The Complete Guide To Starting A Blog For Your Small Business

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TikTok, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest, Threads…in the ever-evolving digital landscape, where trends come and go with lightning speed, blogging stands out as a timeless and powerful marketing strategy for small businesses.

By sharing your insights, stories, and know-how on your blog, you invite readers to get up close and personal with your small business. 

And while we’ve said goodbye to the days of pouring every single thought out online Tumblr-style, blogging is still the most consistent way to genuinely connect with your audience in a lasting manner. Plus, it’s the easiest way to introduce your business to new audiences without wasting hours finding the perfect trending audio. 

But I know, I know. You have about 43,281 questions on how to start blogging for your small business, right? Don’t worry, I’m answering them all right here.

What is a small business blog?
Does your small business need a blog?
How does blogging help your small business? 
What website platform should your blog be on?
How long should your blog posts be?
How often should you blog for your small business?
What are the different types of blog posts?
How to come up with blog topics
How to do keyword research
How to write a blog post
How to promote your blog
Ways to repurpose your blog content
How to analyze your blog metrics
Get blogging support

 Let’s get started so you can launch your blog ASAP and see your small business grow leaps and bounds. 

What Is A Small Business Blog?

A blog is a sweet little corner of your website where you give your readers valuable tips, entertaining stories, or mind-blowing information. For small businesses like yours, a blog is a total game-changer! It’s your secret weapon to show off your business smarts and become a thought leader in your industry. Plus, you get to engage with your audience on a whole new level while enjoying more eyeballs on your website.

Does Your Small Business Need A Blog?

The truth is only some businesses are ready for a blog. So before you start churning out content, you need to make sure the rest of your website is working for your biz. 

Do a quick audit of your website:

• Is your website design easy to use and responsive? 
• Do all your pages and links work?
• Does every web page have one H1 heading (and only one)?
• Is your website copy talking the talk that your audience loves to hear?
• Have you written title tags and meta descriptions for every page?
• Have you done keyword research for your website?

If you said yes to all these questions, then it’s time to launch a blog and bring more visitors to your website. But if you’re still on the fence, then check out these 6 popular blogging myths to get a new perspective on blogging!

How Does Blogging Help Your Small Business?

I’m sure you’ve heard it time and time again – blogging is great for small businesses. Hell, I’ve already said it in this post! But let’s get into the details of how exactly a blog helps your biz grow.

1. Blogging increases your brand awareness. 
2. Blogging builds a deeper connection with your audience. 
3. Blogging reinforces your brand identity. 
4. Blogging strengthens your brand authority. 
5. Blogging creates SEO opportunities. 
6. Blogging brings in more website traffic. 
7. Blogging leads to more engagement. 

What Website Platform Should You Blog On?

One of the biggest myths about blogging is that WordPress is the only/best/top platform for blogs. And I’ll be honest, I blog on Showit using a WordPress integration! 

But the truth is, the website platform you blog on does not impact your SEO or reach. That means you could use Showit, WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix for your biz and still reach the top page of Google results. 

What actually matters is your keywords, the quality of your content, your site speed, your website security, your mobile optimization, and the usability of your website. 

Don’t just take it from me. 

SEO agency The SM Collective breaks down the differences between blogging on Showit and blogging on Squarespace right here.

How Long Should Your Blog Posts Be?

When it comes to blogging, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all‘ approach. The length of your blog post depends on the topic you’re covering, the purpose of your blog, and the amount of context, details, and examples you’ll provide. And of course, all of this should be centred around who you’re writing for. 

Do your readers want to jump straight to the meat of the blog? Or do they want background, context, and additional information? What do your readers need to know to feel content with your content? 

Take a look at this suggested blog length guideline to help you decide how long your blog should be. 

• Short posts – under 400 words – are typically discussion-based blogs that stir up conversations. These posts probably won’t show on search engines but are perfect if your audience engages with what you write. 

