Running a startup is difficult enough without worrying about marketing and promotion. You must be able to concentrate on your product and ensure that it is the best it can be. But how do you make customers aware of your product? How do you inform them that it exists?
There are both online and offline methods to reach out to people. But as a startup, the chances are you might not have the finances to have crazy boarding all over the city. Instead you can concentrate on other cost efficient ways.
You can share your business cards to potential clients. Also, pitch your products and services to potential clients and other stake holders. Creating an impressive pitch takes a lot of time and effort. If you want slides for your start-up’s pitch, then try out the startup PowerPoint template.
If you Google the same questions, you will get many different answers. Some argue that you should concentrate on paid advertising, such as Google Ads. Others recommend that you try to get featured on popular blogs or in the news.
There are various way to spread your content to audience. It can help spread the word and in return bring you business. And one of the best ways to share content is via blogging.
If you believe that your startup’s blog is only for pushing updates and company news, you are mistaken. A blog can be your startup’s most effective inbound marketing tool.
In a nutshell, your startup blog becomes a platform for attracting customers (i.e., inbound marketing) rather than you having to go out and find them (i.e., outbound marketing).
For those still unfamiliar with startup blogs, here is a quick primer on everything you need to know, from why you should start one to how it can benefit your business.
What is blogging
Blogging refers to writing, photography, and other forms of media that are self-published online.
Blogging began as a way to post diary-style entries on the internet. It is now being used on the websites of a variety of businesses.
Regular updates, casual language, and the ability for readers to interact and create a dialogue distinguish blogging.
How does blogging work
To start a blog, you must create a website and post unique content regularly.
Technically savvy bloggers can buy a domain name and create their own website. On the other hand, those without a coding background can use website builders instead.
Blogs are frequently simple web pages. Older entries may be archived in different sections of the site. For example, it is possible to include a separate page with contact information or a bio.
Nonetheless, a blog is frequently only a single page that can be browsed, similar to the news feed on social networking sites such as Facebook.
Like a Facebook news feed, a blog puts the most recent information at the top of the page.
Advantages of blogging
Educate your customers:
Through your blog content, you can even educate your customers so that they can make more informed decisions about your products or services. If done correctly, this will help improve customer satisfaction and lead to more sales.
Optimize your website:
Increase your website’s authority for SEO by writing helpful and keyword-rich blog posts. This will allow other websites to link back to your blog. This will help you rank higher in search engine results pages, resulting in more visitors to your website.
Increase brand awareness:
A blog is another excellent way to raise brand awareness because it allows you to share your brand’s story and connect with your target audience.
Create leads:
You can convert website visitors into leads by including a lead capture form on your blog. You can add them to your sales funnel and eventually convert them into paying customers by offering something valuable in exchange for their contact information (for example, an ebook).
Earn extra money:
Though it is not recommended, you can generate extra money through advertising or sponsored posts if you have a popular blog with a lot of traffic.
In the long run:
Long-term business goals can also be met with a startup blog, such as building customer relationships, establishing trust, and creating a community around your brand.
How to start Blogging
To get started, you’ll need a CMS or content management system. A content management system (CMS) is software that allows you to create, edit, publish, and manage your blog’s content. WordPress, Ghost, and Medium are the most popular.
Choose WordPress if you want a self-hosted solution that gives you more control over your content and allows you to monetize your blog if you want to. For businesses, this is the most popular option.It would be best if you created a complex blog with numerous features; WordPress allows you to do so using plugins.
You can also select platforms like Medium/Wix/Weebly. You want to start blogging quickly without having to worry about hosting or design. All you must do is register and begin writing. You’re seeking a community of people who share your interests to read and share your material.
Unless you are tech-savvy and have someone on your team who can maintain the hosting, I recommend using a managed platform such as Medium, Ghost, or even WordPress.com (self-hosted WordPress). These platforms will handle hosting, design, scalability, upgrades, and security for you, allowing you to focus on creating high-quality content. Always go with the latter when deciding between a subdomain and a subdirectory.
How to choose your topic:
The most crucial thing to remember is that your startup blog exists to serve your audience rather than you. As a result, recognizing your target audience’s needs and interests is the first step in selecting what to blog about. Combine this with your industry/vertical, and you’ll immediately come up with some amazing blog articles.
Find topics that help your customer:
The finest blog themes are those that address an issue that your target audience is experiencing. You can identify these issues by accompanying your consumer on their journey.
Remember that your goal is to assist your target audience, so make sure the content of your blog articles is both helpful and educational. Nobody likes to read a sales blog post, so stay away from them.
Use the help of forums:
Forums like Reddit and Quora are excellent places to check what subjects’ people in your niche debate. Do a fast Google search for forums in your niche and look at the most popular topics being discussed.
These are likely the same themes people are interested in reading about on blogs. Using keyword research tools, you may identify popular topics that people are searching for online.
Use keywords:
You may utilize a variety of keyword research tools for this, but my personal favourite is Google Keyword Planner. It’s free to use and fairly accurate. Of course, you can also use SEMrush, KW Finder, and other similar tools.
How to grow your blog:
Stay updated:
Make sure your topics are relevant. Ensure this is for both upcoming and previously posted content. Make edits and alterations to your blogs to keep it engaging and relevant.
Optimize your content:
Make sure that your content reaches people. You can do this by optimizing the content for search engines. The content needs to have keywords and be easy to understand for the audience. A mistake that is often made is over-optimizing the content for the search engine. This will make it less engaging and reduce the quality of the reader.
Work on the look and feel
No one wants to read a blog that looks like it was made in the early 2000s. The page needs to be well-designed and attractive. There are other factors, like the length of the sentence and how big the paragraphs are, that determine the experience of the readers.
Keep posting regularly:
Having your content out there on a regular basis can help the audience find you more often. Try once a week in the beginning and slowly drive up as time passes. Make sure not to sacrifice quality when you aim for the numbers.
Conclusion
Your start-up’s blog can be a strong tool for increasing sales and publicity. However, create a blog for your customers, not for your company or search engines. Create useful and interesting content and build your blog with your users’ experience in mind.
Also, make decisions with the blog as the top-of-the-funnel marketing channel in mind. This means that a blog should be used to attract visitors and move them through the marketing funnel.
