If done right, blogging can unlock a whole new avenue of marketing and allow you to increase your audio course growth more than you’d have originally thought. Unsure of where to start with blogging? You’re in the right spot. This article will cover the following topics:
- What a blog is
- Why a blog is important
- How to build a blog
What is a blog?
A blog is an online platform that serves as a journal or informational website with posts displayed for viewers to read.
Why should you blog?
Blogging will not only help you personally by helping you with your thought processes, but it will also help you create an audience. The most important factor about blogging is Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, and using that to your advantage. SEO is using organic search engine results from sites such as Google, Bing, and Safari, to increase the amount and quality of traffic to a website. When done correctly, it is marketing without having to produce ads and promote your products and/or services. To learn some basics on how to build an SEO friendly site, check out this post on Moz.
Reasons to start a blog:
- It builds community.
- Allows you to become a better writer and think clearer.
- Helps build up your rapport on a topic by bringing people to your site in search of answers and insights.
How to start a blog:
- Decide you want to start a blog
- Find a topic for your blog. Your topic should relate to your audio course in some way shape or form, because your blog post will help market your course once you build up your SEO, but it will also help show potential customers what you have to offer. They will not be buying the course blindly without knowing who you are or what your point of view on the topic is.
- Decide if you want to build your own or use a host platform. If you’re wondering what a hosting site is, no worries. A hosting site is a platform that allows you to publish your website on the internet.
- Do keyword research. Find what terms you can rank on for your topic and how you can get people to find your site by simply typing words into Google.
- Write a blog post
- Publish a blog post
- Repeat steps 4-6
What is a host site?
The files for your website need to be hosted somewhere in order for them to be published on the live site for visitors to see. This is where website hosting comes into play. Web hosting houses all your files for your live website. This means, when using a web hosting platform, you are using a company’s services to store and serve your site. Kind of like when renting an apartment. You are paying the apartment complex to live in a building and make it your own place. But at the end of the day, you are a guest there because the building is not yours. If you move, however, you can take all of your furniture and stuff from the inside, same with if you decide to move your hosting platform--the content that makes up your site is yours.
Hosting sites:
What is domain hosting?
A domain name is your website address, the URL, the one that is typed into the search bar that leads visitors to your site. If you using a hosting service, paid plans typically come with a custom domain. The key for your domain is to make sure people can find you. Make sure it relates to your product or service and that it’s easy to remember.
Sites to use to buy a domain:
For more tips for building a blog check out these sites :
How to find your voice in blogging
Be you. Don’t try and be the ruling authority on a topic. Offer an opinion, a point of view. Find a stance that you want to take and stake your claim. People will come back to your site for you. Once you’ve built a following from people who value your thoughts and opinions, you’re in. But people don’t want fake. They want real experiences in the hopes that they can relate to your journey or in that you have tips to offer that are relevant to their lives.
Same with marketing your audio course or e-course, find a target audience, and talk to them. You don’t need to talk to the entire United States population, talk to the thirty-year-olds who want to find love, and don’t want to try internet dating or the single dads trying to lose weight. Something to keep in mind is to make sure your course goes with your blog. If the two don’t relate, you might not see as much growth from the blog in helping promote your course since the audience you’re talking to cannot benefit from your course. Build for your audience. If you don’t have an audience yet, build for your audience and then go get your audience. Give people a reason to read your posts and buy your Avocado course.
Tips for creating a successful blog
Post frequently and on a consistent schedule: You cannot publish one blog post and expect the whole world to find it when you’ve done no marketing for your blog or nor SEO work.
Share your blog in the same way you would share your audio course: Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook groups, Indiehackers
Do keyword research for your topic
Establish domain authority
Answer questions that aren’t answered on another site: give people a reason to come to your site
Write long posts: Google appreciates long-form, in-depth articles with lots of information
Start a newsletter
Include snippets: from your blog posts that intrigue readers and makes them want to go check out the full-length post
Check your website speed (once you have more posts and content on your site): People want pages to load fast. Make sure your site can keep up or else people will bounce quickly, without even reading your posts that could change their lives.
Provide value for your readers
Interact with your readers: Whether this is feedback or asking the opinion of your readers. Make it feel like you are all on this journey together.
Include pictures
Make your site mobile friendly: The majority of users will read blog posts on their phones these days, so make sure your website has the ability to be mobile-friendly.
Make it easy to read: This is not a competition to see who can understand the biggest words; keep to where the average person could read your post. Define words that are important for readers to understand
Put keywords in the title: The titles should entice readers to want to click your blog posts. Tell them what you can offer them in 8 steps, how you can help them make $10k in one month, or how you can reduce their stress levels. Whatever it is, make sure you lure them in by what you’re offering them.
Edit: Make sure you proofread your posts for grammar and spelling errors before putting it out on the inter-web. That’s one surefire way to get people to not trust you very quickly. If it’s just you working on this and you don’t want to show it to anyone else before you publish your content, write your post and then take a breather. Once you’ve had some time to take both your mind and eyes off the post, re-read it. Think about the flow of the blog, not just the grammatical errors. Make sure the post makes sense and does not confuse readers.
The main point here: just get started.
