How to Stay Motivated as a Business Blogger

Starting a blog for your business can be an exciting proposition. A blog gives you the opportunity to:

• Boost your SEO
• Position yourself as an authority in your niche
• Connect directly with your audience
• Own your audience
• Sell your products and services or make money from ads and affiliate marketing

The challenge is that it takes time to build the audience and Google’s algorithms are not always in your favour. This is when it becomes important to rely on strategy to stay motivated. 

Clarify Your Purpose and Goals

Having a clear vision for your blog can help you stay focused. If you know you want your blog to bring more traffic to your site, then keyword research and targeting will become an important part of your strategy. If you want to sell your products within the post, then you will always remember to add relevant links and calls to action. 

This focus can keep you motivated because you can track your results and work towards continuous improvement. Consider setting SMART goals. These are goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Time-bound

When you first start blogging, it can be hard to decide on attainable SMART goals because you aren’t really sure what to expect from your efforts. Numbers vary widely because every industry is different. You can gain some sense of what to expect by looking at similar blogs in your industry. 

You can even use tools like SEMRush to estimate competitor traffic, but be careful because there may be many reasons why a blog gets a lot of traffic including how long it’s been around, a few viral posts, paid promotion, backlinks etc. SEO tools can give you these insights, as well. 

If your initial projections were unrealistic, feel free to adjust, but remember that with consistent effort you can create a snowball effect and start seeing more traffic with less effort. Some people who have older blogs say they rarely write new posts because their old posts bring in most of the traffic.

Embrace Your Passion

Even when you are blogging for business, you can still explore your passions in your blog. Hopefully, your business is something you feel passionate about. Within that general area, consider:

• Why you love your job
• The expertise you bring to your clients
• Plans for your business
• How you helped your clients
• Insider industry information
• Advocacy

If you find writing tips and how-tos dull, consider industry insights or some other facet of your business. Some of my clients like to engage in advocacy work on behalf of their clients. Some clients only want to take on specific types of projects, so they only write about issues related to those projects. For example, one of my clients only wants to work on environmentally sustainable projects. 

If your blogging doesn’t align with your current interests, try making a list of things that really excite you about your business and start there. 

Consistently Schedule Your Blogging

With all the other things going on in our lives, it can be hard to find time for blogging. If blogging is an important priority for you, set a time to do it. Schedule it like a recurring meeting. It may only be one hour a week if that’s all you have time to dedicate. 

Humans are creatures of habit so having a consistent schedule can help to make you more productive. 

Another way to be more consistent is to set a deadline for your blog post. This can help you get out of the research phase and into the writing phase or out of the revision phase and into uploading. Remember that if it’s not perfect, you can come back and revise later. The important thing is to be consistent. Publishing consistently allows for:

• Better SEO
• More consistent repeat visitors
• Lower bounce rate
• More opportunities for sharing and engaging with your clientele

Try to choose a posting schedule that aligns with when your audience is typically online. A business blog may find that more audience members are visiting on Monday mornings. A mom blog may find that the ideal time is after children go to bed. Check your analytics to find out when you get the most visitors. 

Engage With Your Community

Nothing is more motivating than knowing that people are actually reading your blog. When people comment on your blog post, remember to respond. If they have blogs, as well, take the time to visit them and leave a comment. How will you know if they have a blog? Many blogging platforms let you add your URL when you post a comment. 

When responding to comments, make sure to say something meaningful. “Thanks,” just doesn’t make people feel heard. Refer to what they said and add to it. Consider asking a follow up question. Don’t be put off by negative comments. Your consistency and community building will drown them out. 

For example, a long time ago, I subscribed to a blog by a marketer who eventually became “Internet famous.” At the time, his blog had a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes and a commentator made fun of him. He simply responded graciously and, apparently, started using Grammarly because eventually those mistakes disappeared. The important thing is to get started, not to be perfect. 

Create a regular newsletter and ask your audience to opt-in. These days it’s common to offer an incentive such as a free download or a discount to entice people onto your list. 

If you have the time, you may even consider a YouTube Channel. YouTube is great for building community because you can embed your videos into your blog posts. 

If you notice your connection has a profile elsewhere, such as LinkedIn or Instagram, interact with them on social media, as well. Business is all about building relationships. 

I hope these tips will help you stay motivated in your blogging for business journey. A blog is a lot of work, but it can increase the performance of your website and create a deeper connection with your audience. 

Are you struggling with motivation or consistency in your blogging career? Book a free call to discuss your content marketing strategy. You’ll come away with an actionable plan based on your needs and audience.