7 Steps To Create A Successful Blog In 2019

It’s not hard to create a successful blog, so what is needed in 2019?

With everything we do starting online whether it is scrolling through Facebook or watching videos on YouTube, at some stage you will have come across a blog. As a business owner, it is so easy to get distracted with the shiny new objects like chatbots that blogging can often be seen as ‘old hat’. However, blogging is still vitally important for your business or brand to stand out from the noise. So how do you create a successful blog in 2019, when there are so many other things to do online?

(tl;dr Click here to Watch the Videos Below)

Firstly why blogging? Blogging will build trust and respect with your prospects and customers along with your peers and competitors. Secondly creating a successful blog will help your website rank higher in the organic results (you can check out detailed optimisation steps here). A blog is the ideal place to provide free online resources so you can retain your current customers as well as giving you content that can be re-purposed over again. All of this WILL lead to more business – if you stick with it!

That is why in this blog I will cover two areas that will help you grow your business and your brand with blogging:

• 7 Tactical steps which I will cover how to physically set up and create your blog, then
• 7 Strategic steps which will cover how to set each blog up to be found.

Of course this blog is specifically written for both those intrepid business owners who want to set all this up themselves, as well as those who merely want to understand what it is they need to have done.  If you would like the learn more I do have a range of courses and workshops designed to help you lose the marketing overwhelm, as well as saving time but NOT making the mistakes to learn from. If you don’t have the time, my team & I also offer the done for you services mentioned throughout this blog. You can check them out here.

7 Initial Tactical Steps To Create A Successful Blog In 2019:

There are 7 steps to initially get started as a business owner wanting to create your blog.

1. Choose your Host and domain.
2. Design your blog using WordPress and a simple theme.
3. Modify your blog to define your style.
4. Select the best plugins for your blog.
5. Write compelling content & optimise.
6. Spread the word.
7. Grow your email list.

A blog is the ideal place to provide free online resources so you can retain your current customers as well as giving you content that can be re-purposed. Click To Tweet

Choose your Host and domain.

Now if you have a business website, you will be using your business name (I hope?!) Choosing the right host for your website does have an affect on where your website ranks in search engines. Speed is important, the faster your site loads the better your site will rank in the search engines. Ensuring you have an SSL certificate (you can read more about the here) is also essential. Overall, choosing the right host can have a big impact on your SEO.  A general rule I recommend Bluehost as they consistently rank in the top five webhosting providers globally & their service is great. Another alternative I recommend for my clients is GoDaddy as I stopped hosting my clients sites a few years ago and found both these companies to be fantastic.

Design your blog using WordPress and a simple theme.

WordPress is the blogging platform that I recommend along with pretty much every serious blogger out there (this website is built on WordPress). In fact, WordPress is the ONLY platform I design websites on. If you want to see what can be done with WordPress, you can check out my projects here. The options available are endless, and it is designed specifically to help you be found by search engines. A good theme gives you the look and feel you want for your blog, allowing you to make a blog that looks exactly how you want it to look.

Modify your blog to define your style.

Your blog style, look and feel, should speak to your ideal client. As you will have seen with the different websites we have built, each one looks very different, and speaks to each different target market. If you’ve been following me you will know that your clients need to see or hear you 22 times BEFORE they start recognising who you are. Ensuring your blog has the same consistent look and feel as the rest of your digital footprint, means you will stand out to your ideal client as they search online, for what it is you do.

Select the best plugins for your blog.

We have a specific list of  plugins we use on each website site. Two of the most important are, “Google Analytics for WordPress” and “Yoast SEO”as well as image optimisation and website caching plugins. They take just a few seconds to install, but they also ensure you can optimise your blog the right way and can track the traffic to your blog or website.

Write compelling content & optimise.

When it come to content, the title and the introduction are essential to bring readers in, but the body of your article will determine whether or not your reader will stay. If you cannot deliver content that provides solutions, useful information or solve a pressing problem, then your blog post will probably not be shared or commented on. As you will see from the layout of my blogs, I use images, videos, block quotes, charts and infographics to break up blocks of text and give readers multiple pieces of content. As mentioned above, to download the Yoast plugin and optimise all your posts and images ensures your site speed is fast and can be easily found by Google & Bing. Use tools like Pingdom to find ways to speed up your site.

