Answering the 3 Hows of Business Blogging

The most important part of inbound marketing is producing great content that people want. Blogging is a great way to produce this content since it’s so readily available in that delightful little coconut resting upon your shoulders. As you produce content you can begin positioning yourself as an industry expert and as the go to place for answers by answering questions that people come to you for.

On the surface it seems easy. Most small business business owners love the idea of writing a blog. They see the value that it has in the inbound strategy, but they quickly become overwhelmed when it’s time to put it into practice. It quickly turns into “I don’t have the time to write a daily article. Not only that, but what am I going to write about?”

Where’s Clippy when you need him?

That’s why we’re giving you a few common practices that can help make your blog boom and turn it into the marketing hub that you really want it to be. So even if your company laundry list is longer than the Old Testament, here are the answers to the 3 Hows of blogging that can help you get started:

1. How Often Should I Post?

You don’t need to be a news outlet in order to be a top industry source, so a daily blog is really not a necessity. Your blog does need to be updated regularly, though. Search engines give priority to websites that produce new content on a consistent basis, so whether you choose a weekly, biweekly or monthly schedule, make sure you stick to it. Focus on the quality of the content first and foremost. Even one power-packed post per month is better than a hasty, half-assed one every few days.

But I’m using my whole ass.

2. How do I Generate Topic Ideas?

As an expert in your field, people likely come to you with questions about various topics related to your business. You can use these questions as topics for your blog. Heck, even this very post is of those topics. People ask us all the time how they can stay productive with blogging and well, here we are. Blogs also don’t need to be full-length articles. They can be as simple as a weekly tip or a company update about a recent fundraiser or contract that was awarded. Just keep in mind that you’ll need at least 250 words in order for search engines to start indexing your content.

3. How do I Stay Dedicated and Disciplined?

We’re not gonna lie – this one is kind of on you. Lucky for you most content management systems today like WordPress have built-in auto-publishing features that allow you to write a number of blog posts at one time and then schedule them to publish themselves over time. You don’t need to write a new article every day of the week. It will never happen. That’s how people fall off the blogging wagon. Instead, try committing an afternoon or full day to write 3 or 4 posts and then set them to publish weekly for the next month. It is also much easier to brainstorm new topics once your creative juices are already flowing.

Don’t be frightened by the big bad punch clock thinking you’ll never have time to produce good marketing content. You’ll see that once your blog starts producing feedback and results, you’ll make the time and wonder why you were scared of it in the first place.

Let’s not stop there, here’s some more great tips to get you started with business blogging.