More CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs are realizing that blogging is a method that works to get new customers.
In this post, we looked at what some of the top entrepreneurs are saying about business blogging.
Today we’re going to take it a step further and go into how you can create your own entrepreneur blog.
An Entrepreneur Blog: Traffic, Leads and Sales
There are different types of business blogs.
One type is a blog that evolves from a personal blog into a blog for a business. This is the case for most of the people in the post linked above. I know I read somewhere that Rand started the SEOmoz back around 2004. He was originally one of the only people that blogged on the site, but over time other employees have taken on larger blogging roles.
Today, Rand still contributes to the SEOmoz blog and he also maintains his personal blog.
That’s another form of an entrepreneur blog. You can create a personal blog where you share your thoughts with people. It will be affiliated with your business since that business is a large part of your life.
With the attention you gain with the blog you’re raising your personal brand and the brand of your business.
That is the goal of any business blog or entrepreneur blog. You look to earn traffic, leads and sales. You want the blog to be read by your ideal reader. It starts with creating content and from there you promote the content.
Eventually the blog and your site turns into a lead generating machine, which is what has happened for many businesses including Ghost Blog Writers. As of right now all the new business for GBW comes via search traffic, social traffic and other word of mouth referrals.
What To Blog About
The first thing new business bloggers ask is what they should write about on their new blog.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing about what is interesting to you. There are many times when you are the same person as your ideal reader, but usually what you want to write about is now what your ideal readers are looking for online.
The first step we take at GBW with every new client is to define the ideal reader. After that we do some keyword research and general research. We try to figure out what that person is looking for online and how we can get their attention with blog content when they’re searching on search engines and on social media.
Look at forums. Think about what your ideal readers ask you when you speak to them in person. Your answers make the best blog posts.
Also think about your experience as the entrepreneur and what you’ve seen in the business. You have a history of stories you could share with your ideal readers. You also understand how to interpret news stories that come out that will affect your customers.
Use all of that as content for your blog.
Promoting Your Blog
A blog won’t grow on its own.
In the early days you need to push your content. Nobody knows about your blog so you have to find an audience for it.
What we do at GBW with new clients is mix in targeted posts with posts that talk about others in the industry.
For example, we have written about successful business blogging strategies here on the blog. The first reason we do this is because our ideal readers find the stories and analysis interesting, but the other reason is we want to get the attention of those we write about.
It worked for a recent article we did about FreshBooks. Their Communications Director retweeted the article:
RT @dayneshuda: Analyzing The Freshbooks Blog http://t.co/XLRRAjDL
— Trevor Campbell (@trevorLcampbell) February 15, 2013
When that happens you get access to an established audience. That’s a big way to grow your own audience.
Creating an entrepreneur blog is a great way to grow your company.
Do you have any questions about what else you need to do to get started?