Best Beginner Business Blogging Advice


If you're planning to begin blogging for your business, I'd like to shorten your learning curve. Because, oh boy, do you ever have lots to learn.

The good news is that you don't need to know it all before you start, and learning as you go is fun. I asked a couple of award-winning business bloggers to give me their best advice for beginners so I can pass it onto you.

Mary Jane Copps, aka The Phone Lady, has been blogging weekly for her business since 2009. Here's what she says:
1. Embrace a schedule. While it feels daunting to commit to a daily, weekly or monthly blog, staying true to a posting schedule will make you a better writer, and you will develop the ability to create and uncover great story ideas.
2. Be observant; write it down. No matter what the theme of your blog, things will appear in your life each day that can become a post. Stay present to every phone call, meeting and event. Great content is everywhere. But don't rely on your memory; keeping notes is essential.

Anita Kirkbride of Twirp Communications, blogging about social media marketing since 2011, had something different to say:
Think about what your ideal customer would be typing into a Google search. Make that the focus of your blog posts. Maybe even make that your headline. Use the keywords and phrases that your ideal customer will use, not the ones you wish they would use. Get them to your site first and then educate them on how to speak your language. If you're speaking a different language on your site, they may never find you in the first place.

What do I think? I'm glad I asked them first.

My own advice for beginners is a little leaner:
Just start! You can erase and start again. And you won't know what you don't know till you start.

originally published in Work Better, Not Harder newsletter August 31, 2017

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