The Simple First Steps to Start Your No-Stress Small Business Blog
If you caught my post on blogs and SEO last week, you know how important it is to have a blog for your mission-driven business.
And you don’t have to go all-in right from the start.
Here are a few tips to get you started.
Set a publishing goal.
Famous blogger and entrepreneur Seth Godin estimates he’s been publishing a blog post every day for the last 20 years. But you don’t need to set a 20-year goal—or a daily goal—to make an impact in your business.
In fact, I strongly advise against it.
Because if you’re anything like me, setting that kind of goal might make you freeze up and do nothing.
Not so helpful.
Here’s what I suggest you do, instead:
Set goals that feel VERY achievable to you.
There are two kinds of goals to focus on: how often you’ll publish, and how long you want those posts to be. Both of these elements affect SEO!
But it’s more important to start the blogging habit than it is to reach for extreme goals. Instead, set goals that you know you can achieve. When you achieve them, you train your brain to understand that you can do this! And then you can level up—and win again.
How often should I publish my blog?
If it feels VERY achievable, publishing once a month is a great place to start.
At that rate, Google will be able to tell you’re publishing consistently, and that’s one of the big three reasons that blogging can give your business such an SEO boost. (So it’s especially important to publish consistently. Schedule your blogs for the same day and time each time you publish (e.g. publish one blog on the first Tuesday of each month, at 9am).
But if once a month sounds like too much, publish one blog per quarter for two quarters. When you’ve achieved that, step up to your monthly update.
After a few months publishing monthly, start publishing every other week—and eventually, move to a weekly or twice weekly format for maximum SEO and visibility benefits.
I think you’ll find that once you start writing, you’ll have more to write about! There’s a momentum in creation that can be very inspirational.
How many words should my blogs be?
Right now, we’re focusing on getting started, so just like with your publishing frequency, I suggest you start with a goal length that feels VERY achievable.
For a lot of business owners, 750 words is a great starting goal. As you start out, this will probably take you around 45 minutes, depending on the content you’re creating (check out my topic suggestions a little further down for more details on that).
But if 750 sounds like a full-length novel to you, then you can go even lower. 500. 300. Whatever number is going to feel VERY achievable. Because remember, we’re creating patterns here. We’re teaching our brain that we can do this.
So choose a number that feels like, “Yeah! I could totally post 500 words once a month!”
Think about your social media posts. A “short” Facebook post will often be around 50 words. Does it feel achievable to write a blog post that’s like 10 Facebook posts?
Eventually, you’ll want your blogs to come in at 1400+ words for optimal SEO effects. (The longer the blog, the more content Google can crawl—and the better idea it’ll get about who to serve your content to in the search results.)
So just like with your publishing frequency, bump it up every few posts. Write 2-3 posts with 500 words, then bump up to 750. Then bump up to 1000. And keep it going from there!
If you can’t settle on numbers that feel achievable, when you think about frequency of posts or post length, you may want to reach out to a writer like me to start the ball rolling.
Because content leads to more content, if you bring someone on to write a handful of blogs for you, you might be inspired to create more yourself! Or, you may find that having a regular writer for your blogs is a great fit for your business, and one you want to continue with indefinitely.
For help brainstorming the ideal frequency, length, and topics for you, schedule a Wildcard Power Hour session here.
Brainstorm topics.
Ths achieves two things: 1) you won’t feel like you have to “come up with” a topic each time, and 2) you can plan out related content if you feel like it!
Eventually, there’ll be some deeper strategy involved. But for now, remember, what are we doing?
We’re establishing habits! We’re training our brain!
So I’d rather you publish consistently than worry about the strategy behind what order you publish topics in.
Whenever you come up with a topic idea, put it into a notebook or a digital folder (I start a new Google Docs draft for each one). That way, when it’s time to write, you can scroll through your list and pick one that interests you, instead of wracking your brain to come up with a new topic on the spot.
Check your FAQs
Whether or not you have an FAQ page on your website, your clients and prospects probably do have questions. Think about the kinds of questions you get asked about your business, the services you provide, your background, anything!
These make great blog posts because people are probably already typing some of these questions into Google—which means Google is actively looking for content to serve to those people. Great! More likelihood you’ll end up listed in the search results. For example, you might have found this article by searching something like “How do I start a blog for my small business?”
FAQs also make great blog posts because they help you keep your actual FAQ page clean. You can provide a quick answer right there on yor FAQ page, and then direct readers to a more detailed blog page for additional information. This gives each reader the amount of information they’re wanting—no wading through too many details (for some readers) and no feeling like they’re still in the dark (for other readers).
And for beginner bloggers, FAQs are amazing because you already know the content! You’ve answered these questions before. As a result, blogs based on FAQs will generally be faster for you to write, require little to no research. Perfect!
Search your social media
What are people talking about in your DMs? On your posts?
If you don’t receive many messages or comments, check out business groups. Ask members for their ideas—what questions do they have about the kind of business you run?
Follow leaders in your niche
Who are a handful of folks in your niche (or adjacent to your niche) who you admire? (Or, just as beneficial—people who you think just get it all wrong!)
Subscribe to their email lists and follow them on social media. Their content may inspire your own. Add to the conversation! Challenge someone’s viewpoint! Everything you encounter can be inspiration if you train your brain to see it that way.
Know where to find images.
Every post should include at least one photo or graphic.
Use photos you own the rights to, or grab royalty-free photos
If your business is super visual, like photography or graphic design, focus on using your own work—it’s one more way to show the reader that you’re an expert!
For most of us, though, royalty-free stock photos work great. Here’s where you can find modern, free stock photos to use in your blog or on your website.
Create graphics on Canva
Sometimes, a graphic might be more helpful than a photo. Here’s an example of a blog where I used graphics throughout.
Whatever you do, make it achievable.
This is the big thing I want you to know. Set your goals. Write your blogs. It can be that simple. And to start out (at least for most of us), it kind of needs to be that simple.
Blogging is such a valuable and accessible tool. Use it.
Your prospects—and your SEO—will thank you.
Drawing on her decade+ experience as an actor, director, writer, editor, and educator . . .
Messaging Expert Cathlyn Melvin helps mission-driven personal brands design and deliver their world-changing messages through TEDx coaching and done-for-you copywriting services.
Her insight has been featured via TEDx, Thrive Global, Fempreneur Online, Much More Media, Captivate + Convert, She Built This, and other outlets. Learn more about her copywriting and TEDx coaching services.
No matter your writing skills, no matter your business . . . your blog is incredibly valuable digital real estate.
In this free guide, you’ll discover:
5 rinse-and-repeat blog posts you can use over and over again
Unlimited potential—saving you the energy of content brainstorming
Bite-sized action-steps to get you started today