• Medium-length posts – 600-1,200 words – are ideal for covering specific topics, ranking on search engines, and creating shareable content. They’re long enough to provide context, advice, and stories but short enough to hold your readers’ attention. 

• Long posts – over 2,000 words – are the information-rich blogs that Google loves. They keep your readers on your page longer and offer in-depth solutions for them. 

No matter the length of your blog, the critical part is offering information that your readers care about and want to read. You could write three hundred 2,000-word posts, but if you aren’t appealing to your readers you won’t see the traffic you want.

How Often Should Your Small Business Blog?

For some, blogging sounds like an easy way to promote your services, share your knowledge, and connect with your curious clients. You might think, ‘All I have to do is share my unfiltered train of thoughts from the comfort of my couch, with a glass of wine in hand? Sign me up.’

But then the researching, writing, reviewing, formatting, publishing, and promoting kick in. 

Suddenly, your twice-a-week blogging schedule drops down to once a week, then once a month, and then you pretend you’ve never even heard of this thing called blogging before. 

Maintaining a blog takes time, resources, and effort. When you’re creating your blogging calendar and setting your blog goals, be realistic about the amount of energy you can happily devote to writing.

If you can commit to writing an impactful blog every week (or three times a week), then good for you. But if once a month is more your pace, that’s something to celebrate too!

What Are The Different Types Of Blog Posts?

Most blog posts can be slotted into one of six different formats. 

1. How To Blogs like How To Use Testimonials To Write Your Web Copy
2. What and Why Blogs like What’s The Deal With Long-Form Sales Pages?
3. Listicle Blogs like 9 Unethical Sales Tactics To Dump ASAP
4. FAQ Blogs like 6 SEO FAQs
5. Storytelling Blogs like Chronius Health Case Study
6. Cornerstone Content aka Pillar Content like this one!

While listicle blog posts are usually the easiest to crank out and gain traction quickly because our brains loooooove numbered lists…you can’t rely entirely on listicles for your blog strategy. Adding a variety of blog formats allows you to tell engaging stories, showcase your knowledge, and attract a variety of readers with different needs and interests to your website.

How Do You Start Blogging For Your Small Business?

Come Up With Topics For Your Small Business Blog

So you’re all ready to start blogging. You’ve set aside a few hours and pulled up a Google Doc and then…you stare. And stare. And stare some more. Maybe you head over to ChatGPT and ask for some blog ideas. Or maybe you end up scrolling through your competitors’ blogs, feeling like everything has been said before so what’s the point? 

I get it. There’s a ton of content out there so how do you come up with blog topics for your small business that are fresh, engaging, and scroll-stopping?

The first step is creating your content pillars.

Content pillars are the general subject areas that fit right in the sweet spot of showing your expertise, exciting you, and exciting your audience. Once you have your content pillars in mind, you can dial in on specific topics to blog about that capture your audience’s attention. 

In my blogging resource, 58 Blog Prompts For Selling, you’ll get blog topic prompts, fill-in-the-blank titles, and questions to answer to help you write blog posts easily. Whether you’re promoting a freebie, selling your services, or marketing a course.

But if you’re feeling stuck right now and don’t want to wait to join the course, then get your juices flowing by peeking at these blog topic suggestions for fitness studios, photographers, brand and web designers, and adventure retreats.

Do Keyword Research For Your Blog Posts

I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m a pretty big research nerd. 

And by big, I mean dedicated 7 years of my life to university and studying the history of whale research and marine entertainment. So you can get why doing keyword research for my clients is one of my favourite parts of this copywriting gig. 

Don’t sweat. 

You don’t need that type of dedication when doing keyword research for your blog. Instead, all you need is some reflection, some brainstorming, and a dash of Google creeping to find keywords that bring your website waves of readers. 

But having a keyword research video tutorial in your inbox doesn’t hurt either. 

The main takeaway when finding keywords for your business is this: what are your ideal clients searching for on Google? Once you have a list of those questions, needs, and hopes in mind, use them to identify the keywords for your blog posts.

