How To Write Your First Blog Post?
Back To Basics: What Is A Blog?
A blog is a part of your website (or a whole website in itself) that you update regularly with writing, photos and videos about your business, your personal life or your interest in a specific topic. Professional bloggers work with brands to make money from the content that they create, whereas businesses blog in order to help attract more customers and keep their website fresh and exciting.
How Does Blogging Fit Into My Overall Strategy?
Regularly updating your website’s blog can be an impactful part of your businesses marketing strategy. When potential customers are looking online, they are far more likely to be attracted to and trust a retailer that has an up-to-date website with recent activity. Online marketing can be really powerful, and blogging is a free and effective way to kick start your presence online.
You can also work with external bloggers to further develop your online marketing strategy. It is best to do this once you have become comfortable with your own blogging style and are more familiar with the world of blogging.
What Should You Write About?
Whatever you think your customers would like to read! There is no structure to great blogging, it’s all about finding your authentic voice and creating posts that you think will resonate with your target audience. After all, you know them the best. If you are really stuck for what to write, you can find inspiration in magazines or websites that are in the same industry as you.
For the first post you could even do an introductory blog about your business, the history and ethos behind it and what readers can expect from your blog.
You can also take a look at our list of blog post ideas.
What To Include In Your First Post
Your first post is where you can test the water to see what your customers respond well to. It doesn’t have to be long, about 500 words is perfect and if you can include some relevant photos, then even better. Make sure you add in links where relevant and give it some personality. Write things in italics, capitals or bold where relevant. Don’t be afraid to have a bit of fun with it. You want to encourage readers to interact and comment, so always sign off with a question or links to your social media platforms.
Use our checklist to ensure you have all the elements of a great blog post, and to find out more information about the key things to include.
What If No-One Reads It?
After you have published your blog you should make sure to publicise it via social media and your company newsletter, if you have one. Even if you do this, you might feel like no-one is really paying attention. That’s perfectly normal. It’s about quality over quantity and if you write authentic, interesting content, the readers (and customers) will come, in good time.
What do you think you’ll write for your first post?
Let us know: info@savethehighstreet.org – Subject: Bloggers
