How to Build a Blog Content Strategy

Whether you realize it or not, having a blog content strategy is the key to being found online.

And by now, you likely know how important it is to start a blog or website for your side hustle or small business – but setting one up is the easiest part. The hard part is what comes next: What do you write about?

If you don’t make a plan for your blog, you’ll just be sending your posts out into the ether with no way of knowing whether they’re worth the time you spend writing them. 

Here’s how you can build a blog content strategy that will help you achieve your business goals and maximize the value of every blog post. 

 

1. Clarify your intent.  

Before you write a single post, you need to think about your “why.” 

What are you hoping your blog will accomplish for you? Do you want it to educate your customers on how to use your product or service? Sell your products or services? Show your clients the behind-the-scenes of running your business?

The big thing here is to give value. While it’s okay to use your blog for whatever you want to share, you should think about how your readers and clients can get the most value out of your blog content. 

Here’s what I mean by this: Focus on writing about topics that will help your audience – answer frequently asked questions, explain important topics or ideas within your industry, teach what or how to do things, and share how your industry is changing.

If you want your posts to help grow your business (as you should!), you need to do a little research into what your ideal customer is looking for. What are businesses similar to yours blogging about? How can you take those ideas and make them better, customizing them to suit your audience? 

Make a list of the types of posts you think your ideal client would want to see. It helps to have a variety, so the more the merrier, especially when you’re first starting out. 

All in all, your blog should be an information hub and a way to connect with your potential clients and customers. Don’t write about yourself all the time – it’s okay to do occasionally but be careful about doing it too often.

 

 

2. Create an editorial calendar.

Once you’re clear on the types of posts you want to write, it’s time to get planning. First of all, you’ll need to decide how often you want to post. When you’re first starting out, you can play around with posting on different days of the week and at different times to see when your audience is most likely to interact with them.

For the most part, though, it won’t matter when you post, as most people will be finding each post some time after the fact (more on that in step 4!). Once you know how often and when you plan to post to your blog, the next step is to establish an editorial calendar.

Your editorial calendar can take many forms: You can use a spreadsheet, a Google doc, an actual calendar, or a program like Trello or Asana to help create your process. The idea is that you want to keep track of post titles and when each one will go live. If it helps, you can set other deadlines for yourself as well, such as when you want to have the first draft done, when edits will be complete, etc. 

 

This “calendar” will help you see what topics you’re posting about so you can make sure you’re not publishing too many similar blogs in a row. It can also help you keep track of ideas for the future, such as seasonal posts around the holidays or yearly events you want to cover. 

 

3. Optimize your posts. 

While you’re writing your blog posts, you want to make sure that you’re using search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. 

Even if you’re in a competitive industry and don’t have much of a chance to rank on the first page of Google, SEO will help search engines determine that your website is credible and can put your posts in front of fresh eyes. 

 

4. Schedule and promote. 

In order to stay on top of your blog and make sure you post consistently, it’s a good idea to work a little ways ahead so you’re never scrambling to throw a post together at the last minute. Most blogging platforms will let you schedule your posts ahead of time, so once you’re done, you can set a publish date and then forget it.

But you don’t want to let publication be the last step of your blogging process. When a new post goes live, you have an opportunity to promote it across your social media channels! Programs like Buffer, Sprout, and Hootsuite allow you to schedule social media posts in advance, so the minute your post goes live, you can send out a post about it to all of your followers. 

If you’re promoting your content on Facebook, your Facebook page (a business or organization page, not your personal page) and Facebook groups you manage will allow you to schedule posts for free, too. This is a great way to save some money and post to Facebook “natively” if you want to save a “paid” slot on your scheduling software for a different platform.

 

5. Track your analytics. 

The blog content strategy that works when you’re first starting out won’t necessarily serve you in the long term. Trends change, customer attitudes shift, and algorithms for search engines demand different approaches to your content year to year, and even sometimes month to month. 

It’s vital that you tweak your strategy as you see what works, or doesn’t work, for your business. The best way to do this is to check your analytics with tools like Ubersuggest, Google Analytics, or Moz, depending on your price point. 

Again, if you’re just starting out and don’t want to spend money, you can do your own tracking by using a spreadsheet system. The key is to consistently check your own analytics and update your spreadsheet. 

All of these tools can give you insight as to which blog posts get the most views and, in some cases, where your clients click once they get to your posts. Paid tools can also help answer questions like these: 

• Do your readers prefer long posts or short ones? 
• If you include videos in your posts, do people watch them? 
• What topics do they like to read about, and which ones do they avoid? 

All of this information can help you optimize your blog content strategy over time. 

 

A blog content strategy is the missing piece that will transform your blog into a powerful tool to help you build your business. With a little planning, your blog can boost your sales, increase your web presence, and win you customer loyalty in the long-term.