Last week we talked about Why your small business should have a blog. This week, I’ll tell you what to write about. After all, blogging can seem intimidating. Coming up with words ever day or week? But each of us as business owners has an area of expertise or voice that no one else does. What do you know? What are you passionate about?

Create a strategy

Before you start any new marketing platform, it is essential that you have an online marketing strategy. This process will help you define your ideal customer, your goal, who is going to manage it, and budget concerns.

Set a schedule of updates

You can do this by creating a detailed color coded calendar or make it as simple as a list of topics to talk about that month. If you work better with deadlines, you could also plan to publish a blog every Tuesday and Thursday.

Pick a catchy headline

Many of my most popular articles have three things in common. One, they use adjectives in the headline Two, they are short and three, many have a number in them. Here are two examples of my most popular posts: 10 ways to increase your web traffic and How to create a fantastic Facebook page.

Know your audience

In order to pick the correct tone of voice, make sure you know your target customer. For example, on my blog, I always write picturing a small business owner. Who is yours? Also, remember you are not hard selling on your blog. Instead, picture yourself at a networking event introducing yourself to someone for the very first time.

Write about what you know

Do you sell fashion jewelry? Wine? How did you choose that? Remember each person has a unique perspective formed by their life experiences, so each of us has very different outlook. Share it. Talk about your personal life and what you are passionate about, so people feel like they know you. If you thought of a great idea while on a run, say so.

Do you need more topic ideas? Next week I’ll write about the top 10 topics to write about in your business blog.