5 Things You Need Before Starting a Blog For Your Business
If you’ve been following my content for any amount of time, you know that I’m a blog stan (i.e. devoted fan for my people out there that can’t keep up with the TikTok lingo - I feel you) and I believe that most brands and businesses need to incorporate blogs into their content strategy.
I share more about why I believe that in this blog post, but long story short, the main reasons are that:
you OWN your blog content (unlike your social media content) and have ultimate control
your blog content has a way longer shelf life than other types of content
having a blog increases your chances of ranking higher in search by 434%
Aside from all the reasons I believe you should have a blog in your business, there’s also a few reasons I believe you should NOT - more on that here.
Many times I find that when business owners are ready to start a blog for their business, they’re actually missing one or more of the prerequisites required to do so.
So if you’re in that boat - the one where you’re sold on having blogs in your business and you’re ready to start them - make sure you have these 5 things FIRST!
When you do, you’ll be able to implement blogs with 100% ease and confidence!
5 Things You Need Before Starting a Blog For Your Business
You need to have a website.
Okay, I know this sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people I hear from that are planning to launch their blog yet they don’t have a website.
This often happens with small business owners who haven’t prioritized their website yet because let’s be real… when you’re just getting started, sometimes you have to fly the plane while it’s being built.
Which means that sometimes a LinkTree or Stan Store acts as your “website” until you get around to creating a *real* one.
While I love that there are tools out there like LinkTree, Milkshake and Campsite that make it easy for you to set up your link in bio and display your products or services, if you’re in your business for the long haul, a website IS a requirement.
Those tools that I mentioned only let you do so much. When you rely on those alone, you’re limiting yourself by not being able to be found in search, not being able to connect with your audience through your copy and not being able to to build the value of your products or services.
So, if you’re at a point where you’re ready to take things to the next level in your business, but you haven’t yet prioritized a website, now’s the time to do so!
Once you have a site, you can easily implement a blog into your content strategy AND be found on Google.
I know that building a website might feel like a big feat, but a starter site doesn’t have to be complicated. I’d recommend using an easy builder, such as Squarespace or Wix.
While it might feel overwhelming, remember my motto: start NOW, refine LATER. The first website you build, won’t be the one you have forever. But starting is always key.
You need to know your target audience.
Again, this might seem obvious, but similar to having a website, sometimes people try to put the cart before the horse and it just doesn’t work.
Before implementing blogs into your content strategy, you need to know who exactly you’re talking to.
If you’ve already been creating content on social media, there’s a chance that you probably already have a good idea of who your audience is, but if not, make sure you do this first.
If you don’t identify your target audience, you risk spending a lot of your time and energy creating blog content that doesn’t reach the people you really want to reach.
So to avoid that, make sure you’ve identified your target audience with ICA (ideal client avatar) work before writing your first blog post.
To do this, you can conduct market research to better understand what problems and challenges people are facing, how they feel and what their biggest pain points are.
When you know this information, you can then start creating content that speaks to them directly and guide them to your solution.
You need to know what you want to achieve with your blog.
The last thing I want is for you to feel like your blog is just another checklist item that you need to do each week. Instead, I want you to view it as something that you do for a very specific purpose.
When people come to me wanting to start blogs for their business, the first thing I want to know is if they’re going to treat blogs as a core part of their content strategy.
If not, this is the first thing I encourage. When you make blogs a core part of your overall content strategy, you always have the ultimate purpose in mind and that purpose will really serve as your blog content guide.
Common goals for blogs in your business include:
Increasing brand awareness
Generating leads
Boosting sales
Increasing website traffic
Being seen as a thought leader or expert in your industry
Becoming a go-to person for information and education in your niche
Providing ultimate value for your audience on specific topics
Spoiler alert: ALL of those things are possible when you implement blog content in your business, but choosing one or two that you’re specifically going to focus on will help you create content accordingly!
You need to define your blog categories/content pillars.
One of the common hesitations I hear from people about starting a blog for their business is that they aren’t sure what to write about.
And I hear you! Blogs are long form pieces of content, so they do require a bit more writing than a social media post or email.
But typically the people who are saying this simply haven’t defined their blog categories or their content pillars yet.
