Business Blog Advice

by Brandon Cornett 

“I want to start blogging but I’m not sure where to begin. What advice can you offer on how to start a blog?”

This is a common question that people ask, and one that I receive about once a week via email. I think that most people have underlying questions as well. So the complete inquiry might go like this: How do I start blogging without wasting a lot of time on setup?

So in this brief tutorial, I’m going to teach business owners how to start a blog without wasting a lot of time on the research and setup process. In fact, this guide to starting a blog will show you how to get up and running in just a couple of days.

Technical notes: This lesson will focus on the self-hosting model of blogging. In other words, it will show you how to set up a web hosting account for your blog (as opposed to hosting the blog with WordPress or Blogger).

• Step 1: Get a Domain Name - This will be your web address. If you already have a website, you can just add your blog onto that if you want. This is certainly the easiest way to start blogging because your hosting account would already exist. In this case, you would install your blog as a sub-folder or sub-directory of your website (such as www.yourwebsite.com/yourblog). If you don’t have a website domain already, you can register one for about $10 per year through a company like GoDaddy (www.GoDaddy.com ).
• Step 2: Get Web Hosting - Here again, if you already have a website and will be adding your blog as an extension of that site, you can skip this step. Web hosting simply refers to the servers (big computers) that will host all of your blog files. Web hosting is very affordable. You can expect to pay between $7 and $10 per month for web hosting. For example: GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans
• Step 3: Choose Blog Program - Some blogging geeks will argue all day about which blog program is superior, and why. In my opinion, blog programs all do the same thing … they publish your content onto the web, quickly and easily, and in an organized manner. I recommend using either Blogger or WordPress. If your blog is going to be fairly simple, you might choose Blogger. If you think you might be “tweaking” the blog code to achieve certain effects (not necessary, by the way), you might prefer WordPress.
• Step 4: Install Blog Program - Now you have a domain name, a web hosting plan, and a blog program all picked out. The next step in your path to start blogging is the installation process. Here you will install the blog onto your hosting account. If you chose Blogger, this process will be simply. You just log into your Blogger account and tell it where to publish the blog (onto your domain). If you chose WordPress, you will actually install the program directly onto your web domain / hosting account. It’s a simple process, but you might want to get help from somebody who has done it.
• Step 5: Do Some Testing - Now you are ready to start blogging away. But before you do, it’s a good idea to make a few test posts. A “post” is new information published to the blog, like an article. You can make some test posts to learn how the blogging program works. Experiment with hyperlinks, formatting the text, adding images, etc. You can always delete your practice posts when you’re one.
• Start Blogging - Congratulations. You’ve tackled the technical side of things and you are now ready to start blogging by writing and publishing information online. Once you have a blog up and running, and you’re comfortable with how to use it, you can move on to “loftier” topics such as increasing your traffic and growing your web presence.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide on how to start blogging and I hope it helps you get started with your own blog. If you have questions or need help, check out our blog support services.

This post is part of our blogging tips series for business bloggers.

If you are a one-man or one-woman business, then the choice for blog writer is an easy one. You’ll have to do it yourself (our outsource it to a blog writing service). In this case, you may ask yourself if blogging is even right for your business to begin with.

But what if you are part of a larger organization? For example, let’s say you are the marketing / communications person for a company of 150 people, and you want to start a company blog in order to grow your web presence and attract new business. In that case … who is going to write the blog?

I ask this question, because you have many candidates to choose from in a business of this size. So it’s important to choose the right person (or people) for the job.

Who you choose to write your company blog is an important consideration, because the writer alone will determine the blog’s success or failure. Sure, it helps to have something interesting to talk about on a company blog — like a truly popular product or service. But in the end, it’s the blog author who makes it sink or swim.

• The person chosen to write your company blog must:
• Be passionate about the company
• Be a decent writer
• Be enthusiastic about the idea of blogging

These are the absolute essentials for your blog writing candidate. You probably have a few criteria of your own in mind.

If you choose the wrong person for the job of maintaining the company blog, it will be off to a shaky start from the beginning. But if you take the time to find the ideal candidate, you will have much greater success. It may surprise you to find out who is up for the job.

This post is part of our blogging tips series for business bloggers.

One of the great things about publishing a business blog is that you can have it up and running quickly. So there is a tendency to rush forward and start cranking out content. I know this from experience. Blogging can be addictive, and you may find yourself publishing new material on a daily basis — or even twice a day.

Energy and enthusiasm are great ingredients for business blogging success. But slow down for a moment. Before you start blazing forth in all of your blogging glory, try to figure out what you hope to accomplish with your blog and how you will work toward that goal.

In the previous post in this series of tips I talked about your blogging purpose. Today we will take that a step further with a brief but helpful writing exercise. I promise it will be easy, so don’t use that “I don’t have time for homework” bit on me!

Get out a notebook or open up a Word document. Write down your primary blogging goal. Then write down how you plan to accomplish that goal. By taking this simple step, I think you’ll find that your wheels will start turning. And before you know it, you will have brain-stormed all kinds of stuff.

Here are some key items to include with your blogging plan:

• What is your blogging goal?
• Who is your audience, and what do they want?
• How can you help your audience?
• How often do you plan to blog?
• Will you invite others to be guest bloggers, or go it alone?
• How will you generate traffic to your blog?
• What topics will you cover on your blog? What categories do you need?

Start with that, and see where it takes you. The purpose of this exercise is to force yourself to think ahead. By doing so, you will have a much clearer picture of what you need to do .. and, ideally, how to do it.