Creating a Blog for Your Business

1. Creating a Blog for Your Business CREATING A BLOG FOR YOUR BUSINESS HOW-TO GUIDE

2. 2 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide Blogs represent a more casual approach to writing, where the author can voice how they feel about something, provide instructions, or even just reminisce about a past experience. The value in having a blog for your business is that it provides a forum to expand your corporate reach. This How-To Guide provides an introduction into the world of blogging, explains the benefits a blog can bring to your business and outlines an action plan with steps to help you get started. A blog, or a web log, is a portion of a website that is dedicated to daily or weekly posts or entries that are displayed in a reverse chronological order, with the most recent posts at the top of the page. Most blogs allow readers to share entries via social media and to provide commentary on specific entries. Because this type of “two-way” online conversation has gained popularity in recent years, many businesses have started to use this medium to connect with consumers in a more personal way. Blogs consist of two categories: personal and business. While a personal blog might only be interesting for your friends and family, a business blog can help expand your brand’s reach and increase recognition on a local, national, and even international scale. Here are some of the bene- fits to starting a blog for your business: HOW-TO GUIDE Communication — Blogs are great communication vehicles and can be used to provide more detail about upcoming events, announcements, thought leadership, etc. SEO — Increase your organization’s search engine optimization efforts by inserting targeted key words into every post. The goal is to increase traffic to your website and ultimately capture more sales. ROI — Blogs are notoriously inexpensive and efficient. Setting up a blog with a service provider, such as Wordpress, is free and adding a new blog post can take minutes. An Introduction to Blogging Benefits for your Business Creating a Blog for your Business A well-written and informative blog can increase your website traffic and brand awareness. Including a blog in your list of marketing channels will increase your outreach and help to keep your customers and prospects informed; making them feel more included in the conversation thus improving brand loyalty. Bottom Line 2 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide Blogs represent a more casual approach to writing, where the author can voice how they feel about something, provide instructions, or even just reminisce about a past experience. The value in having a blog for your business is that it provides a forum to expand your corporate reach. This How-To Guide provides an introduction into the world of blogging, explains the benefits a blog can bring to your business and outlines an action plan with steps to help you get started. A blog, or a web log, is a portion of a website that is dedicated to daily or weekly posts or entries that are displayed in a reverse chronological order, with the most recent posts at the top of the page. Most blogs allow readers to share entries via social media and to provide commentary on specific entries. Because this type of “two-way” online conversation has gained popularity in recent years, many businesses have started to use this medium to connect with consumers in a more personal way. Blogs consist of two categories: personal and business. While a personal blog might only be interesting for your friends and family, a business blog can help expand your brand’s reach and increase recognition on a local, national, and even international scale. Here are some of the bene- fits to starting a blog for your business: HOW-TO GUIDE Communication — Blogs are great communication vehicles and can be used to provide more detail about upcoming events, announcements, thought leadership, etc. SEO — Increase your organization’s search engine optimization efforts by inserting targeted key words into every post. The goal is to increase traffic to your website and ultimately capture more sales. ROI — Blogs are notoriously inexpensive and efficient. Setting up a blog with a service provider, such as Wordpress, is free and adding a new blog post can take minutes. An Introduction to Blogging Benefits for your Business Creating a Blog for your Business A well-written and informative blog can increase your website traffic and brand awareness. Including a blog in your list of marketing channels will increase your outreach and help to keep your customers and prospects informed; making them feel more included in the conversation thus improving brand loyalty. Bottom Line

3. 3 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Choose A Blog Provider Keep Writing Whether it’s WordPress or another service, choose a blog hosting provider that can be linked to your corporate domain. Action Plan STEP 1 - Choose A Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Staying Safe During Blog Planning Use our Blog Platform Database to ensure that company blog postings do not bring your business into legal hot water. V I E W R E S O U R C E Blog Platform Database 3 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Choose A Blog Provider Keep Writing Whether it’s WordPress or another service, choose a blog hosting provider that can be linked to your corporate domain. Action Plan STEP 1 - Choose A Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Staying Safe During Blog Planning Use our Blog Platform Database to ensure that company blog postings do not bring your business into legal hot water. V I E W R E S O U R C E Blog Platform Database

