Blogging for your business – how to begin?

In recent years more and more businesses have begun to use blogging as a valuable tool to help them improve their business. If you haven’t yet dipped your toes in the water, then don’t worry. There is still time to start blogging for your business, and here we will look at the steps you should take to get your blog started.

Choose a blogging platform

If your website is on WordPress, then you can simply add a blog via the dashboard. This may be the easiest way for you to get started.

If you are not already using WordPress, then the decision may be a little more complicated. Choosing the wrong platform can make things more complicated than they might need to be. However, as one of the most user-friendly and versatile blogging sites out there, WordPress really is a good place to start. Other platforms to consider include Joomla, Weebly and Drupal. However, before you commit yourself to any platform take the time to see what restrictions they might give you.

This is an important decision. Choosing the wrong platform may not make or break you, but it can make things more difficult than they need to be.

Pick a theme

If you have decided to go with WordPress, then the next step is to pick themes. This will allow you to have a more customised look and feel to your blog posts. You will have plenty of free themes to look at, but there are also some themes that you need to pay for.

You should consider the responsiveness of your chosen theme, whether it has any type of customer support and how much customisation it allows.

Register your domain name

Once you have chosen your platform, you will need a domain name. This is the URL that is used to access your site. There are domain registers like GoDaddy and 1&1 where you can do this. Domains cost a relatively small amount per year and less if you are willing to pay for more than a year at a time. Where possible, you should try to use your registered business name to link your blog site to your company.

Web hosting

WordPress might be free, but your hosting will need to be paid for, and this will likely cost more than domain rental. Again there are plenty of companies to assist with this, including those we have already mentioned for domain names.

Get started

Now the fun can begin. Think about the objective of your writing, how much time you want to commit to blogging, and what type of voice you want. Will your blog be authoritative, fun, or a careful mixture. What call to action will you offer your readers.

Once you have considered all of this, you are ready to start writing your content. Remember to make it original. Nobody wants to read the same things they have read from one of your competitors. Interesting, well-written content will gain you the audience you want.

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Businesses can reach a wider audience by amplifying online marketing via better use of videos. Using closed captions, subtitles and voice-overs will also ensure your video content is fully accessible to all. Using a specialist voice over agency will ensure the selection of the right voice for your brand that evokes your message in the way most likely to engage potential customers. Whether that is a male voice-over or female voice-over, who speaks with an English accent or even English in a foreign accent (think Volvo and IKEA adverts). And for businesses targeting an international market use foreign language voice overs and subtitling on your video content.

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