Do You Want To Start A Blog For Business?

If you’re passionate about something and want a venue to express yourself, then a blog may be just what you need. There are numerous no-cost, hosted, blogging platforms available to you. All you really need to do is sign up, set up, and go for it! If you also own an online business, then a blog is exactly what you need.

How do you start a blog for business? What do you write about? How do you keep your readers engaged? These are a few of the questions we will answer here.

So How Do You Start A Blog For Business?

The “experts” would have you believe that it’s really simple, but you’re not going to hear that from me. If you are serious about setting up a blog in conjunction with your online business, then I strongly recommend purchasing web hosting, a domain name, then install a blog on your server. Most web hosting services make WordPress available and installation is, indeed, simple. That’s the easy part.

The “not-so-simple” part of the equation is you need to learn about cpanel and you need to learn about WordPress, if that is your blog of choice. If you are a newbie, the world of web hosting and servers may be overwhelming at first.

Personally, I felt like I was in another country where everybody spoke a foreign language. I could read the words, but they had no meaning, and confusion reigned! But don’t panic… there are numerous videos and tutorials available to help you understand cpanel and WordPress, as they seem to be the most popular.

You might be wondering why I’m recommending this course of action.

The answer is two-fold:

1. With a hosted blog, you have no control. You don’t want to risk losing your blog, for whatever the reason, and that is something you need to seriously consider.

2. If you’re counting on the blog to help your business, or use the blog as your main website, then you need a domain name, you need to brand your business, you need the flexibility a self-hosted blog affords you rather than the restrictions imposed by a hosted blog service.

Whatever you decide, you will eventually need a self-hosted set up, so you might as well start off with one. If money is tight and you have to go the hosted route, then that’s what you need to do, and it’s okay. I do, however, strongly recommend you make the transition to self-hosted as soon as you can.

What Do You Blog About?

Oh, goodie…there is a simple answer to this question…write about what you know. The purpose of your blog is to create awareness of your business and to generate traffic to that business, therefore, your blog posts should be on topics related to your business. Since you’ve chosen a niche you are knowledgeable and passionate about, then writing about various aspects of your business should be a piece of cake!

Of course, if you chose a niche you are just familiar with, then you’ll need to take the time to research that niche and, well, learn it inside and out. Another way is to obtain unique, quality content for your blog posts. For example, you could purchase high quality PLR articles in your niche and re-write them to make them unique. Or, you could purchase unique, quality articles from a reputable article service.

What you don’t want to do is start writing about a topic you know little to nothing about. If you are unsure or hesitant about your topic, if you try to wing it, it will be reflected in your writing. This would be a major turn-off to your readers and they won’t want to come back to your blog because they won’t trust you.

How Do You Keep Your Readers Engaged?

This is a little more tricky. How do you create interest and make the reader want to come back? As mentioned above, you need to be well-informed on the subject you write about. In addition to that, you want your readers to enjoy the experience.

To that end, you can make your blog posts interesting by using images and videos in your blog posts (but don’t go overboard!) Then, of course, there are the design issues such as font size and color…you don’t want your readers to struggle through the reading process. You also don’t want to distract them with too many ads all over the place.

If your readers like what they see and like what they read, they’ll come back for more. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Just think about the sites you go back to time and again. Why do you do that?

Conclusion

We’ve briefly discussed these three elements of blogging, and it’s a good place to start. However, what is most important, in my opinion, is for you to be yourself! If you write about what you believe and believe what you write, your readers will appreciate your passion and your candor, and therefore, your blog all the more.

There is more to learn about starting and maintaining a blog… how much more is up to you and how much effort you want to put into your blog and your business.