4. 4 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Decide On Your Target Audience Who are you trying to reach with your blog? Examine the target audience that you identi- fied in your marketing strategy plan – are you reaching out to the same people or attempting to gain new followers? Action Plan STEP 2 - Decide On Your Target Audience Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Buyer Persona Template V I E W R E S O U R C E Identify Your Buyer Persona With This Template 4 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Decide On Your Target Audience Who are you trying to reach with your blog? Examine the target audience that you identi- fied in your marketing strategy plan – are you reaching out to the same people or attempting to gain new followers? Action Plan STEP 2 - Decide On Your Target Audience Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Buyer Persona Template V I E W R E S O U R C E Identify Your Buyer Persona With This Template

5. 5 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Choose A Theme Your theme should reflect your target audi- ence. Don’t stray too far off course – it’s fine for your blog to be innovative and address an array of topics, but if your subjects are all over the map, you might lose followers. Action Plan STEP 3 - Choose A Theme Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Blog Post Inspiration List V I E W R E S O U R C E Stick to A Specific Theme for Best Results 5 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Choose A Theme Your theme should reflect your target audi- ence. Don’t stray too far off course – it’s fine for your blog to be innovative and address an array of topics, but if your subjects are all over the map, you might lose followers. Action Plan STEP 3 - Choose A Theme Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Blog Post Inspiration List V I E W R E S O U R C E Stick to A Specific Theme for Best Results

6. 6 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Create A Promotional Strategy Action Plan STEP 4 - Create A Promotional Strategy Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Start Connecting How will you let people know about your blog? If you have a company news- letter, start advertising the blog in your weekly address to employees and customers. Highlight your blog entries on your company’s other social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc. Always include links to your blog post to direct traffic back to your website and don’t leave customers searching for you. Blog Post Syndication Calender V I E W R E S O U R C E Activating Your Blog Post Syndication Calendar 6 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Create A Promotional Strategy Action Plan STEP 4 - Create A Promotional Strategy Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Start Connecting How will you let people know about your blog? If you have a company news- letter, start advertising the blog in your weekly address to employees and customers. Highlight your blog entries on your company’s other social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc. Always include links to your blog post to direct traffic back to your website and don’t leave customers searching for you. Blog Post Syndication Calender V I E W R E S O U R C E Activating Your Blog Post Syndication Calendar

7. 7 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Start Connecting Action Plan STEP 5 - Start Connecting Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Reach out to your audience. Reply to comments and questions. Offer thanks for criticisms, praise, and advice. Start following other bloggers in your industry to stay on top of what’s current. Blogging for Business Playbook V I E W R E S O U R C E Reaching Out to Your Audience and Your Industry 7 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Start Connecting Action Plan STEP 5 - Start Connecting Keep Writing Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Reach out to your audience. Reply to comments and questions. Offer thanks for criticisms, praise, and advice. Start following other bloggers in your industry to stay on top of what’s current. Blogging for Business Playbook V I E W R E S O U R C E Reaching Out to Your Audience and Your Industry

8. 8 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Keep Writing Action Plan STEP 6 - Keep Writing V I E W R E S O U R C E Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Content Marketing Editorial Calender Once you’ve set up your blog, the most important thing is to keep at it. There is nothing worse than an empty blog. Use our Content Marketing Editorial Calendar to schedule blog writing into your daily calendar so it becomes part of your routine. Stay current on your industry and discuss new trends and fads. Invite guest bloggers when you feel you don’t have enough to say – this is a great way to gain new followers! Keep It Going and Invite Some Guests Too 8 Creating a Blog for your Business How-to Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Keep Writing Action Plan STEP 6 - Keep Writing V I E W R E S O U R C E Choose a Blog Provider Decide on your Target Audience Choose a Theme Create a Promotional Strategy Start Connecting Content Marketing Editorial Calender Once you’ve set up your blog, the most important thing is to keep at it. There is nothing worse than an empty blog. Use our Content Marketing Editorial Calendar to schedule blog writing into your daily calendar so it becomes part of your routine. Stay current on your industry and discuss new trends and fads. Invite guest bloggers when you feel you don’t have enough to say – this is a great way to gain new followers! Keep It Going and Invite Some Guests Too

9. Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 100,000 marketing professionals and consultants in 75 countries. Offering consulting playbooks, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric resources and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about their work with authority and conviction, and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence — thus boosting the respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed. To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit www.demandmetric.com About Demand Metric Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Join Linkedin Group © Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 100,000 marketing professionals and consultants in 75 countries. Offering consulting playbooks, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric resources and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about their work with authority and conviction, and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence — thus boosting the respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed. To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit www.demandmetric.com About Demand Metric Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Join Linkedin Group © Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.