10 Top Blogging Tips for Businesses

Blogging isn't easy. This comes from someone who does it for a living. You have to come up with new topics, write posts regularly, engage with your audience and make time to respond to comments.

There are so many blogging sites out there, it can be difficult to know how and where to start. If you are trying to blog for the first time, here are my top 10 blogging tips:

1. Write for your audience

You need to write about something you love and will engage your target audience - identify who they are and what they are interested in. Otherwise, you will lose momentum and end up writing posts that no one wants to read - not even you.

2. Get a calendar

You need to write regularly to build an audience for your blog. Try to come up with a rough editorial calendar of topics to write about on a weekly basis. Put time aside in your calendar to write and promote the posts too.

3. But be flexible

Don't use your editorial calendar to constrain your writing. If something timely happens in your industry, write about it straight away. Voice an opinion and ask others for theirs. Be relevant and informed.

4. Check out your competitors

What are they doing well? What are they doing badly? Check out blogging sites with a similar vibe for inspiration. For example, which posts do users really engage with? A little research goes a long way to help identify gaps in the market.

5. Be different

Whatever you choose to blog about, there are probably a million other blogging sites tackling the same topic. Spend some time thinking about how your blog can stand out from the crowd.

​For example, within the wedding industry, blogging sites such as Rock My Wedding lead the pack with their stunning images, real life stories and focus on achievable and unique Big Day inspiration.

6. Put in some pictures

Break up big bits of text with images - they keep users engaged. You could use free Stock images from sites such as StockSnap.io or buff up on your own photography skills. Either way, make sure your images are relevant and look good, without detracting from the text.

7. Be professional

I was going to use the subtitle "don't be a dick" here - but ironically thought this wouldn't prove my point. Do not use your blog as a vehicle to criticise competitors or even clients. It is your creative outlet to your target audience - save the back chat and remain professional, otherwise you could damage your business.

8. Get some SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) isn't the dark art is once was. It's a method of using keywords to to improve your site's position in the search engine rankings. Try to put in a few keywords in every blog post. You can research keywords with free tools such as Google Trends or this Keyword Tool. Use them naturally and don't shoehorn as many phrases in as possible.

9. Promote a conversation

Don't dictate to your audience. Try to promote a conversation. Ask for comments at the end of a post and don't take a blinkered approach to your writing. Remember to promote your post over the usual social media channels, again, asking for opinions and feedback on your words and taking your conversation to a wider audience.

10. Don't give up

Maintaining a blog about your business, on top of running your business, is tough. It's often the first thing to suffer when life gets busy. And writing a good-quality blog post does take a lot longer than you may think.

If it all gets a bit much, you can ask a freelance writer to help edit your blog or even ghost write some posts for you. If you'd like to find out more about my services as "the freelance writer who gets tech" from blogging to ghost writing - fire me an email at [email protected].

​Or if you think I've left out a key point in the blogging tips above, please let me know in the comments below.