Blogging is a powerful strategy for businesses so find out how to create a blog step by step and be up and running in now time.

Hi, Pete Harris here, creator of The Blogging Factory and in these troubling times you must have an online presence. Business blogs are very powerful because people are online searching for solutions. Long gone are the days that you can just put up an advertisement and expect people to buy your products and services.

You have more competition than ever before, so it is important that you differentiate yourself to make you stand out. You must give people a reason to trust you before they part with their hard-earned cash. Relationships with potential customers must be formed and you do that by providing value first.

Individuals must feel safe and secure within an environment that feels home from home. It is my opinion that you must provide that environment through an online presence in the form of a business blog or website.

Your blog is your home online and you want to create a feeling like you have in your own home. The first thing people will see is the structure of your blog which can be compared to a house. It is a structure just like your neighbour’s house or your competitors blog, but it is what’s inside that counts.

You will have had some great times and created some fantastic memories in your house, and this is what makes it a home. This is what you must do within your blog or website and create an experience for anyone who comes and visits. When they do visit your blog, it has an open front door.

First Impressions Last 

There is no need for them to knock as they can simply step inside so they must feel they are in the right place. The content you create is the important element that will help create the experience they are looking for. They are looking for solutions along with being informed, entertained and inspired which transpire from you.

You are the face of your business and behind that face is your story. Individuals want to know who you are and how you can help them and that all comes from your content.

Say for example you are holding a dinner party and you have some people coming who you don’t know that well. You need conversation to break the ice so to speak so you need to start a conversation with your blog visitors.

Tell them what your purpose is, why you want to help them and then how you can help them. There is a psychology to creating your content, but you also must make it easy for them to navigate around.

To achieve all of this you must follow a process which is what I want to focus on today. I am going to show you how to create a blog step by step following a simple 9 stage system. This system helps you go from a blank screen to a fully functioning blog ready to publish content and attract visitors. I am going to give a brief overview of each stage and over the next few days I will go into the finer details of each stage.

How To Create A Blog Step By Step Starts With Creating 3 Pillars 

 

 

As you can see from the image above the centrepiece is what will become your blog or website. Just to clarify that a blog is a website with a facility to regularly add content in the form of articles, or blog posts. Technology and platforms allow you to create stunning and professional looking websites with ease.

The surrounding pillars house the elements that must be put in place to create the centrepiece. They themselves are broken down into 3 sub-pillars which I will cover in detail shortly. For now, I will give a brief overview of each main pillar.

Setting The Foundations

This is where the analogy of a house and your blog becomes apparent. Your house will not stand firm unless it has foundations in place, and neither will your blog. The underpinning comes from psychology and mindset and then you use technology to create the structure, just like you would use bricks.

Content

As I have mentioned this is the most important element in the creation of your blog. This is where you will create those experiences and memories for your visitors, but all content is not equal. Here I show you how to create the correct mindset before creating the content. Then there are strategic elements to make that content work for you and have the most impact.

Strategy

I will introduce you to strategies that will spread the word so to speak and then look at how you can monetize your content. For many people this is the stage they are fixated on, but I will explain why it shouldn’t. Then the strategy is to get as many visitors as possible to your blog.

As you can see there is more to creating a blog than putting words onto a screen!

The First Phase – Setting The Foundations 

Purpose

Unless you know why you want to start a blog and what you want to achieve then there is no point starting. You must be crystal clear on the outcome you want to achieve. This then helps you to create the content later down the line.

Market Research

Your blog will form part of an industry or niche which stems from you, your experience and passions in life. So, you must research all aspects of that industry and your competitors to validate starting the blog.

Construction

This is where the rubber starts to hit the road and your structure and framework starts to take shape. This involves technology and software which must work together seamlessly and put together in a systematic way.

Phase 2 – Content 

Purpose, Styles & Types

As I have previously mentioned all content is not equal but collectively it is king. You must know the purpose of the content you are creating which can be broken down into 4 categories. Also, there are many different formats that you can use when creating your content which adds variety to your blog.

Structure

There is a proven formula to work to when you are creating your content otherwise it will look messy. I am sure that you have been on websites and have found it hard to understand the content because it is not structured properly. Also, the structure has a big impact on the next element.

Search Engine Optimization

Your content must appeal to the search engines for them to list you in their results. Therefore, combined with structure it is very important that you get this right, so your content is picked up and consumed. There are various elements that must be incorporated into your content and there is a formula to follow.

Phase 3 – Strategy 

Content Syndication

This is a process where the content you create is sent to all four corners of the internet. Many people think that all they need to do is write and publish content and then web visitors will find it. In some respects that is true but why stop there when there is so much more you can do with little extra effort!

Monetization

This is where most people get excited and it is the only thing on their mind. How can they increase their bank balance? You can’t start here because you must have the previous steps in place. Money is a biproduct of the value you provide, and you provide that by completing the work that needs to be done.

Traffic

Traffic is the lifeblood of your blog and business in general. If you haven’t got eyeballs on your content every day, then you are going to struggle. Regardless of how good your content is and the level of value you are providing. There are many strategies and many of them are free marketing strategies.

How To Create A Blog Step By Step Webinar 

What I have done today is given you a bird’s eye view of the process to starting a blog. Over the next few days and weeks, I will dig a lot further into all these stages. What I have also done is host a webinar where I went through this process to a group of highly motivated business owners.

Also, on the webinar I reveal some content creation and blogging strategies live on screen. I received some fantastic feedback from the attendees, and I would like to make this available to you. By clicking here, you can register for the webinar at a time that is convenient for you. After watching the webinar if you have any questions you can contact me here and I will quickly get back to you.

Hopefully you have a clearer understanding on how to create a blog step by step and in the next post I will start to break every stage down in fine detail. For now register for the webinar above and I would appreciate some feedback below.

As always, I wish you every success.

Pete Harris

Professional Blogger & Information Publisher