Starting a Blog: Tips for Building a Strong Foundation [Video]

The boss says it's time to launch a company blog. Someone introduced them to the idea of inbound marketing, and they're all in. The ball's in your court, so...now what?

The internet is chock full of tips and tricks for starting a blog (believe us, we know), and you can easily spin through your waking hours just trying to make sense of the conflicting information in some of these posts. Our goal today is to demystify getting a business blog off the ground and help you feel less stressed about it.

If you're considering starting a blog, now is the time. Blogging is an excellent way to share your thoughts, ideas, and expertise while building your brand or business. With the right approach, blogging can be a powerful tool for driving traffic, establishing credibility, and engaging with your audience. Whether you want to elevate your game and become a blog expert or are just starting, there are some essential steps to create a successful blog that resonates with your readers and achieves your goals.

For your blog to be a success, strategy and planning matter.

Like a LOT. In other words, if you only take one thing away from this article, let it be this—plan.

This process starts well before you ever write one word of content. It starts before your topics are outlined (since that's part of the planning). Lay out your plans and goals for this blog project. The best practice is to ensure your goals fit into the SMART rubric:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

As part of this initial planning phase, you'll also want to develop your buyer personas (or, in this case, reader personas). These are fictionalized versions of your target audience. Who's going to be reading your blog? There may be a fair bit of overlap here, so bringing in someone from sales to assist in crafting these personas can pay off.

This is also when you'll want to build your editorial calendar. This is the single repository for everything blog related. Use a shared resource like Google Docs; that way, everyone involved can access this calendar, so the whole team (even if that team is you for the time being) is always on the same page. Your editorial calendar should be a spreadsheet that contains your post titles and when each post is scheduled to be published (don't worry about specifics on this just yet, what's important is to publish on a regular schedule so your readers know what to expect), and often some of your keyword research results or other notes.

You'll also want a document outlining your target audience personas. This helps new authors peek here while collecting what they need to get started on a new piece of content and get everything they need in one place.

You might consider including a draft version of your content guidelines here. This document lays out the voice you want your content to convey. What grammatical structure are you expecting? Conversational, or keep it business third-person? Again, the idea is for all content contributors to be able to read through this document and come away with what they need to get creating.

We mentioned posting on a regular schedule above. You will want to set this up from the outset; don't worry about the actual frequency yet. Suppose your budget and person-power allow for posting weekly; great. If you can only pull off a monthly round-up of your industry, that's also great. Don't over-commit. Once readers expect a regular piece, you risk losing them if you don't deliver.

OK, now for some nitty-gritty blogging stuff.

Up to this point, we've covered the pre-launch strategy and planning phase. Once this is in place, it’s time to consider some specifics. Are you going to post multimedia graphics? What about videos? Are you cross-posting to social media? If so, which platforms are you concentrating on? You'll want to address these details early to avoid lacking the right content or having too much of the wrong thing.

Mobile matters

In today's world, everybody, their cousins and their grandma has a smartphone. And they're using them to keep up with the rest of the world, your company blog included. So you better ensure your site is formatted to work well on all screen sizes and all connection types. A content management system like WordPress or Hubspot makes this easy as they automatically format your posts, no matter what device a visitor uses.

Building your contact list matters

Be ready to capture contact information for your mailing list from day one. Even if you're unsure how to use this information, starting from the beginning is essential to avoid missing anyone. In the worst-case scenario, your sales team will thank you for the additional list of potential customers.

Depth matters

Google changes their search algorithm...well, they change it a LOT. The current iteration puts a high value on deep, detailed content. People are searching for answers to problems when they hit that search button. Suppose you position your blog as a trusted source of quality information that helps people; not only will Google reward you with higher placement on the search results page. In that case, your readers will reward you by becoming customers.

SEO matters

Just not enough to be a primary focus on day one. You DO need to remember to do your keyword research, use those keywords appropriately in your content, and not go overboard. Gone are the days when stuffing your fluff piece full of short- and long-tail keywords was the key to SEO success. With the focus on meaningful content, it is now much easier to be sure your keywords are being used appropriately, so keep your focus there for the time being.

Relationships matter, too.

This is where the real power of your blog makes itself known. Nurturing relationships with potential customers is just as important as existing ones. These folks, the ones who find your blog when they're searching for a solution to a problem, are the ones who will not only become happy customers when the time is right but also tell all their friends. This goes for your social media followers and the commenters on the blog itself. Respond to people's questions, point out other resources on or off your company site, and engage authentically, and people will respond in kind.

You want, no, you NEED your blog to stand out. That doesn't mean we want you to start writing clickbait-y headlines. Nor does it mean you have to rank #1 in your industry. It means a summary of everything we’ve discussed today—be yourself, present helpful information in an approachable way, and interact with your readers.

That's how you will make your blog, and by extension, your company, stand out as a trusted source of information. It's how you'll be able to measure the success of your new blog from now on: by counting the number of new customers who cite the blog as what drew them to your company. And that's what it’s all about.