Content pillars are key topics that make up your entire content marketing strategy. They serve as your main areas of expertise and are the top things that you focus on throughout all of your content.
Typically, these pillars will be more broad and general, while the content under each pillar will be more specific. When you have content pillars, it’s very clear to your audience what you do, who you help and what they can expect to learn from you.
Here are a few examples of different industries and their possible blog categories/content pillars so you can see what I mean:
Life Coach: Mindset, Personal Growth, Relationships, Wellness
Brand Strategist: Strategy, Design, Identity, Customer Experience
Copywriter: Messaging, Copy Tips, SEO, Content Marketing
When you have these categories defined, it’s usually much easier to come up with your blog content topics.
These categories will typically be displayed on your blog like this ⬇️ so that all of your content can be organized and searchable for your audience.
You need a consistent blog content plan and strategy.
Lastly, once you have all of the above, you can then create your blog content plan and strategy.
Note: sometimes the word strategy can feel like some crazy, overwhelming thing that you have to figure out. But in reality a strategy simply means a plan.
For blog content specifically, the strategy includes your content pillars/categories mentioned above, your actual blog topics, the frequency that you plan to publish and how you plan to promote your blogs after publishing.
To help you create a specific blog content plan for your business or brand, I encourage you to follow my 4 Step Blog Planning Process, which includes:
Deciding how many blogs you want to publish per month
A massive brain dump of all possible topic ideas
Considering any upcoming holidays, national days and internal business events or promotions
Dividing your content into quarters
When you go through this process, you’ll end with a plan that helps you confidently take action on writing blogs for your business!
Need help getting started with blogs in your business?
If you already have all (or most) of these prerequisites and you’re ready to implement blogs in your business, but want additional help getting started, there are a few ways I can help:
The Manuscript | Custom Blog Strategy — a good piece of writing is only as strong as its manuscript. This custom blog strategy service is designed for business owners who want to start blogging - or finally make it a consistent, strategic part of their marketing strategy.
Includes:
Kickoff call to discuss your blog goals, ideal audience, & desired publishing schedule for the long term
Custom blog strategy creation WITH defined blog content pillars, a quarter’s worth (up to 12) blog topics tialored to your goals and audience, PLUS ideas for how to repurpose your blogs on other platforms
Strategy delivered via Loom
30 days of Slack support so you feel confident putting your strategy into action WITH the option to submit one piece of writing for review per week
Press Week | Blogging Sprint – every good author knows that a good press week is the secret to getting your audience’s attention. This Press Week is your fast-track to a ready-to-launch blog, giving your website readers irresistible content to binge on day one.
In just five days, you'll get six strategy-driven blog posts so you can hit the ground running and finally start putting blogs first, socials second.
The Schedule:
Monday – We’ll kick things off with a strategy call to talk strategy and map out topics.
Tuesday & Wednesday – I’ll dive into writing while you focus on running your business.
Thursday – Your six blog posts arrive in a Google Doc, ready for your review.
Friday – I’ll make any final edits and tweaks based on your feedback, so you can press publish as soon as you’re ready!
Hot Off The Press | A-la-carte Blogs – Hot Off the Press is perfect for business owners who need high-quality blog content on a flexible, as-needed basis.
Whether you want a Natty Writes trial run before committing to ongoing blogging, need a few extra posts to support a launch, or just want some fresh content without a long-term commitment, this service delivers polished, strategic blog posts right when you need them.
You bring the topics and ideas, and I'll bring them to life with content that’s hot off the press and ready to publish!
New to my world? Nice to virtually meet ya. 👋 I’m Natalie, but everyone calls me Natty (you can too) – blog and email writer for creative business owners and service providers.
If you like what you read and want more, there’s a few ways we can stay connected:
Binge the blog for a mix of blog and email writing tips, how-to’s for blogging in your business, tangible resources, and of course a little bit of BTS of a blog writer’s life along the way.
Browse the tools, recs, and resources that I personally (and professionally) couldn’t live without.
Join the Writer’s Room Waitlist to be the next to know when the BEST (yes, I’m biased) done-with-you writing membership is back open for enrollment.
If you’re in need of some blog content in your business, or are simply curious about what that would look like, check my services here.
And if you just wanna say heyyyy, follow me on the ‘gram and send me a DM!