Blogging 101: Engage Your Target Market

Businesses: get ready for Blogging 101. You know that blogging is a thing and it’s really important, right? It gets you heard out there in the wilderness of the internet and is one of the key pieces to getting good SEO.

But what does that mean, and how do you do it well?

Blogging is basically the internet version of having a good long game. You’re the guy who brings flowers and remembers anniversaries. But how do you do it? This guide will tell you what you need to know to get started with being that great boyfriend everyone always wanted, instead of an internet catfish.

A good blog will help your business website rise in the search rankings so that when someone Googles for your niche, you will be high on the search. People don’t click through to more than one page of search results, so being in the top rankings is really important to be found online. That’s literally what SEO or Search Engine Optimization is all about.

Google and other search engines are constantly updating how they rank webpages, so it’s important to know what the best practices are in order to help search engines correctly catalog and recognize your awesome content.

Setting up a Blog

WordPress is a very common blog and website system that works well. If you already have a website, you can ask your developer to add a blog or see if there’s already an option to start posting.

Blogging works best and pulls the most traffic when it is attached to your own business website where you can build your authority around your niche and rise in the google rankings. The whole point of blogging is to help raise your SEO so your business can be found.

If you don’t have a website yet, it’s time to get one going before you get started on creating a lot of content. You can get started with micro-blogging on Instagram and Facebook to begin to build your following before your blog is ready.

How to Start Blogging 101

You’re gonna need keywords.

Keywords are the things that people search for. When someone goes to Google and types in “DIY miniature horse costume” Google is going to try and find the answer to how to make costumes for small horses. The keywords there might be “miniature horse costume” “DIY horse gear” or possibly “too much time on my hands.”

If you’re a roofer, some of your keywords might be different kinds of roofing materials or roofing problems. If you’re a lawyer, it will circle around the kinds of services you can offer. There are a number of apps that can help you find the appropriate keywords for your business including Moz and Semrush.

After you’ve got your blog set up and have researched your keywords, make a blog calendar before you begin to write. It’s easy to have big intentions and little results. A calendar can keep you focused and on track.

First, choose how often you’re going to blog. Twice a week? Once a week? Once a month? Next, take your list of keyword topics and begin to assign them to specific dates. You may find that as you do this there is a logical order you can put them in. You may want to focus on different topics in different seasons, or holiday pushes. After you’ve assigned your topics to specific dates, it’s time to start writing!

Related: How Often Should I Blog?

Ingredients for a Good Blog Post

It takes a lot of effort to write a good blog post. It needs to represent your brand’s voice, communicate useful information to your target market, and be optimized for SEO. For Blogging 101, here’s a checklist of things to be thinking about while you write:

• Written on brand.
• Focuses on ONE main idea/keyword.
• A title that includes the keyword.
• Grammar!
• Structure: intro, body, conclusion (Just like school).
• A featured image that grabs attention.
• Inline images that invoke emotion or connection.
• Sub-headings that include the keywords too.
• Bolded and italicized words for emphasis, especially your keywords.
• Inbound hyperlinks: link to your own content that you’ve already written.
• Outbound hyperlinks: link to other people’s quality content that enhances what you’ve written.
• Bulleted or numbered lists. (Like this one!)
• A strong call to action! Make sure you ask people to call, purchase, or connect in the way that you want them to.

What to do After You’ve Written It

Congratulations! You’ve written a blog post. What’s your next step with blogging 101?

Time to use it.

This is where social media comes in. Start sharing that post! You want it out in front of people. Share it on your Facebook page, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Engage with the people who comment. Share to groups that would like your content and maybe you should take out a Facebook ad to reach new customers, too.

A blog post that sits on your blog doing nothing isn’t helping you nearly as much as a blog post that is getting shared across the internet.

After you’ve written your first post, optimized it for SEO, and shared it on all your social media channels you’re ready to start rolling out your very own social media campaign for your brand. From here you can repackage your knowledge into infographics, tweets, and your newsletter. You can use an app like MeetEdgar or Hootsuite to schedule your posts and reshare your blog more than once on social media channels to reach a broader audience.

The internet gets bigger and more chaotic every day. As a business you need to get your brand proposition in front of your target market. Blogging is a proven way to rise in the search rankings and cut through the noise.

Get your blog going and get heard, because Words Matter.

We Can Help!

If you would like to chat about creating a key word list, setting up a blogging schedule, ideas on what to blog about, and how to marketing your blogs and content, give us a call at 517-320-1568. We love to talk about words. It’s what we do! Or email: amy@zeediamedia.com

About Zeedia Media: We create killer content for all sorts of things. We know all the words because “words matter!” Contact Zeedia Media for content, branding, and social media management. We can also help you with your online reputation if you aren’t happy about what people are saying about you. Let’s exchange some words–the good kind!
@ZeediaMedia