STARTING YOUR BLOG BUSINESS
9 STEPS TO START YOUR BUSINESS BLOG
To start your business blog, use wordpress and opt for plug-ins that make your life easier. Then establish your strategy.
Starting a business blog is a fighter's job if your main business is not familiar with computers and Web 2.0 tools. In this article we accompany you to launch your company blog.
1. Choose wordpress.org and your domain name and web host
Content Manager, CMS, WordPress is the best platform for blogging. There is an online version (wordpress.com) or a version that you can install at your host with your domain name. With the online version, you get a domain name like monblog.wordpress.com. They also offer to host you and you can get a URL like monblog.com.
Personally, I opted for WordPress.org for valeriedemont.ch. My site is hosted by Infomaniak, the best provider for my taste.
WordPress.org is perfect to optimize your blog for referencing as well as for the user's navigation. You can also make it a real site for your business, as we did at valeriedemont.ch or simply keep it as a simple blog. A host of plug-ins (extensions, small programs) exist on the market to make your life easier. Some are free and some are paying. Very often the investment is worth it.
Regular updates of the program and extensions are made by all independent developers working for security and evolve your site according to new technologies (eg smartphone and tablets).
2. Define your visual with a template
CREDIT
blog
WordPress already provides templates for the design of your blog. If you know a little CSS code it will be very easy to modify the colors of your company. If not, use a web designer or a webmaster. You can also buy your model according to the features you want for your site (e-commerce, newspaper, events, etc.).
For the first version of valeriedemont.ch we opted for a very basic WordPress template. Then by advancing, a webmaster had personalized the design to finally change 3 years later for paid template customized by our web agency. Your blog on wordpress.org can therefore evolve easily over time.
It is important to choose a template for your website that is compatible with mobiles and tablets.
3. The basic plug-ins for your blog
A host of plug-ins exist for wordpress.org. They can be accessed via the "extensions" tab in your administration or you can also download them on the web to upload them to your site.
Here are 4 basic plug-ins that you absolutely must have on your site.
(A). Contact form : Contact Form 7 : With this plug-in you can create very simple contact forms. But also for example forms as for training registrations. The plug-in also allows you to send automatic reply mails
(B). Optimize your SEO: WordPress SEO by Yoast : Yoast is the plugin used to tame your SEO. I particularly appreciate its system of lights (red, orange, green) telling you how to improve your SEO in your article.
(C). Analyze your visits and optimize your site: Google Analytics : Once you have created your account in Google Analytics, you must insert the tracking code on your website / blog. The Yoast plug-in allows it, as well as many other options.
(D). To manage comments: Disqus : Disqus is a social network in itself that allows you to follow the discussions, left on blogs, the most relevant according to your criteria. It is also a tool to manage the comments of your blog.
(E). Social presence and social sharing buttons: mention on which social networks you have an account. Insert the share buttons on every page of your site including and especially the blog. Add This or Digg Digg are very popular plug-ins for sharing social networks.
It's up to you to know the specific features you need to achieve your goals.
4. Define your editorial line
The hard part will certainly be defining what you are going to be able to talk about on your corporate blog. While some SMEs make some mistakes in their blog content, others have very well understood the role of the Internet for users: provide answers to their questions.
Well: answer the questions of your prospects, customers and that users can ask about your services and your area of activity.
5. Create your publishing editorial schedule
Your organization is crucial to the success of your blog. You will have to be rigorous with yourself. To achieve success with your company blog, one article per week is a minimum. Adopt the right reflex now and download our guide to help you establish your content strategy .
6. Write interesting articles for your audience
This is where everything starts to get complicated: find things to say and write about it. The best way is to put yourself in your client's shoes and meet his needs in a blog post. If you have a customer service, you know the questions of your customers about your services. A need = an article. Be concrete, complete and concise.
Pay close attention to your content, it is with him that you will generate traffic to your blog. Above all, do not make the classic mistakes of companies when they blog.
7. Disseminate your articles
At first, share your blog posts on different social networks. Adapt the message if you think the targets are different and even if they are the same.
By creating an RSS newsletter with Mailchimp, you stay in the daily lives of your subscribers and help generate visits to your article. If the RSS newsletter is not a newsletter in the classic sense of the term, it still allows:
*keep the link and retain
*generate traffic on your website
*cross-selling or up-selling
Discuss in blogs where you can value your expertise and also a way to show your articles. Discover 4 classic ways to drive traffic to your website.
8. Optimize your content
Google Analytics is the free tool provided by Google to evaluate the performance of your website and therefore your blog. By observing, the number of views, the source of the visits, the duration of the visits or the rate of bounces, you will be able to compare the pages of your site or the articles of your blog which work the best or which must be improved.
9. Get stocks and customers
If the company blog can generate content for social networks and SEO, doing so you bring visitors to your site. Then, to your website to do its sales work: by inserting call-to-action into your articles, you suggest, more or less strongly, to your readers to do call for your services for example. Think of the smartphone user and insert buttons for your call-to-action.
Check out Laurence, Sarah and I's favorite tools in this Hangout On Air, as well as other tips for making your business blog.
We talk about it: Co-Schedule to customize and program your broadcast on the networks as well as its "share old post" function, Social Metrics Pro to measure the effectiveness of sharing on each of the social networks, and also WordPress Editorial Calendar