There’s a lot of talk about how to create a successful business blog – having a user-friendly website design, how to glean customer feedback, how often you should post, incorporating social media like Twitter and Instagram…the list goes on. But with so much great advice, most voices don’t address information overload, and worse – what if you just don’t have the time?
The bottom line: any successful business blog is going to take a lot of time, effort, and creativity. There’s no way around that. However, you don’t necessarily need to put in 20-30 hours a week – let’s briefly discuss 4 effective, sustainable, and practical ways to maintain your business blog without sacrificing quality, content, or integrity.
1. Buy a Professional Theme (or Pay for a Designer to Make One)
Recently, I’ve seen a ton of personal business blogs rocking an obviously free or very cheap theme/website design. Obviously, entrepreneurs and business owners are always looking for ways to cut costs and maximize revenue, but web design is one thing you should consider splurging on. It’s massively important that customers trust your website – free WordPress themes are not the way to go.
Once your web design budget reaches under even $100, your options expand enormously. There are countless website themes and designs for under $100 that can greatly increase your website’s professionalism.
Web designers are another option. Usually, these services can cost at least $300 and above, but it’s a small price to pay for professionalism and customer trust.
2. Backing Up Your Data
Every successful entrepreneur understands how crucial data points and analytics are. However, countless companies are keeping this priceless data on one or two consoles, like a laptop/hard drive (or even just your website’s memory). This is a recipe for disaster – how likely is it that your consoles could be stolen? How likely is your website to crash or “accidentally” erase data somehow? It’s happened to me, and it can happen to you.
Use data center services to store your priceless data in the cloud. Don’t lose months of private data because you used the restroom in a coffee shop and got your laptop or hard drive stolen.
3. Content – It’s hugely Important
Many of us aren’t prolific writers, but that’s ok. You don’t need an English degree or an expensive freelance writer to create interesting, innovative content that attracts search results and creates customer retention.
There are myriad SEO and content marketing plug-ins and tools you can add to your website, informing you how optimized and effective your posts really are. Many of these tools are free, and are crucial for SEO and creating effective content.
About freelance writers – you might even consider buying a quality writer, which you can find for 4 to 5 cents a word. If you’re looking to start guest posting or creating an innovative blog on your website and you’re not the best writer, hire a good one. Don’t cut corners on content.
Creating an effective personal business blog will take time and effort, but it can be self-sustaining and effective with the right strategy. Be sure to have an amazing theme, quality content, and be sure to back everything up.
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