Starting a business brings various challenges before every new business owner. There are many bases to cover, from handling core business tasks to financial management, to business promotion.
Thanks to the existence of social media and other digital marketing channels, SMB owners can spread the word about their ventures in many different ways.
We’ve done some research with new entrepreneurs in mind and concluded that blogging is still one of the most cost-effective and practical promotional method.
This article will delve into the ABCs of business blogging for new SMBs and help them understand how to write and attract readers from day one.

1) Define the goal and target audience

First and foremost, you need to set a blogging goal. Are you writing to generate new leads, improve your sales, connect with the business community, or for some other reasons? Some SMB owners use blogs as sheer advertising platforms. They need a lot of traffic to attract more ads and make more money.
They need some conversion, as well, but that’s not their primary goal.
On the other hand, some business blogs aim at high conversion rates, rather than advertising revenue.The main purpose of their blogging is to convince readers/potential clients that they’re a trustworthy and relevant brand. They always choose 50 loyal readers that become regular customers over 300 occasional visitor that don’t convert.
When you know your audience and your goal, it’s easier to bring a blogging strategy.

2) Do your SEO homework

Writing any content without a prior SEO analysis is not recommended. Today, when Google tracks and monitors everything everyone does on the Web, you need write content with a specific purpose.
Let’s say that you’re a globetrotter who runs a travel agency. You have some terrific authentic visual materials you’ve brought from your travels and you decide to write about those destinations. Cuba, Thailand, Brazil, Hawaii – you give them the whole package. After a while, you realize your agency website has poor traffic results, even though you’ve prepared some great content and visuals.
This is so because you didn’t do the SEO research. You don’t know what search queries your target audience mostly uses and you haven’t checked the keywords that would bring you traffic and draw Google’s attention.

So, no matter how experienced or professional you are at the niche you’re blogging about, first find out what keywords you’ll be needing in your writing. Use some free keyword planners, for starters. You can subscribe to some more advanced ones as your SEO needs change.
Start following your rivals and see what they do. How they attract visitors and what incentives to they offer through their content? Check out their blogs and analyze what topics bring more traffic and draw readers’ attention.
When you know the search volume, the relevant keywords, and the target audience, then you can adapt your awesome, original content to the market.

3) Bring a content strategy

Closely related to the previous paragraph, a content strategy is an important element of business blogging.
Here are some features to bear in mind for that matter:
 Related topics and interlinking. When you’re launching your business blog, you need to cover several months in advance, sometimes even more (depending on your rivals). As you’re going the keyword and topic research, start generating article titles. You don’t need the exact headings. Working titles will help you find your way around. Considering creating a spreadsheet with potential article titles, main keywords, and potential audiences.
 Traffic and types of visitors. Always keep in mind who you’re writing for. Aiming at music professors from Spain and car mechanics from the UK is not the same thing. Take your time to find the right voice, tone, and register to suit your audience and resolve their problems. If you manage that, they’ll keep coming back to your blog.
 Expertise and guest authors. Being a well-versed professional in a certain niche doesn’t mean that you’ll be a good blogger. Conversely, the fact that you’re not an industry expert shouldn’t stop you from launching the desired blog. The former needs to find experienced bloggers to teach him how to run a blog successful. The former needs to find the right experts and have them write for the blog.
 Publishing schedule. Publishing too often looks pushy and it might frustrate your visitors. But publishing too rarely won’t instill the sense of loyalty into your readers. So, try different posting intervals, follow the traffic, and you’ll see what time/period works best for your blog.

4) Mind the user experience

When you’re thinking about user experience on your blog, put yourself into the reader’s shoes. Try to remember a blog or website that you can look up to in terms of content format and organization. Write down what you liked and implement it on your blog.

What’s more, test your potential blog formats. Ask random visitors to vote which format they like better. It would be great if those visitors come from your target audience. That way, you’d find out what to do directly from the ones for whom you’re setting up the blog.
As for the visuals, don’t overdo with them and be aware that every visual you post to your blog must tell a story or help telling a story. Whenever possible, use your genuine visuals, both images and videos, to ensure that you look professional and authentic.

5) Find the right platform

The success and future of your business blog depends largely on technical aspects.
Having a self-standing blog is different from managing a website blog. You don’t need a separate platform or hosting provider for a website blog. Everything you post there is kept together with your website.
As opposed to that, running an isolated blog, without a website, requires some technical prerequisites. You need to hire developers and UX designers to build a structure that will be attractive for users and technically functional.
What you can do, as well, is use one of the blogging platforms to host your blog. In that case, you opt for the package of services that meet your needs and keep working without any technical conundrum. The selected provider sorts out all the technical aspects on your behalf.

Content is more important than ever before. Small businesses and big companies alike need informative and appealing blogs to help their customers solve problems. The more practical and useful content they share, the better for their overall business reputation and revenues.
Therefore, the tips shared above will help you conceptualize, launch, and run a business blog.