How to Start a Blog for Business

4 years ago

Blogging was all the rage some years ago and that has changed dramatically. It's not that blogging is dead, it has just evolved with other digital marketing strategies that are available to entrepreneurs and business owners.

While we have resources for entrepreneurs and business owners including step-by-step videos on how to create and build a WordPress blog or website, or the evolution and future of blogging, there's still a lot of opportunities within blogging.

As I mentioned in the You Are a Media Company content, blogging is a hybrid “ingredient” in your marketing strategy. For some it is an “ingredient” that is used to drive traffic to your website or improve the SEO for your website, but for others it can literally be your business. Creating a business blog can literally be the foundation of your marketing strategy. It could be your entire website or even a part or “division of your website.”

Below you will find some information and podcast content about blogs and of course how you can get started blogging.

What is a blog?

In episode #70 of the CEO Chat Podcast, Gresh goes in depth about what blogging is and how it has evolved over the years. The first blog was traced back to 1994 by a Swathmore College student–Justin Hall. He is known as one of the pioneers of personal blogging but it was looked at more as a personal diary than a blog. It wasn't until the late 90's (1997) that the term “weblog” aka “web log” was coined by John Barger. Peter Merholz shortened weblog to blog and in 1999 a San Francisco startup called Pyra Labs launched a tool that we now know as Blogger.

So with that short history, what exactly is a blog?

A blog is an online journal or informational website displaying information in the reverse chronological order, with latest posts appearing first. It is a platform where a writer or even a group of writers share their views on an individual subject. I even contended in the podcast that I considering the blogging if we were more flexible in the definition is the creation of digital content.

If we open up our definition of blogging, we see as there has been such an increase the creation and demand of content. The difference is the platforms that these are created. I sometimes will mention that if we look at LinkedIn posts, Facebook and even Twitter, they are versions of blogs even though they go by different names.

This is partially why I argue that blogging isn't going anywhere.

However, it's important to know that unless a site calls itself a blog network or community, more than likely blogging is mostly something you do on your own website using tools like WordPress, Blogger or even website builders like Squarespace, Wix or Weebly.

Also, many not consider platforms like YouTube (“vlogging”) to be blogging but if we go back to the definition I used, it could and does have blogging attributes.

The biggest evolution in blogging is that is that it doesn't include one type of content. Really successful blogs integrate all the types of content–written blog, video content and audio content (look at this post).

How do I start a blog?

To start a blog you really just need an idea, content, website hosting and sometimes a domain. Here's the steps you are looking at

Have an idea
Come up with a plan for content
Buy a domain
Purchase hosting
Update your domain records/namesever for your host
1-Click Installation of WordPress software

What do I need to blog?

After you've completed the steps above, that's pretty much all you will need to get started with the blog. When I speak with clients one of the biggest hang ups about blogging is that there's the “right way to do it.” Now there are certainly best practices, blogging tips and things you want to keep in mind but the biggest thing that you want to keep in mind about your new blog is your goal, also keep in mind that you should be focused on mobile, have a call to action and have really valuable content.

There's also many things especially that CEO's entrepreneurs and business owners should keep in mind about blogging like if you build it they won't come but if you market it well they might, it's a long-term medium and frequency and consistency are probably some of the most important metrics.

What does success look like for you? It could be any of the following but make sure you have clarity around what your goal is and why you are even blogging. It will save you a tremendous about of frustration.

Here are some some examples check out more here:

Increase your search engine rankings for your website
You started a podcast and need a place to send podcast visitors too in addition to your podcast host
Test out certain ideas
Thought-leadership and influence
Driving traffic for advertisers or to sell products and services

Why should I blog?

In short, everyone. I believe that if we go back to the definition I used before that blogging is the creation of digital content. We can see blogging as podcasting, blogging, or even vlogging. The thing that you want to do is simply publish the post. Keep in mind the 3 most important questions, I think you should answer and get started today.

The possibilities are endless with blogging and because of the increasing importance that people are putting on content, I don't see it going anywhere. Certainly it will continue to evolve and change but blogging will still be here.

If we can do anything to help, please check out our resources, our course and let us know if you have any questions.

Also, keep in mind this is living post. As, we add in more information that we feel is relevant, come back to check it out.