How to Create a Great Business Blog

Every business is blogging today, but creating a killer business blog can be challenging. How do you strike that perfect balance between professionalism and casualness while building a blog that promotes your business in the best way possible? Here, we’ve outlined four steps for creating an outstanding blog for your organization. 

Find your style

You can choose to create your business blog in any way you want, but for the sake of consistency, it’s best to find a single voice and stick to it. To get an idea of what’s out there, read some popular business blogs, like those authored by Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferris, to see what strikes you as especially captivating. Pay attention to the voice of the blog, the writing style and the level of personal information that is shared.

Next, make a checklist of what you like to see in a blog and reference this list when working on new posts so your blog has a uniform style of its own.

Brainstorm for blog topics

You have your style; now, what are you going to write about?

Here’s where you’re going to pick your brain for blog topics that are related to your industry, but present multiple tangential topics that can reach into your personal life. For example, if you operate a hardwood-flooring business, you can offer basic tips for keeping your newly installed panels in perfect shape. You can also share anecdotes about the most outlandish ways your children have stained your own floors and how you proceeded to clean up your panels to make them look like new. 

Another approach to take is to view your blog as a means for humanizing your brand. If this is your only goal, you can write about anything at all without finding ways to connect it to your business. Be wary of letting your blog turn into an overly negative space where you rant about anything and everything that peeves you. To draw the most traffic, it’s best to keep your blog upbeat and to share something positive in every post. 

List your topics on a spreadsheet so you always have ideas to reference when you need to write a new post.

Don’t overshare

Regardless of how you choose to style your blog, you’ll want to be careful not to stray into TMI territory. Nobody wants to read about your marriage woes or to hear details about a plan that failed miserably for five consecutive months when you’re blogging about your business. Sharing highly personal anecdotes can turn your blog into a gossip page and damage your company’s reputation.

Before posting an article, ask yourself these questions:

• Would I be OK if this post went viral?
• Does this post resonate with my company’s core values?
• Would I be embarrassed if my parents/partner/close friend/sibling were to read this post?
• What would I think if I read this post on another company’s blog?

Read it out loud

Before you post an article, read it out loud to see how it flows. Rephrase awkward phrases or word groups and swap dull descriptions for more effective choices. Weed out any sentence or paragraph that makes you cringe and don’t post until you love the article from beginning to end. Don’t forget to hold your article up to your checklists before making it public.

Best of luck creating that killer blog! 

Your Turn: How did you create a fabulous blog for your business? Share your best tips with us in the comments.