How To Blog
- Choose your target audience.
- Brainstorm content ideas frequently based on your market segment.
- Research and review a content management system (CMS).
- Create a blog strategy and editorial calendar.
- Pay attention to article structure.
- Become an expert in marketing and promoting your blog.
- Learn about SEO.
- Use a variety of blog post styles.
- Repurpose old content.
- Perform a competitive analysis.
1. Choose your target audience.
When you're starting your own blog, it's important to think of your target audience. Who are you creating the blog for? And who do you want reading your blog posts? Before you can get started, you have to consider the niche you're writing about and what topics you'll cover and why.
Brainstorming your target audience is similar to creating a buyer persona for your company. Plus, this will give you an idea on what kind of content you want to produce.
2. Brainstorm content ideas frequently based on your market segment.
Once you've started a blog, you'll want to churn out high-quality, consistent content on a regular basis. This isn't always easy. Creating content is a time-consuming task. You want to ensure your content is something your readers would be interested in and hopefully can help with your SEO — more on that in a minute.
To begin brainstorming content, consider what your competitors are doing. Look for gaps in their content that you can fulfill. Additionally, you should also do SEO research to verify that users are searching for and interested in the topic you want to write about. Tools like SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, and Answer The Public can help.
You'll want to brainstorm content frequently so you always have ideas that you can execute.
3. Research and review a content management system (CMS).
In order to create your blog, you'll most likely use a CMS. A CMS is a tool you can use to design, manage, and publish on your website. You’ve probably heard of examples like WordPress or Wix.
If you don’t have a website yet, you’ll want to choose a CMS that has the ability to host a blog. If you already have a site, check if it has blogging options built in. If not, you may need to find a CMS that integrates with your site or choose an entirely new CMS altogether.
There are tons of options in the CMS world, including HubSpot. (You can try out our CMS here.)
HubSpot’s free blog maker provides everything you need, including free hosting and security tools. It’s easy to get started, with hundreds of free themes to choose from, and a simple visual editor.
4. Create a blog strategy and editorial calendar.
Just like creating a business, you can't create a blog without a strategy in mind. Your strategy should answer questions like:
Who are you targeting?
What type of content will you produce?
When will you post?
Where will you promote your content?
Overall, you should have a mission, vision, and goals for your blog.
Then, create an editorial calendar to keep you organized and on track. A calendar will help you track what posts are coming up, ensure writers are meeting deadlines, and assure you have enough content ideas for the foreseeable future.
5. Pay attention to article structure.
When you're writing your blog posts, it's important to consider the article structure. For instance, are you using subheads to break up the post so it's easy to digest? Are you using bullet points and images that make the post easy to scan? These are important factors that will help keep your reader on the page.
Additionally, you'll want to make sure that you're using calls-to-action (CTAs), that will guide the reader on what you want them to do next. This is how you can start making money and generating leads from your blog.
6. Become an expert in marketing and promoting your blog.
Another element of blogging is marketing and promoting your blog posts. It's like the age-old adage -- "When a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?"
Consequently, if you write a blog post but nobody reads it, will it have a positive impact on your company or brand? Probably not. That's why you'll have to market your posts. You can use social media, SEO, your website, or your email newsletter to reach current and potential customers.
7. Learn about SEO.
Like I mentioned above, you want people to read your blog posts. One way to do that is to get organic traffic through SEO. If you want your blog to be successful, learn how to research keywords, how to rank in search engines, and how to build an SEO strategy.
8. Use a variety of blog post styles.
Your blog posts should be interesting to everyone who reads them, and especially for customers who read every single post. For those that are active followers and ambassadors of your blog, you should use a variety of blog post styles so your blog doesn't get stale. Consider using how-to posts, list-based posts, or thought leadership.
9. Repurpose old content.
Producing blog content consistently can be hard. But you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you write a blog post. You can update old blog posts to keep them accurate and comprehensive. Additionally, you can use other content of yours, perhaps a YouTube video or a podcast, and repurpose the content into a blog post.
10. Perform a competitive analysis.
To understand your audience, run a competitive analysis on your top blog competitors. This will help you identify trends, uncover gaps in the content in your industry, and give you ideas on topics and ways to promote your blog.
Running a competitive analysis will help you build and iterate on your own blog strategy.
With a blog, the sky's the limit -- and so are the benefits for your business. If you're officially ready to get started with your own blog, take a look at How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide.
Alternatively, if you're starting at the beginning and anxious about your first post, read How to Write a Blog Post: A Step-by-Step Guide [+ Free Blog Post Templates].
Editor's note: This post was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
