PB096: How to Create a Business Blog on a Shoestring

How to Create a Business Blog When You Don't have a Dedicated Team Note: this episode can be listened to in the player above or on iTunes or Stitcher. Welcome to episode 96. Today we are talking about business blogging and using your blog to promote your business or products. One of the most common questions I get asked when I’m speaking at conferences for business people and blogging is how do I create a business blog without a team to dedicate to the task. Often times, this question is asked by the person assigned to create the blog or the business owner. Here are a few tips that can be used to build a business blog on a shoestring. In This Episode You can listen to today’s episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (if you have a moment, we’d LOVE to get a review). Here are a few tips designed to help you create a business blog and have a regular and consistent workflow. Make one person responsible as the editor. Give someone the authority to blog and get content produced. Establish a publishing rhythm. Work out how often you are going to publish, and give the editor authority to make it happen. Brainstorm ideas ahead of time. Know who is going to write what and implement that into the publishing rhythm. Set up an editorial calendar with all of this information. Writing in batches and stockpiling posts can make things easier. Dedicate time to create, complete and promote your content. Time has to be allocated to creation, editing, comments and social media. Look beyond your business team for content opportunities. People you know and network with may help with content or interview scenarios. For content creation look at everyday activities. Customer questions, team meetings, and interesting things that happen can be content topics. Experiment, track and evaluate. Take the time to analyze the impact of the content and your return on investment.   Further Reading: Today’s further reading is an article I wrote for LinkedIn about 56 ideas to use for business blog posts. I have heard back from a number of people who actually used this article as a basis for their yearly blog post ideas. 56 Ideas For Blog Posts for Your Business Blog Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to episode 96 of the ProBlogger Podcast where today I want to talk about business blogging. Blogging, if you are a business wanting to use your blog to promote your business, to promote your products, rather than using the blog as the business itself. I get asked to speak a lot at conferences for business people on the topic of how to build a business blog and one of the most common questions I get asked is, "How do I create one when I don't have a team that I can dedicate to that task?"  The question is often asked by the person who has been assigned to get the blog up and running or by the business owner. They know it's a good idea, but they don't really know how to do it when they’ve got a fairly small business, or even a solo business. I want to give you a few tips on how to build that business blog on a shoestring. I'm not going to talk so much about the content that you need to publish, but rather how you get that workflow going, how do you get yourself regular and consistent as a business blog. You can find today's show notes at problogger.com/podcast/96. Let's get on with today's show..  Before I get into some tips on building a business blog on a shoestring, I do want to mention I have a little bit of further reading for those of you who want to talk more about content. I wrote an article from LinkedIn a year or so ago now with 56 Ideas for Blog Posts for your Business blog. I have heard back from a lot of business, I should say, that are using this as the basis for almost an annual calendar of blog posts,