know very little about blogging. So where do you start?
Now, you could go to one of the free blogging platforms such as Wordpress or Blogger, open an account and start typing. That is probably an acceptable strategy for a personal blog, but a business blog needs some more consideration and planning.
So where to begin? The first step I always recommend is to read popular blogs. Technorati has a list of what it considers to be the Top 100 blogs in the world. Peruse that list and see if one of these catch your eye. Better still, research popular blogs in your industry. For example if you own a bakery, just google “Bakery blogs” and you will be presented with a list of relevant blogs to read. I always make sure the blog is relevant and updated regularly (at least once a week) before committing to read it.
To learn blogging best practices here are some blogs that I consider essential reading for every new blogger:
Seth’s Blog - Seth Godin is one of the great business writers and thinkers of our time. If you only read one blog regularly make it this one.
Copyblogger – popular blog that teaches writing especially pertaining to blog writing.
Small Business Trends – great blog about all aspects of running a small business.
These blogs are all very popular, with over 100,000 regular readers each. By reading these blogs regularly you will get a feel for how successful blogs operate. Before you even think about starting your blog I would read these and other interesting blogs for a month or so. This way, you will get a feel for the blogging process. There are also plenty of books written about blogging these days so perusing Amazon or your local bookstore is also a good idea.
In the next step of this three part series we will get a bit more technical and talk about blogging platforms and launching your blog.
Photo courtesy of _pixelmaniac_
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