How to Start a Business Blog – In Just 7 Simple Steps

1 Decide on the Purpose of Your Blog

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First thing’s first, it’s worth outlining some goals for your blog and consider how it will link to your overall business strategy. People often want to jump ahead to creating content and growing on social media but remember, why comes before what.

It’s important to establish expectations, as well as a general strategy to make measuring success easier along the way.

Start with the below considerations:

• Think about who you want to read your blog, as this will be your target audience. Decide how you want this audience to see and remember you.
• What will you do to measure success? For example, the number of readers of your blog, or the sales your content contributes to.
• Browse what other business blogs are doing and think about what you can do differently. Is there a gap in the market?

2 Buy a Domain Name

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Selecting your domain name is an essential second step in creating your business blog. This acts as an address for your website to help browsers find you – for example ‘websitebuilderexpert.com.’ It’s important to pick something memorable so people will be more likely to come back to your business blog.

To obtain one of these, you need to go to the domain registrars to buy one. They offer slightly different services but some of our favourites are the below:

• Domain.com
• NameCheap
• Bluehost
• HostGator

All you need to do is sign up and pay an annual registration fee, then the domain name is yours for a year.

3 Sign Up to a Blogging Platform

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The next step is where you can make your blog your own. By signing up for a blogging platform, you can pick templates and start to customize the look and feel of the website.

There’s a lot of choices, but here are the three website builders that we’d recommend for starting a business blog:

Squarespace

Squarespace has over 100 templates and prices start at $12 per month. The templates adapt easily to mobile devices, which is important for business blogs as you want to be able to access content on the go. It also offers G Suite and PayPal integrations, as well as a lot of customization for design.

Wix

Wix has been hailed as the best choice for those with no prior experience in setting up websites and costs around $14 per month. So no tech experience is required! It has over 800 templates to browse which are easy to customize, so you can put your own twist on your business blog.

Weebly

Weebly prices start at around $6 per month. It’s easy to use and comes with hundreds of simple, mobile-responsive templates that you can tailor for various types of blogs. There are also multiple features that will nurture growth, as well as SEO guides and a helpful support centre to make the most of your business blog.

When you’ve chosen which platform works for you, enter your personal details and domain name. Then you can start to select from the fabulous themes on offer.

4 Choose and Customize a Theme

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It’s now time to think about design and have some fun by choosing a theme to personalize. Consider whether you want your business blog to look like an integrated part of your website, or have its own look and feel.

When you’ve found a theme that works for you, you can start to create the aesthetic of your business blog. Our three favorite website builders all offer easy drag-and-drop customization, allowing you to design pages easily by moving content around and experimenting.

It’s worth considering the below before selecting your theme:

• Is the theme responsive? You want your blog to be able to be displayed on a variety of devices, including desktop and mobile.
• Does it come with some level of customer support or a support forum?
• Does it allow for customization? For example changing colors, a navigation menu, buttons, widgets, and so on.

If you’re wondering how customization works on our favorite website builders, here is some more information:

• Squarespace offers beautiful templates that are easy to edit and are optimized for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. It also comes with drag-and-drop customization that is based in sections, and – while it allows for greater creativity – will still take some getting used to. Editing becomes quick and easy after a while!
• Wix has multiple themes that are easy to customize and drag-and-drop building tools which are great for beginners with no tech experience. This functionality gives you more flexibility, which is ideal when it comes to creating a unique business blog.
• Weebly has a range of modern themes that respond well on mobile, although the scope for drag-and-drop customization is more restricted. You’ll also need to be a little more comfortable with using code here!

Examples of templates

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Wix template

5 Install Apps

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Next up, it’s time to install some apps. The good news is that website builders now allow you to install and choose from a whole host of apps – such as social share icons and email marketing tools – which will make your blog even more useful and engaging.

Here are some apps that would all be useful for a business blog:

• Squarespace has a host of social sharing apps, all of which will make the site more engaging, as well as apps like Smart SEO and useful sales apps if you’re looking to monetize your blog, such as Candid Wholesale, Easyship and Spocket.
• The Wix App Market also has hundreds of apps to choose from, including product review apps such as Editorify, which is great for a business blog. It also offers visitor analytics apps so you can track your website’s growth over time.
• Weebly offers traffic-boosting apps as part of Weebly’s in-house selection, including FAQs sections and payment buttons, which are useful for customer engagement and monetizing a business blog.

6 Plan and Create Your Blog’s Content

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Now you can start creating your pages and building out your blog. We’d recommend starting with a homepage, an ‘about us’ page, and a ‘contact me’ page with your personal details.

It’s also important to have some consistency whilst posting content. Larger businesses might post new content daily, but you can start with a few posts a week, and then gradually increase the output over time. Try tools such as Google Sheets or CoSchedule to create a plan or schedule, and you can receive automated reminders of when to post.

If you’re struggling with what to write about, do some keyword research on Google Trends or Google Adwords to find out what other business blogs are posting about at the moment. Explore the topics that you’re most knowledgeable about, and be original when you can. More importantly, focus on content that is useful to your customers and readers.

7 Promote Your Business Blog

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Marketing your blog properly is important for growth and success, so putting effort into the key strategies involved will help you stand out from all the other business bloggers.

Here are our top digital marketing tips to help you promote your business blog:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): Once you start adding content, you’ll need to make sure that users can find your website. Focusing on SEO helps you do just that, boosting your rankings in Google’s search results. Start with some keyword research to get you going, but many website builders also offer built-in SEO tools, which are definitely worth trying out.
• Social media marketing: Over 52% of online brands are discovered via social media, so it’s vital to start building your presence across multiple social channels, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Business blogs are also ideal candidates for social media marketing. So add social share buttons to your blog, then start posting and sharing!
• Email marketing: Try using an email opt-in tool to capture email addresses from your readers, and initiate regular contact. When you’re trying a business blog and trying to monetize your blog and sell products, this will help you in the long run.

8 How to Start a Business Blog: Summary

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Business blogging is important when it comes to creating a lucrative venture, so ensure to keep revisiting your goals, strategy, and mission statement, so that you don’t lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve.

With our help – and your commitment – you’ll be well on your way to starting a thriving business blog.

Here’s a reminder of those 7 steps on how to start a business blog: 

1. Decide on the Purpose of Your Blog
2. Buy a Domain Name
3. Sign up to a Blogging Platform
4. Choose and Customize a Theme
5. Install Apps
6. Plan and Create Your Blog’s Content
7. Promote Your Blog

Good luck!