Writing blog posts for a small business niche site can certainly feel unglamorous. The posts don’t necessarily generate huge amounts of traffic or garner tons of comments.
However, the importance of this basic step, as part of your overall small business social media footprint, cannot be stressed enough.
Consistent posting can lead to improved Google rankings, increased authority in your niche topic, and most importantly, additional avenues to reach your potential customers.
As a “real life” example for you, I am going to outline my strategy and how I go about creating web content that promotes my venture while at the same time is:
- Helpful
- Non-spammy
- Trust building
Step 1: Before I write a word I determine what my goals are. For the purposes of this little tutorial, and my real life example over at Culebra Blog, my goals were to create a post that:
- Had a catchy title that might draw in readers.
- Included photos that would give people a sense of Culebra’s beaches.
- Incorporated keywords that had the potential to rank well in Google.
Step 2: With the above goals in mind, I referenced the Google Keyword Tool and did some queries to see what people were searching for with respect to the term, “Culebra.”
Step 3: From the info gathered with the KeyWord Tool I decided to do a post on Culebra’s beaches, which in and of itself is an okay title, but it doesn’t really have a catchy hook. So, I crafted the title – – 5 Culebra Beach Pictures that Will Make You Want a Vacation.
Step 4: Then it was time to find five really nice beach pictures with the Filckr search tool CompFight (h/t Seth Simonds).
Step 5: I downloaded the photos and sized them using Photoshop, and came up with an opening line for the blog post that would hopefully interest readers.
Step 6: One of the most important steps, I placed my business website at the bottom of the post, added some relevant keywords and hit publish.
*You can see the post here: 5 Culebra Beach Pictures that Will Make You Want a Vacation
Step 7: The next morning I Googled the phrase “Culebra Beach Pictures,” and like magic, I am on now the front page of 77,200 search results.
Not bad for a half-hours worth of work on a Friday evening!
Why do I call this post successful? Because all of the goals that I set out above were met.
As a final note, when it comes to your small business blog, it’s important to remember that you might not have a huge subscriber base like Seth Godin, Brian Clark, Chris Brogan, or Darren Rowse, but what matters most is that YOUR potential customers are able to find you.
What do you think? Do you have other tips or suggestions?
Good post and very relevant points. But I’d add to the concept of catchy titles…be careful with them. Learning to craft a catchy title is a skill that may take a little time to acquire because most of the “catchy titles” people are used to be exposed to all their lives are in magazines and newspapers; and the people that come up with them haven’t typically had to concern them selves with search. A catchy title is nice, and they keep things interesting for the reader and the writer, but they should also be appropriately designed so that relevant keywords/phrases are included and the title, no matter how catchy, should clearly state what the post/article is about, particularly in light of our general ADD when reading online.
I would (and probably will) cite your headline above as a very good example of how it should be done.
Well done. Simple and helpful post.
Thanks so much for this post, Mark! I love seeing examples of how social media can be utilized by businesses that are not internet-based. Keep them coming! :)
Great simple advice that I will use…
Don’t know that I have much to add here… You’ve outlined a fine process and have done an excellent job!
Most people stall/hesitate to get to it (building their blog, etc.) because they get stuck in the pursuit of perfection. Personally, I think that’s a mistake. The sooner you get started the better. And if your blog slowly evolves, that’s ok. After all, it’s a part of the process…
Hi Mark – Brilliant results. I didn’t realise how important pics were until I started using them and tagging them. If I’m looking to go on a beach holiday – I always look for pics of beaches in particular areas.
And I totally agree on the importance of folk who are looking for what you offer, being able to find you. It’s no use having thousands of subscribers it they’re not buying what you’re selling.
Thanks Mark foe the info.
Thanks for introducing the Compfight website. Its pretty useful for my website. Cited your weblog in my latest article.
Feel free to check it out.
Hi Mark, until I read your blog I never thought clearly about the idea of niche blogs. My new business has many different elements (Sales Coaching for Small Business; Sales Training for Sales Teams; Telemarketing and Sales Outsourcing for IT and Small Business). At the moment, my blog covers all topics (depending on what I’m working on and motivated by), is there merit in me utilising these posts and reprinting them on individual blogs? At this point in time I am too busy with other elements of my business to write unique blogs – would repeating the same content be a bad move?