7 Things to Decide Before You Start a Blog for Your Business

*Reprinted from 2019 on my other website!

Are you considering a blog for your business, but don’t know how to get started? Or, if you already have a blank Word doc open, ready to go, have you stopped to think of the following points? I’ve been running and writing blogs for a while, with my most recent project being the blog for incoming MBA students at Harvard Business School. Here are some things that I’ve learned that will help you on your launch:

1. Decide if you really do need a blog

What’s your intention for having a blog? Do you offer a product or service that could better be described through storytelling? Do you want to create a content strategy that provides informative articles to your customers? You may have loads of great information on your website, but it may be valuable to offset that with personal stories from your customers, helpful articles that position you as an expert in your field, and more. Additionally, ask yourself if a blog is the best place to serve up this content – instead of, say, a podcast, YouTube channel, etc.

When I made the decision to start a blog for the university, it was to provide the story of student life in addition to the robust information we already had on the website; it was an empty channel waiting to be filled. And students loved connecting to what those who had gone before them had to say!

2. Decide who is going to run your blog

So you’ve decided to start a blog! Who is going to be the lead on that project? Overseeing a blog is like becoming an editor-in-chief of a publication. Do you have someone on staff who would know how to create content ideas, source those ideas, guide the writing process, copyedit, proofread, and then post? And then do it all again the next week? Or is this something you would outsource? A blog isn’t necessarily another administrative task, so think carefully about who would have the passion and creativity to lead it (tap the English major in the office!).

3. Decide your frequency and plan an editorial calendar

Consistency is king when it comes to building trust – it shows your customers that you show up on time, every time – so make an editorial calendar planning out your content. It doesn’t have to be in a fancy software; an Excel will do fine. And you should stick to it, but give yourself some leeway if you need to adjust the plan. If you find yourself failing to hit your post dates consistently, take a step back and reassess why. I would advise starting with once a week: that gives you time to create content, and that gives your reader time to get to your content.

4. Decide who your writers will be

Will your blog posts be written solely by the blog manager? If they’re a constant source of great ideas, or if they know how to interview and source material, then that’s great! Make sure that there’s variance, though. You should be thinking about educational pieces about your industry, for sure. But would your customers benefit from reading a Q&A interview with someone connected to the organization, or even a post written by a person in the organization? Could your marketing team write a post telling what they do on a daily basis? Could your CEO write a post? Think about how you can use your blog to give a behind-the-scenes look to your company as well.

When I was running the blog for the university, I realized that not only was it a great place for student voices, but it was possibly the only channel to allow different departments around the school to “introduce themselves” to the student population and to have “welcome” posts from administrative directors as well. It went beyond just informational one-note posts.

5. Decide who your audience will be

Ok, there may be less decision-making on your part in this, as oftentimes you can’t decide who your audience is. But you should understand which segment of the market you’re writing for. This includes making decisions on your narrative voice (fun, informal, millennial? precise, explanatory, large vocabulary? jargony, short sentences, quick-paced?), your length, your headlines, and more. If your audience is 40-something women business owners, don’t write for 20-something Silicon Valley start-up founders – and vice versa.

6. Decide how to make the posts personal

Your readers want to connect with you and your brand – that’s one of the reasons you’re starting a blog, right? – so think about ways to make the posts human. Always list the author’s name in a byline at the top, especially if you have guest posters, and be sure to include a picture of them.

If your content centers around something at your company, like a behind-the-scenes look, an introduction to a team, etc., put a picture in of that team, or something they’re working on. Stock images are fine to use to accentuate more general, industry-related content, but make sure that the author’s name and photo are still there. Another way to make it personal is to make sure your post has a solid, distinct narrative voice as well.

Why is all of this important? In a world of bots, humans still desire to connect to humans, and your blog posts are just part of a conversation.

7. Decide how you’re going to disseminate your posts

This gets into the realm of marketing and social media strategy, but creating a blog and posting on it doesn’t work if you don’t have any way of getting eyes on it. Put it up on your social media feeds, but don’t just post the link: Tease the content, post a quote, ask a question, and then link it. And don’t just link it once. (I spent time writing a guest post for a pretty big website that only got shared once – so you can imagine how I felt about that! Conversely, on my literary website, I share guest posts multiple times over time so that as many different eyes can get on it as possible.) And, as you know, the best way to get your content out is to get it out – don’t wait for people to find it on your site.

Finally, a little bonus for you…

3 Things You Don’t Have to Decide Before You Start a Blog

1. SEO, keywords, and the like. Some businesses decide to start a blog for SEO’s sake. If that’s your intention, fine, I guess, but it’s probably not going to make the impact you want. Think about a solid editorial plan and great writing first, because those two things will get you far.

2. Planning out a year’s worth of content. Plan out a month first, or a few months. If you have a year-long cyclical industry (like the academic year), plan to hit those seasonal markers. But at first, don’t stretch yourself too thin.

3. Narrative voice. You may have a voice for your business, and that voice may work well for your blog. But you may find that you start writing your blog in a different voice, and that’s Ok! Experiment, and see what resonates.