Blogging can be challenging for many reasons. Individuals often cite a lack of time or knowledge as deterrents to starting a blog. Organizations or businesses often point to staffing as their main concern. Whatever the reasons for hesitation or trepidation it’s important to consider that blogging helps you and your business connect with customers. Ultimately, the goal is to help customers realize you have something they want or need. If you’re new to blogging or simply want to learn more the Library can help you gain the knowledge necessary to become a proficient blogger.

If you’re blog is up and running you may be wondering – what now? There’s a lot to consider even after you launch a blog. It can be overwhelming at times. To make it easier, take things one step at a time. Learn the basics, expand your knowledge, make a long-term plan for your blog and figure out how you can use that plan to accomplish your goals.

Questions to consider for your blog:

• How do you generate quality content to attract customers?
• How often do you need to blog?
• How does keyword research lead to better SEO?
• How do you track the performance of a blog over time?
• How do you create and implement a digital marketing strategy?

Generating Quality Blog Content

When putting together blog content it’s important to consider your audience.

What does that mean?

Consider your topic and try to imagine what a potential visitor or customer may be searching for online.

Questions to think about before writing a blog post:

• What types of questions would people have on this topic?
• Which keywords would a searcher use to find answers on this topic?
• How can the blog content help answer those questions?

Use Lynda.com to expand your knowledge or expertise

Lynda.com is the fact that there’s content for people at all levels from beginners to experts. You’ll find short videos, courses and learning paths designed to help users become an expert in their field of choice. Professionals are constantly working to keep their knowledge base current in an ever-changing world. Lynda.com is just one tool that can help. And you can access Lynda.com with your Toledo Library card online 24 hours a day.

Recommended Lynda.com courses:

• Writing a Compelling Blog Post with Starshine Roshell
• Writing Articles by Starshine Roshell
• Writing with Impact by Tom Geller
• Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer by Shani Raja

The Importance of Consistency

By now you probably wrote and published a handful of blog posts. If you’re just starting out, you may not see the value in keeping up with publishing content on a regular basis. Believe it or not, consistency is vital to the long-term success of any blog. By maintaining a relatively consistent blog schedule and updating older content you’ll ensure your blog will be viewed as legitimate. As you build up your blog with quality content and take steps to ensure people find your content online you will hopefully see a significant return on investment.

Creating a Blog Schedule

How do you stay on track for long-term success? It’s time to create a blogging schedule or editorial calendar to ensure your blog strategy will be consistent over time. Once people discover your blog you want them to return on a regular basis to check out your new content. And you don’t want your visitors, subscribers or potential customers to be disappointed by what they find when they return.

Tips on creating a blog schedule:

• Editorial blogging calendar and schedule
• How to create a blog schedule that works

Blog Writing: How to Create Killer Content Strategy, Grow Audience and Learn to Monetize Your Blog by Phil Sweet Blogging is good way to connect with people online. It’s a great platform for expressing one’s thoughts, opinions, personal experiences and much more. Blogging requires some skill and practice, but with the right tools you’ll be on the right path in no time at all. With this Audiobook, you’ll learn how to: generate viral blog ideas, make your blog stand out, create evergreen blog content, market your blog, write high-quality original blog content and come up with great content ideas for your blog posts.

Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller Learn the seven universal elements of powerful stories to connect with customers and grow your business. With the help of this book you’ll be able to answer the following questions: What are the seven universal story points all humans respond to? What are the real reasons customers make purchases? How can you simplify your brand’s message, so people understand it? If you enjoyed this blog post, look out for other posts in our “blogging 101” series designed to help you learn more about blogging in the 21st century.