5 Tips for Effective Blogging for Small Business

A funny thing happened to me last week when a buddy asked me for some SEO pointers on a new site he was launching – my mouth went into hyper-drive and I went on and on about all of the things he should be doing.  Why is it that we’re so quick to get things out of our mouth yet so slow when it comes to writing on our small business blog?  As experts in our own fields, we have a wealth of information that we can share with anyone.  When I ask my clients why they aren’t blogging more I get the same types of responses:

–        It takes too much time.

–        I don’t know what to write about.

–        Why do I need a blog?

I’m going to share 5 simple tips for blogging for small business that should not only make it easier to write but it should also help you think more creatively about your business and how it might evolve.

Tip #1 – Set Aside Time To Write

I try my hardest to set aside two different times of the week to sit down and write.  I like to set these times on a Sunday when I’m prepping for my week ahead.  I should have some indication on when I may have the time so I mark it down to write them.  Why do I choose two times?  If I happen to get sidetracked I’ve got a backup day to write.  I like to set aside 1 hour but most times I get so caught up in things that I’ll easily surpass that.

Tip #2 – Use Your Phone

We actually come across great blog ideas all the time, no matter what time of the day.  When I get a good idea I put it into my iPhone’s calendar marked for one of the 2 days that I’ve set aside.  This way I already have topics ready to write about when it comes time to sit down and get to work.  And the topics are easy enough to track down because I know I’ve marked them for those specific days.  Alternatively, you can just as easily use your desktop calendar.

Tip #3 – Recap Conversations

Like I said before, we speak to lots of people every week about our business and our industry.  Even when we get home from work and we exchange the “how was your day” question with your spouse here’s another way to get our minds thinking about things to write about.  We have internal meetings that bring about great questions or topics.  We may even get a curveball question from a client that makes you think “hey, that would be cool to share with others”.

By now we’ve figured out how to set aside time to write, how to keep tabs on our ideas and where we can find some simple ways to generate topics to write about.  I always get asked what’s the point of blogging?  How is this going to help my business?

Tip #4 – Share Your Knowledge

Adding that blog post to your blog section is only a fraction of what’s available to you.  Be sure to pass a link to your blog post through social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (or even Pinterest or other industry-related social networks).  Have employees?  Great!  Have them share the blog through their own social networks too.  I’m sure they have people who can benefit from the content.  In fact, why not get your employees to blog as well?  They would have some great insights to share just like you.

Tip #5 – Find Money in Your Blogs

HubSpot, probably the leader when it comes to what’s known as Inbound Marketing has a great blog post about how blogs can drive more leads to your business – http://goo.gl/ydGcfG.  What does it all mean?  You’re publishing content, more opportunities for people to find you based on your knowledge of your industry.  That means you’re building your authority in your space.  You’re now driving more visits to your site, more ways for people to learn, connect and ultimately feel compelled to contact you to discuss business!  I mean, as simple as this: “B2B companies that blog only 1-2X/month generate 70% more leads than those that don’t blog at all”.

All this really comes down to is this is your business so are you willing to invest yourself into it?  Even small businesses have a great opportunity to drive new traffic and new sources of leads based purely on their small business blog.  It’s no mistake that it works.  The businesses that don’t see any impact from their blog are more than likely the ones who haven’t invested the time into it.  Take advantage of this opportunity – the money awaits!