Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of years, you would have heard about the benefits of blogging for businesses. It’s pretty much common knowledge now that all businesses that want to have a good strong online presence should have a decent company blog, that is regularly updated with new fresh content. However, actioning this theory often proves to be quite a difficult task for many business owners, especially those that have smaller businesses as they feel neither them or their staff have the time spare to dedicate to blogging.
I have written this article in the hope that it will help businesses owners, and anyone else for that matter, who want to produce regular quality content for a targeted audience. The tips I provide are jargon free and don’t involve lots of tech talk! So even those of you who shy away from technology will be able to action these tips and hopefully they will help you to find blogging and content creation a lot easier.
I can’t stress enough how helpful you will find having a simple blog planner. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy a simple diary would be enough. I personally like to use a ‘day to view’ diary so I have lots of space to jot things down. I like to do things this way so that if something comes to mind during the day when I am out and about, I can jot down my ideas. However, if you would prefer to do things electronically there are a huge variety of free blog planners available online for you to download, just type free blog planner into Google and pick the one that suits your needs the most. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just please do it! A blog calendar will help you to see things so much more clearly, and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed about the thought of producing regular content.
Preparation is key! Prepare your posts the day before you actually publish them. I find that if you do this it takes the stress away of having to post them on the day your blog post is due. Preparing your posts in advance allows you to step back on the blog post a little and spend time proof reading. It also gives you time to add to your posts, as a fresh day often provides you with fresh new thoughts. Another thing that’s great about pre preparing your posts is that it gives you time to spot any mistakes you may have made, before the post goes live. If you find that you tend to be very busy during the day, try and set aside some time during the evening to prepare your posts. You will thank yourself for it in the morning!
Quite often when we are enjoying some down time or even relaxing and watching TV with our family, we will spot something that relates to our niche or perhaps something that we have strong opinions on. If this happens jot whatever it may be down, you will be amazed how useful you will find this process! When you have writers block, simply refer to the notes you have made and they will help you to find the inspiration you need to put a great blog post together. If you're struggling with what to write for your company blog, here is a great article - What Do I Write in a Company Blog? 10 Great Small Business Blogging Tips.
All business owners should be aware of their traffic stats and should know when they are likely to get the most traffic and engagement on their blog posts. These times and days can vary from business to business, so don’t worry about when others are posting. Focus on what your stats are telling you, because the stats never lie! Make sure you publish your most high quality content or content that you think will be the most engaging at this time. For example, if you know you tend to get a lot of traffic on your blog on a Monday morning, then this should be when you post your best quality content on your blog.
Use a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite or HubSpot so that you can schedule your social media posts in line with your blog posts. For example, if you know you have a great blog post going live on a Saturday you can schedule in lots of social media posts that point back to that blog post ready to go out over the weekend. Social media schedulers are great for the weekends and your days off as they keep the social engagement for your business going, and advertise your blog posts for you! Even when you are not at work!
Make sure you dedicate time off for yourself. Have at least one day a week where you do not work on content! You don’t want blogging to feel like a chore. Dedicated days off will help you to achieve the right balance. And to be honest, as I mentioned earlier, it’s often during your down time that the best ideas for your blog content will come to mind. There is such a thing as trying to hard! When you take the time to relax and de-stress you will find that it makes producing content a lot easier.
So to summarise, in order to make blogging easier you need to create a plan and stick to it! This will enable you to find a great balance and fit blogging in around your other daily activities. If you are organised, blogging for your business will become, dare I say it…. Really easy to manage! For more great blogging and content creation tips visit http://blog.jdrgroup.co.uk/digital-prosperity-blog/topic/content-marketing