Blog Writing for Small Businesses – a Step-by-Step Guide

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Many small business owners think that blogs are just for big companies. After all, there is so little going on in their business, especially if it is highly specialized, that there isn’t much company news to blog about, right?

Wrong.

Think about how many times customers or potential customers come up to you with questions. They need you as an expert to clarify the extent of their situation, as well as possible negatives from choosing the wrong solution.

Think about all those questions you are asked over and over again…

How many people have asked you those questions through the years?

How many other people are out there that have the same questions?

By answering these questions, you can position yourself as an expert, and get your brand in front of people who would otherwise never have known about you.

Step by step blog writing process:

1. Understand the purpose before you start writing.

What do you hope to achieve with the blog post you want to write? Do you want to…

a. Attract new customers?

b. Share tips?

c. Answer commonly asked questions?

d. Improve your rankings on Google?

Each of these require a slightly different approach:

Tips can be about things people didn’t know that they don’t know.

Attracting customers could dive into the extent of a specific situation, and what could go wrong when trying to solve it.

Answering common questions could be about proving your expertise.

And improving your rankings on Google will require creating content that other people will want to link to.

Most blog posts will, to some extent, address all four of these, but how your write it will determine what the order of priorities will be.

Keep your primary goal simple and clear, and you will experience some unintended benefits – in terms of addressing the other options – if you write something good.

2. Be sure to choose the right topic.

Always ask yourself the following question:

What do your prospective customers WANT to know? Don’t focus on what they NEED to know – because they are not searching for that. Give them what they want.

As Zig Ziglar famously said: “As long as you can give enough people what they want, you will be rich.”

So, how do you find out what people want to know more about?

Think back on customer questions you had to answer in the past. Look at forums or Facebook groups, Google search suggestions when you type part of a question, etc.

Because if you write about a topic nobody WANTS to know about, very few people will read it. Leave the things a customer NEEDS to know for the moment they are ready to make a purchase.

Also keep in mind that, for many customers, the outcome is more important than the details. For instance, think of a broken car. The customer may wonder how big the problem is, how long it will take to fix, and why it costs so much to fix it.

Think about what really matters to your customers, and work from there.

3. Plan the structure of your blog post.

Make your blog post easy to read by breaking it up into logical sections. Have an introduction, the main article body, and a conclusion with a call to action.

Be sure to use short paragraphs – the longer your paragraphs become, the higher the probability that people will just skim through it, and miss out on important information.

Mark each subsection clearly, so people know what they can expect to learn in that section.

Where possible, use bullet points or short lists to highlight important points in a subsection.

Unless you are discussing an in-depth topic, focus on 3 to 5 main points, with a subsection for each one.

4. Make it easy to read, and relatable.

Avoid using industry jargon. If you do have to use it, provide short, concise explanations as to what the terms mean.

Write in a simple, conversational but authoritative style. Come across as friendly, but make it clear that you know what you are talking about.

Where possible, use plain language and try to use short sentences.

Where available, include examples or stories from your experience which your readers will be able to relate to.

5. Be sure to add value for the blog visitor.

AS far as possible, ensure that whoever reads your blog post will derive some value from it. Offer a how-to guide with step by step instructions, a detailed explanation of the solution to whatever challenge the reader may face, or offer useful tips.

Where appropriate, include a checklist to help them apply what you just taught them.

End each of your blog posts with a clear takeaway, so the reader can see what they have learned.

6. Make it easy to find on Google.

When you explain things to customers, which terms do they regularly use when asking questions and deeper, clarifying questions?

Include those keyword phrases in your title, subtitles and content, or order of priority.

Think about what people would type into Google if they wanted to find the information your are offering.

Where appropriate, and if you are a local business owner, be sure to include references to your location or to the locations you serve.

Set your subtitles to display as H2 or H3 headings so that Google can see they are important.

Finally, link one or more keyword phrases in your blog text to another relevant blog post. If you referenced any specific information from an outside source, link to it, but set it to open in a new tab or window – so the visitor can still see your blog post when they are done checking out the source.

7. Break it up with visuals.

A decent blog post can be long and boring, especially for readers using their phones. In some cases, people don’t mind reading the proverbial “wall of text”, but in many cases customers can find it overwhelming.

Use images, short video clips or even charts to add some color and break it all up.

If you want to use free, royalty-free images, you can use graphics and photos from Pixabay, Pexels or even Unsplash.

If you want to create unique graphics yourself, you can use a simple graphic design tool like Canva.

Or, if you want to use AI to generate images without having to upgrade to a paid plan, you could look at Google’s AI Studio or Perchance AI.

Visuals make your blog posts look more professional. In addition to that, adding your logo to any visuals means that if any image ends up on social media, it will help spread your brand.

8. Finish your blog post with a clear call to action.

Remember right at the start, when you had to decide what the purpose of your blog post will be? This is where you execute that part.

Tell your readers exactly what you would like them to do next.

Do you want them to contact you, visit your online shop, sign up for your mailing list, fill out a survey, or check out another blog post or even a video on Youtube?

Pick the best action which would be likely to bring the visitor closer to becoming a customer. Depending on where they are in their buyer journey, and the content of the information you just provided them with, it could be any of the above, or even something else entirely.

Just ascertain where in their buyer journey they are likely to be after reading your blog post, and nudge them in the right direction for whatever the next logical step is.

In conclusion

The above list may seem like a lot, but it’s actually just a step by step process. The more you do it, the easier it will become.

Try not to attempt too much at once. Even writing one blog post per month can make a difference. After a year, that’s 12 high value pages that have been added to your website.

So, now that you know, what is YOUR next step?

May we suggest you start by writing down just a few of the common questions you encounter on a regular basis, and use one of them – or all of them, if they are connected – as the basis for your first blog post.

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