Spread the word.

So now you have your blog or website set up. You’ve started writing and publishing some awesome content. Some readers may have started to trickle in. Get used to sharing on social media and via email…

Grow your email list

Collecting the email addresses of your most loyal readers is one of the most important steps to growing your traffic and your blogging income. Imagine publishing your new and totally amazing blog post. You can’t sit back and wait for the hoards to come. Share on social media and start an email list, so you can share your epic content each time you post a blog. Give people a reason to subscribe to your site. Offer free giveaways and make your freebies awesome! The better your free stuff is the more likely people will pay for your paid products in the future.

 

 

So now you’ve got your blog set up, its time to develop content which will create a successful blog, that will put you in front of your ideal client. Here are a few things you need to keep top of mind:

• Know what you are talking about. It’s hard enough to write, let alone write about something that you don’t know.
• Understand and know your audience. Write about the things THEY want to know. While there are a number of personal blogs, when it comes to business there is no point talking about something that is completely irrelevant.
• Be different.
• Create attention grabbing headlines.
• Be Strategic!

7 Strategic Steps To Create A Successful Blog In 2019:

1. Know Your Target Market
2. Blog about what you KNOW
3. Take the TIME to craft the perfect headline
4. Create a content schedule.
5. Tell your STORY with compelling content.
6. Optimise and share with the world
7. Grow your email list

Know Your Target Market

Talk to any marketer and they will ALWAYS start with your target audience / your target market / your avatar / your niche. You need to know who you are talking to and what their pain points are. This will give you the best insight into what they need to know and what you can blog about. Your Target Market needs to feel that you ‘get them’ you truly understand what they are going through, and their lives will not be the same without you or your service in it. Always give value and by answering THEIR questions through your blog you will ensure they come back to you time and again.

Blog about what you KNOW

You are in business because you know your “stuff”. Nobody has time to read waffle, so give your clients value through the content in you blog and they will keep coming back for more. As mentioned above show them you can solve their pain points, speak their ‘language’ and empathise with their issues and you have a market that will keep coming back for more of what you have to offer.

Take the TIME to craft the perfect headline

According to Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people will read a headline yet only 2 out of 10 will actually click on the headline to read the article.  On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. According to David Ogilvy – “When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar!” To get the most effect out of your content marketing or blogging, you really need to write amazing headlines that people feel compelled to click.

Create a content schedule.

Accountability in anything in life is crucial to success. Blogging is no different. Don’t post on a Monday and then wait two weeks before your readers hear from you… stay consistent. The best business blogs answer common questions their leads and customers have. Think of common questions your ideal clients have and blog about that. If you’re consistently creating content that’s helpful for your target customer, it’ll help establish you as an authority in their eyes (Hubspot, 2019) Plan it so that it works for you and for your readers. Don’t overstretch yourself. You don’t have to publish daily. An easy tip is to keep a list of blog post ideas. Whenever clients ask you questions, add them to your list.

Tell your STORY with compelling content.

Readers want more out of posts than basic, generic text. Tell them a story. As Seth Godin said, ‘Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” There are so many others that offer the same services – but there is ONLY one you. Show your ideal clients what makes you unique as THAT is what will draw your ideal clients to you. The more you share with your audience the more they will trust you and help in growing your brand. Never forget the ‘know, like & trust’ steps through the marketing journey until you become the go-to authority for your ideal clients. For this to happen you need to let your personality shine through and write with passion. That’s how you woo your readers and win business.

Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell. Seth Godin Click To Tweet

Give Search engines what they want

Keyword research is not a fun subject but it’s crucial for long-term blogging success. Search engines such as Google and Bing, have one core focus. To put to most relevant answer in front of their client (the person searching) in the fastest possible time. The key word in that sentence is “the most relevant answer”. Blogging, is also you telling Google what your website is about. Each time you add content in the form of a new blog, you give search engines another option to put in front of their clients. Of course this is a simplified explanation, but it is another reason to keep blogging.  Likewise, great blog posts will attract links – which produce “link juice.” It is also this link juice is what makes your site look attractive to Google and other search engines, assisting your site in ranking more highly in search results (SEO).

Why Should You Blog For Business?