Getting Started with Blogging

    Chapter 12 is all about blogs, vlogs, podcasts and webinars and today I'm going to focus on getting started with blogging. There are 5 steps one should follow when trying to get started with a blog, those steps are setting goals, identifying the target market, creating a blog site, brainstorming topics and post types and creating an editorial and distribution strategy. These are all things I did to get started here with my blog, so follow along and you will be blogging in no time!

    Like any new project, setting goals is an important factor. Blogging goals should revolve around organizational and marketing goals. For a business, they should focus on setting measurable goals. These goals could be number of visitors, engagements, website traffic, clicks, quantity of blog posts produced or even bounce rate. After setting goals for your brand, the next step is identifying the target market. To write an effective blog, brands need to figure out who they are writing for. With different target markets come different customer personas brands need to break down. When brands focus more on consumer habits, it will allow them to write a blog post which draws more attention to their consumers. Once a business has gotten past the preliminary steps, then they can focus on creating a blog site. For a business, it's recommended to host blogs within the company's website for easy access, but often times third-party options are available. There are plenty of other blog sites companies can go toward, such as the one I'm currently using, Blogger. Regardless of where a business chooses to host their blog, there are some elements to consider including, a search function, an "about" page, subscribe button for readers and highlighting blog authors. After including the basics, it's time to brainstorm topics and post types. Brainstorming can take form in many ways like asking sales teams the top questions customers are asking, using social media listening, looking at all available content already developed and conducting keyword research to find out what is being searched most. Once a business has done all of these steps, the last step in the process is creating an editorial and distribution strategy. With the editorial strategy, this is where brands will determine who is writing and editing the blog content. A business can utilize the staff they already have or even hire an outside source for this position. With the blog distribution strategy, this is where businesses will decide how often to post, how many to post and when to post. The more blogs a business posts, the more traffic their blog will gain. 

    Hopefully after following all of those steps, your brand will be on the right track to enhancing their blogs. While this may seem like a lot of work, it's worth the traffic you'll gain. Blogging is a time commitment, so it's important to make sure you allocate your time properly. Can't wait to see what we learn next week!