Over the years, I have heard people walk up to me saying they desire to start their blogging career because they are passionate about writing or to take advantage of blogging to enhance their business visibility and build a long-term audience.
Whichever the reason is that propelled you to start a career in blogging, It’s important to understand the rudiment of blogging to actualize the full benefit of having a blog in the long run.
Furthermore, I discovered that one of the biggest challenges new businesses face is building an audience for their products.
Read also How SMEs Can Use Digital To Engage And Influence Customers
On the other hand, new bloggers often work backward, building an audience first by consistently putting out good content and then exploring ways to monetize their traffic.
I believe starting a blog isn’t a difficult task if you want to either grow your business or desire to have a blog site, in the long run, will serve as a source of income to you.
This article will serve as a step-by-step guide to starting a blog and growing it into a source of traffic and income.
Furthermore, our guide is meant for those who haven’t started a business yet or those who desire to start up. it’s also relevant for any businesses that want to get into the blogging game.
How To Start Your Blogging Career For SMEs
The first and most important factor to be considered before starting up a blog is:
1. The Blog Name and Niche
Your blog name is as important as the outcome result of your blog because this will be registered in the heart of your audience.
Your blog name will also carry your blog identity because the name is what readers will see first (like myblog.com), so it should ideally represent either the general topics you’ll be writing about—or it could be your name, that of your business, a clever combination of words, or otherwise.
Your blog niche centers on the topic of focus around your blog i.e. the general topic area that you’ll be focusing your content around.
Examples include blog topics like travel, food, fashion, lifestyle, technology, and otherwise. Incorporating a word or two that signals what your content is about, within the name of your blog (like photobytee.com or techynista.com)—will be very helpful for your future blog readers.
How To Choose a Blog Nitch
In choosing a blog nitch, you must be able to answer specific questions that will serve as a guide to carefully select and decide where you want to place your focus.
– Will I still love to write about this topic a year or more from now?
– What prompted me to select this particular topic?
– Who are my target audience?
– What are my interests and drives?
– Are there other people who want to read about this topic?
– Do I stand a chance of adding value to my readers?
– Will this topic generate traffic in the long run?
– Can I make money from this niche?
2. Web Hosting
The second most important factor to consider when starting your blogging carrier for your SMEs is getting your blog online (web hosting) A web hosting provider offers server space to host your website. This is where your website “lives” on the internet. Someone might be asking what web hosting is.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet. A web host or web hosting service provider is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet.
It is always advisable to watch out for a strong host, especially for people just starting, For your first blog, you want a popular host, trusted, easy to use, reliable, and reasonably priced, No need for anything fancy.
Read also 5 Ways To Know and Select A Suitable Hosting For Your Website
3. The WordPress Theme and Design
The next factor to put into consideration haven considering your host provider is designing your WordPress blog.
It is important to understand that your design must depict your brand color and brand identity; There must be a correlation between your projected brand identity and your WordPress design.
Now, one thing you need to be careful of, is that WordPress comes in two very different platforms. There’s WordPress.com and WordPress.org. They have almost the same name, but there are very big differences between the two.
One of the best parts about WordPress is that it’s infinitely customizable. Since it’s open-source, you can change it to do whatever you want and time without losing your existing content and audience but it’s always advised to be mindful of the changes made so as not to lose your audience and brand identity.
Read also WordPress Blogs and Websites Under Brute Force Attack
4. Installation of Google Analytical Tool
I love to always recommend the google analytical tool when starting your blogging career for SMEs because it helps you keep track of your progress, especially for starters, and is a free website analytics tool from Google which allows you to monitor the following.
– See how many people are visiting your website
– It automatically collects data
– It helps you customize reports
– To understand which social media to target
– Measure your goal and progress
– Find the demographic info of your visitors
– See what blog posts and pages are receiving the most visits
– It also helps you understand the kind of content to write about
Read also 7 Google Analytics Reports You Need To Know
Google Analytics is one of the top, most powerful tools out there for monitoring and analyzing traffic on your website. It gives you an enormous amount of information about who is visiting your site, what they are looking for, and how they are getting to your site.
Any business that wants to expand and grow its business on the internet should stick to Google Analytics.
5. Set up an Email Listing
Another factor to consider when starting your blogging career for SMEs is your email listing because it helps you build a relationship with your customers.
Email listing does not only help to build a relationship with your customers but gives you a proven way to nurture leads and convert them into long-lasting customers.
No matter what type of business you operate, an email list is the most important element of a successful marketing strategy. With that list, you can share your story, promote your business, and showcase your products, all while turning subscribers into paying customers.
Don’t be in a haste to start sending emails yet until you feel there is a need to. The main thing is that you’re collecting email subscribers from the beginning.
Everything you will need to know about email marketing is in the link below
Read also Winning Tactic For Email Marketing
6. Build Your Audience
If you want to run a successful blogging career for SMEs, It’s important to pay attention to the tactics that will help you grow your audience. Over time I hear people ask this same question every day.
And although each situation is different, several key components ring true for everyone. So, what can you do to build an audience?
In building your audience you must understand the tips which will serve as a guide to building your audience for your blogging career.
Read also 7 Steps to Building Your Brand
Tips for Building Your Audience
– You must understand that you can please everyone because you are not called for everyone. I have seen so many people fail not because they are not good at what they do but because they want to please everyone.
You need to understand that not everyone will be your customer no matter how hard you try. Focus your energy on those who believe in you and what you do.
– Understand your target audience, Know what they are looking for, know where they are located, and know what they are attracted to.
This will help you stay focused and place more priority on what matters, Only then can you deliver value.
Read also 4 Proven Strategies to Drive Massive Traffic To Your Website
– Always create a story that captures the heart of your audience. Not every story is appealing to everyone, You must focus on what is pleasing to your audience. In creating your story, you must watch out for these key factors.
1. The beginning: Always focus on addressing a problem
2. The middle: Focus on how your brand can proffer solutions to the problem
3. The ending: Share what your result is and how you can add value
– Create a content schedule and be truthful to work with it, this way integrity is being built in the heart of your audience about your brand.
Read also 10 Sites to Help You Become an Expert in Your Content Creation Process
Take Away
Always remember that there is no limit to growth, the more your hunger rises to know the more your growth level is expanded therefore keep reading and keep growing.
