Blogging is a great way to share your passion, your ideas, and your expertise. If you have a small business, blogging is also a wonderful way to draw in potential clients with your expertise as well as help you build a great site. Share what you know while promoting what you recommend.
Create a List of Fun Topics
If your business is all about design and home decor, create a list of topics that suit your interest and expertise. Topics from paint colors to fabric textures to window treatments can all serve as a start for simple articles that suit your interests.
Make sure you also tie in with other professionals, their websites, and their expertise. Once you get approval, link your blog posts to your favorite painter, your go-to cabinet maker, or your recommended furniture store. As you build these connections, be ready to offer your writing expertise and write up a guest post as a designer.
Develop a Framework for Your Articles
Set up a template to fill in with your expertise. Try to keep your articles at 400 words or less to start. If you want to add images, make sure you add a usable caption to keep your website within compliance.
Long articles may seem to save you time, but it’s not a good precedent to set. Three 400 word articles look interesting; one 700 word article may get a TLDR from your potential clients and the next 400-word article may not even get read. At the least, it will look scant next to the longer articles.
Choose a User-Friendly Platform
Most beginning bloggers start with WordPress, and that’s for a good reason. Many of the themes are free, and the platform is easy to use. Writing on a regular basis will be hard enough. Use a platform that is intuitive and easy.
Consider hiring a freelancer to help you put together an effective theme for your blog. If you have a logo, hire a freelancer from Fiverr or Upwork and bid out the work. If you don’t have a logo, hire a freelance designer to create it and then ask them to create a theme that works with the logo. You can start with a simple theme and upgrade when you’re ready for a change. This upgrade will also be a great marketing opportunity!
Pair Product, Service, and Fun
Your blog is a great place to interject something that tells the reader more about your business. If you’re working on an outdoor adventure blog to promote your glamping or guiding business, make sure you post high-quality photos that evoke excitement and the vast beauty that nature has to offer.
Of course, your blog is not a great place to get political or share anything that may cause offense. To that end, be aware that you may have audience members that are offended no matter what you do. Share who you are and what you believe, but try not to exclude others who may feel differently.
Collect Articles from Other Writers
Nobody starts their own business because they have loads of free time they don’t know how to fill. If your blog drives more traffic to your business, you may rapidly run out of time to write. You may not enjoy writing to start with. Consider hiring a freelancer.
If you have a client who’s written you a great review and has a strong connection with your business, it may be time to reach out to them for blog posts. Should your budget be tight, you might check in with local English and Journalism professors to see if they have a student who could use the money and has the skills to write about your business. In this case, you may want to go back to your template. Share the points that you want in the article as headings and ask your freelancer to help you flesh out the projects for publication.
Conclusion
A blog can be a simple collection of articles that show off your expertise. Add images specific to your business and information about your history within the industry. Share your expertise up to the point of offering some DIY guidance. For example, you might go ahead and share just how much work goes into reupholstering a sofa so potential clients on the fence know who to call.