Write A Blog Post For Your Small Business

So we’ve covered all the why’s and what’s when it comes to blogging for your small business. And we’ve even touched on some of the how’s. But now it’s time to dive into the big one – how do you write a blog post?

1. Start with preparing your blogging goals and brainstorming questions your target audience has.

2. Identify a blog topic that solves one of those questions your target audience has.  

3. Research keywords for your blog topic by brainstorming ideas and using free keyword tools like Ubersuggest. 

4. Bullet point tips, ideas, stories, and examples you have that connect to your blog topic. (This is where 58 Blog Prompts really shines!)

5. Group and organize the bullet points into a clear and understandable narrative. 

6. Write engaging, skimmable, keyword-rich headlines for each group of bullet points. 

7. Turn your bullet points into short, clear, and on-brand sentences.

8. End your blog post with a Call To Action so your readers can engage more deeply with your business. 

9. Write concise and intriguing title tags and meta descriptions. 

10. Add images and internal links to keep readers on your website longer. 

11. Review your blog post by reading it out loud before tapping that publish button. 

12. Tell Google Search Console that you created a new blog post so Google can start showing it in search results. 
    
13. Pat yourself on the back and pour yourself a beer to celebrate your new blog post!

To make this process even easier, I have blog templates that lay it out for you *and* include sample copy you can customize for your own brand. Go ahead, check out 4 Core Blog Post Templates right here!

How Do You Promote Your Small Business Blog?

So what do you do after you’ve tapped publish on that new blog post? Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell you that you need to start on your next one. After all, you just wrote a whole freakin’ blog that deserves attention!

Instead, I want you to use all the juicy content you created to promote your new blog on different platforms. 

Pull key pieces of info from your blog and create content for your Instagram, Pinterest, or monthly newsletter to get more eyes on your new blog post ASAP. For example:

• Give a sneak peek of your blog post in an email newsletter
• Share a juicy tip from your blog on Instagram
• Create an in-depth lead magnet based on your blog topic
• Spotlight a client and ask them to share your blog

Ways To Repurpose Your Blog Content

Love it or hate it, creating content and marketing materials is a critical part of running a small business. But what do you do when you hit a roadblock and just can’t think of any new topics? Or you decide to take that month-long sabbatical and brainstorming blogs is not on your vacation schedule?

Head on back to your past blogs. 

Blog posts are perfect for cutting up and repurposing into other marketing materials over and over and over again. So if you’re burnt out on content and want some easy ideas, try repurposing old blog posts by: 

• Creating bite-sized social media posts based on past blog topics
• Transforming your blog post into a graphic for social media
• Using blog content as the foundation for a podcast episode or Youtube video
• Expanding on a blog post and turning it into a downloadable lead magnet
• Repurposing a blog post into a guest post for someone else
• Creating interactive polls based on your blog topic

How To Analyze Your Blog Metrics

Finally, there’s no point in churning out new blog content week after week, month after month, if it’s not working for your small business. I know, I know…’analyzing blog metrics’ sounds way too techy, but I promise, it’s not that bad. 

You’ll want to start by setting up your Google Analytics and Search Console so Google can track your website traffic. Then, every 6 months or so take a peek at your Google Analytics to see: who is visiting your website, how they’re getting there, and where they’re spending their time on your website. Check out Duo Collective’s blog post on how to find out your blog metric details in just a few minutes!

With this information in mind, you can:

• Identify your most effective website traffic sources
• Update your most popular blog posts with new Calls To Action
• Refine your blog posts for better keyword results
• Brainstorm new blog post ideas

All of this together encourages your blog posts and your entire website to work even better for your small business.

Getting Blogging Support For Your Small Business

So there you have it, your complete guide to starting a blog for your small business!

But reading about blogging is one thing. Actually generating blog topic ideas, writing your posts, editing your posts (ugh), reviewing your analytics, and promoting your blogs is a whole other ballgame. 

And it sucks to do it alone. 

So don’t. 

If you’re ready to outsource your blogging completely, then send me an inquiry. I take on a few blogging retainers every year!