{"id":3865,"date":"2012-02-10T13:08:49","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T18:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shareaholic.com\/?p=3865"},"modified":"2014-05-13T11:08:21","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T15:08:21","slug":"3-blogging-tips-for-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/3-blogging-tips-for-small-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Blogging Tips for Small Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ever read an interesting magazine article you just have to show your friend? Informative, funny, entertaining and helpful articles are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/7-habits-of-highly-shareable-bloggers\/\">shareable content<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s the kind of content you want to create for your business\u2019 blog.<\/p>\n<p>But between all of the tasks that go into running a business \u2013 payroll, making the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/small-business-blogging-tips.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-3866\" title=\"small business blogging tips\" alt=\"small business blogging tips\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/small-business-blogging-tips.jpg\" width=\"280\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/small-business-blogging-tips.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/small-business-blogging-tips-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\" \/><\/a>employee work schedule, and oh, yeah, talking to customers \u2013 it may seem hard for a small business owner to imagine having the bandwidth for blogging. How could you have time for writing when your hands are already full?<\/p>\n<p>But making the time for blogging will bring you more website traffic, customer engagement and sales. Here are some tips that will help get you started.<\/p>\n<h3>Three Blogging Tips for Small Businesses<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1. Drop the Excuses \u2013 You do have things to blog about!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many people don\u2019t blog because they think they have nothing to blog about. But the truth is, you DO have a lot to talk about. I actually think you have more to talk about than full-time content marketers do.<\/p>\n<p>A lack of experience in blogging is a great thing. You don\u2019t usually start a small business because you\u2019re passionate about blogging. You start a coffee shop because you love coffee or a hair salon because you\u2019re amazingly talented at creating great hair styles for your clients. You\u2019ve invested time in developing an expertise in a specific subject area, and this perspective will help you come up with tons of content ideas that will attract your niche audience.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few real examples.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.louispage.com\/\">Louis Page Fencing<\/a>\u00a0runs a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.louispage.com\/blog\/\">fence blog<\/a>\u00a0where they teach readers about the latest trends and designs for fences and shares instructional videos on how to install them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lilyglassphotography.com\/\">Lily Glass Photography<\/a>\u00a0shows off a portfolio of their work on their\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.lilyglassphotography.com\/\">photography blog<\/a>, and make it easier than ever for their readers to share those beautiful moments with the Shareaholic plugin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.575pizzeria.com\/\">575 Pizzeria<\/a>\u00a0shares their hottest menu items on the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.575pizzeria.com\/blog\/\">575 Pizzeria blog<\/a>. Look at their seasonal and fun \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.575pizzeria.com\/blog\/?p=42\">12 Beers of Christmas<\/a>\u201d series, and how they help their customers share that content with the Shareaholic buttons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.riverpoolsandspas.com\/\">River Pools and Spas<\/a>\u00a0answers common questions about pools for your home on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.riverpoolsandspas.com\/blog\/\">their blog<\/a>.\u00a0 They teach their customers about things such as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.riverpoolsandspas.com\/blog\/bid\/73739\/Proper-Fiberglass-Pool-Winterization-Should-it-Be-Drained-Below-the-Skimmer\">how to properly prep your pool for the winter<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Remember: You are the expert.<\/em> Whether it\u2019s pool tips or beer recommendations, your customers want your input and there\u2019s no better place to offer your advice than on your blog.<\/p>\n<p>It is no choice of whether or not your blog any more. Your customers are online, so every business is a content marketing business.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Make Your Content Shareable<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your content has to appeal to both the people who come directly to your content and the search engines that will bring even more visitors to your blog. To accomplish this, keep these things in mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Come up with a great topic:<\/em>\u00a0People want to share information that helped them or featured them. Seattle-based\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/emersonsalon.com\/\">Emerson Salon<\/a>\u00a0has a great example \u2013 they feature customers by showing off great Yelp reviews on their blog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Target your keywords:\u00a0<\/em>You need to reach the right audience in order to attract readers who will care enough about your subject matter to pass your content along to their friends. To do this, you need to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/how-to-optimize-your-blog-posts-for-seo\/\">optimize your blog posts for SEO<\/a>. Think about the kinds of search terms people use to find your website. Use\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/adwords.google.com\/o\/Targeting\/Explorer?__u=1000000000&amp;__c=1000000000&amp;ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS#search.none\">Google\u2019s free keyword research tool<\/a>\u00a0to discover more relevant keywords and variations of search phrases to target in your headline and in your blog post copy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Make it easy to share:<\/em>\u00a0It surprises me how many blogs don\u2019t have<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/publishers\/get_share_button\">social media buttons<\/a>. It\u2019s easy to get caught up in selecting the perfect design or blog theme and then completely forget about the obvious, functional elements likes\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/publishers\/get_share_button\">social sharing buttons<\/a>\u00a0or \u201csubscribe by email\u201d widgets. When you\u2019re just starting out, get your content in line and focus on a simple design that lines up with your branding and includes the practical features. Then go crazy with design.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. Be Consistent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Blogging is not the type of thing where you just want to get your toes wet \u2013 you\u2019ve got to dive in all the way. If you start out blogging every single day and that schedule isn\u2019t sustainable for you, you build an expectation of content among your readers. They will be disappointed when you burn out and stop blogging. Select a realistic pace that works for you.<\/p>\n<p><em>What tips do you have for small businesses that are just getting started blogging? Let us know in the comments.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Make you blog posts reader friendly and search engine friendly. Learn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/how-to-optimize-your-blog-posts-for-seo\/\">how to optimize your blog posts for SEO<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever read an interesting magazine article you just have to show your friend? Informative, funny, entertaining and helpful articles are\u00a0shareable content.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s the kind of content&hellip;&nbsp;<br \/><a class=\"continue-reading\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/3-blogging-tips-for-small-businesses\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[606,522],"tags":[526,295],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}