You might have a blog, but aren’t totally sure if you’re doing right. Or you may be considering starting a blog for your business, but you are unsure of where to start, or if it is even worth it to put your valuable time into regular blog posts. If you fit in any of those categories, we’re here for you.

Clearly, we believe that blogging is a worthwhile endeavor for your business because, well, we have one…you’re reading it.

But, there are a few things you should know about why it is valuable and how to make it work for you, rather than wasting your time on a blog that doesn’t help your business grow.

Here are 3 Tips that will help your blog help your business:

Tip 1: Understand how your blog can help your SEO

By now, many people are at least somewhat familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you are not familiar and your business needs an online presence, I would recommend doing some research on it now to get caught up to speed (then come back here and finish reading, of course).

Whether you are an SEO expert (please teach me your ways) or only a novice, here are 4 ways that your blog can help you get noticed.

1. Adding fresh content to your website, such as blog pages, tells search engines that your business is active and may have the latest info for those searching.
2. Do some link building. Link Building helps create a web of connections that not only pleases the search engines, but also draws more viewers in from other websites. Note: Do not buy a bunch of links to do this, in fact, be somewhat selective about where you link to and from. Websites and blogs with relevant subject matter to yours help you. If you link to random unrelated websites or blogs it can actually hurt your SEO because you seem spammy.
3. Use Key Words wisely. Gone are the days of hiding a page full or words that relate to your business in meaningless order so that you can get noticed. Search engines caught on to that scheme, and now punish those looking for a shortcut to page 1. However, if you are writing genuine blog posts that include those key words in meaningful ways, Booyah! you’re in the game.
4. Finally, if you have a good blog, people will visit it, share it, like it, subscribe to it, and ultimately your website will be more popular which helps your SEO tremendously.

In short, it is worth it for your SEO to write a good blog and update it regularly. Although, remember that it ought to be a good blog. Welcome to Tips 2 and 3.

Tip 2: Write a High Quality Blog

This may seem too obvious. However, the fact is, if you have a poorly written or unappealing blog, people won’t read it. If people don’t read your blog posts, it’s not working.

So, how do you write a High Quality blog? Truly, it just takes a little effort.

First, Hit the Technical section: Check your grammar; have someone proofread your post, because you lose credibility when your writing is littered with poor grammar or typos. Also, keep it at the right length. Some people say it should take 7 minutes to read, others say 1600 words is the proper length. Whatever length you choose, just make sure it is proper for the subject matter; the main goal is to properly explain the topic, not fit into a length mold.

Second, get ‘Your Look:’ No you don’t have to have a professional photographer come to your business and take several thousand dollars worth of photos before you start your blog, but make sure you at least find high quality, high resolution images that fit the theme of your business. There are plenty of places to find such things quickly, legally, and for cheap or even free.

Tip 3: Know Why You are Writing a Blog

Although this is technically a separate tip from #2, note that this is necessary to having a high quality blog post as well. Perfect grammar and beautiful pictures can’t cover up pointless rambling.

To know why you are writing a blog, you must first ask yourself a couple questions: Who is my audience? And what is my goal?

Hopefully, if you are already running your business, you know what you sell and who buys it. If you know those things, you can ask yourself another important question: What would be helpful for them to learn, that I could provide? If the answer is nothing, probably don’t waste your time on a blog and continue doing what you do best, running your business. But, if you come up with a solid answer to that question, you might be in the right place to start your blog.

What is the goal of my blog? This is another vital question to answer before spending your valuable time writing post after post. You should have some plan for how a blog might make you more money. After all, if your blog doesn’t help you make more money, couldn’t your time be spent better doing something that does?

So, whether you want to lead people from social media to your website to use your eCommerce store, gather email addresses and contact info for a mailing list, or continue to solidify your brand and image for your customers, know what you want your blog to accomplish. Having this goal in mind also helps you choose what to write about so you can avoid the pointless rambling we mentioned earlier.

One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to leave a Call to Action at the end of your blog. A Call to Action gives the reader some way to interact with your business once they are finished reading your post (i.e. ‘Visit our Online Store Today!’ or ‘Enter your email below to receive our monthly newsletter and updates about our next blog post!’)

Your business is valuable. Your time is valuable. And if you feel like you are ready to invest that time in a blog for your business, we encourage you to do so. Following these 3 Tips will set you up for success, the rest is up to you.

If you feel that your website could be improved, you would like an update before launching your awesome blog, or you are without a website and in need of one, contact us today! (See what I did there? That’s a Call to Action) We would love to help your website get noticed (and look good when it does).