Informative blog posts can be broadly divided into 2 kinds of content

Specific:  These are blog posts that are related to a specific topic and period, but may not be valid forever. For example, blog posts on coronavirus or AI tools as they are currently a lot in the news.

Evergreen: These kinds of blog posts transcend time, and are usually more universal. E.g., blog posts on how to soothe a crying baby. Here are some tips on creating evergreen content.

2. How to write your first blog post for a business

Creating your first blog post for a business can feel like an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be!

Start by doing some research on business topics relevant to what you offer or the industry you work in, then create an outline of the main points your piece should cover.

Finally, craft each sentence confidently to make sure everything comes together clearly.

2.1. Get ideas and keywords.

So the first question before you write your first blog post for a business is, what topic will you write on?

Choosing the right topic for your first blog post is essential – after all, it will set the tone for future posts and determine how successful they are with readers.

It’s quite easy to find blog post ideas for beginners.

Start with some overall topics for your blog, depending on your niche audience and brand purpose.

Then narrow down on some specific ideas and keywords.

Here are some ways to get some first ideas about a blog post, especially for informative posts.

• Get inspiration from your buyer persona

By now you should already have worked on a buyer persona for your audience. Dig into it and see what might help your audience.

For example, let’s say you are a nutritionist for new mothers.

• What are the key dietary challenges that new moms face?
• What do they need the most help with?

Evaluate if you can provide some answers to questions your audience may have.

• Questions that your clients ask you

As a professional, you must have worked with some customers already.

• What are the questions they ask you the most?
• Which answers do you have to keep repeating?

These could form the basis of your content strategy.

For example, many of my clients ask me some basic questions on SEO, and I tried to provide answers to them once and for all, in my blog post on DIY SEO for small businesses.

• A simple Google search

Type in your topic, like ‘nutrition for new mothers’ on Google. You will see plenty of blog posts.

Most of these posts are quite straightforward nutrition tips.

These posts are from well-established, big websites, and in the beginning, you may not be able to rank high for these queries.

You need to look for something more specific which has probably not been covered in so much detail.

There are two sections of Google you should pay attention to.

• People also ask
• Related searches

People also ask

Related searches

Now you have a list of topics/ potential blog posts.

For example, besides the regular nutrition tips posts, one common topic you see on Google, for example, is ‘diet for breastfeeding mothers’ or ‘diet for breastfeeding moms’.

• Community discussions: Quora, Reddit, Answer the Public

Just go to any of these websites, and type in your main topic.

They will show you all the questions people have asked so far on the topic, and these could be your blog post ideas.

But you have to understand the potential of all these ideas you found.

How many people want to know about this? Is this worth writing about? For that, you need to do a bit of keyword research.

There are plenty of options for SEO tools for small businesses. I personally like Semrush.

Check out my full Semrush review to know all the reasons why!

It has lots of beginner-friendly toolkits like Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Competitive Research, Local SEO, etc., which I find very helpful.

You can sign up for a free 30-day trial and see if it works for you!

Note: regular Semrush trial is only 7 days. Only with this link, you can get a 30-day trial.

Now go to SEO -> Keyword Overview.

Just put in a topic you found earlier: ‘diet for breastfeeding mothers’.

It shows you more than 2200 keywords related to your topic.

Click on Related Keywords -> View All.

This is what you see:

See the section on the left. It’s a whole list of topics related to your niche! Food, weight, milk, calories, etc. You can click on any of them to find some topics you feel writing about, for your first ever blog post! Your idea could also be your chosen primary keyword to target.

For example, if you click on foods, you see a topic idea/ keyword could be ‘foods to avoid while breastfeeding.’

2.2. Find sub-topics and related keywords.

Now that you have a few ideas on what to write about, you need to decide on the keywords and content for your post.

Follow these 3 tips:

• Use your expertise to determine the main points that need to be covered under the main topic
• Once you have your main topic/ keyword, enter that in SEMRush, and find ideas for sub-topics by clicking on ‘Questions’ or ‘Broad Match’.
• Again from the left, you can select a few relevant sub-topics. These could also be keywords related to your idea and primary keyword.

So if on Semrush we take the topic/ idea/ keyword of ‘foods to avoid while breastfeeding,’ you see on the left there are many sub-topics.

For eg., gas, colic, acid, reflux, eczema. So what should be the foods to avoid these situations?

Those could be your sub-topic ideas!

At the end of this step, you should have:

• A first blog post idea
• Questions that people ask on the topic
• Your ideas about what to include in the blog post
• Keywords related to your primary keyword

Once you have some first ideas and sub-topics, it’s time to move on to the next step, of structuring your blog post.

2.3. Structure the content and create an outline

An outline helps to break down the topics into readable subsections which makes the post clear and easy to read.

You can use my website content template to write your first blog post.

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Step 1. Create a new Google Docs document first. Write down all the ideas you have so far in the document. These could essentially be your subheads/ subtopics.

Step 2. Click on View -> Show Document Outline.

Apply heading formats (click on Normal Text and choose a Heading Style) to your ideas.

Use H1 or ‘Title’ for the title of the page.

Use H2 for the main subheadings. H3 will go under H2, H4 under H3, and so on.

2.4. Write your first business blog post

You have your ideas, you have structured them, and now it’s time to write!

Write an introductory paragraph that introduces the main idea of your post and draws readers in. Share why this topic is important and why they should keep reading.

As an expert, you know exactly the details and answers of what to write under each sub-topic.

Structure your body copy around subheadings that clearly outline each point you’re making. Include relevant facts, quotes, or personal anecdotes as needed to back up any points you make throughout the post.

Write your content under each headline and sub-headline and mark them all as Normal Text.

For this post, for example, this is how the blog post looks.

End with a conclusion that wraps up the post and reiterates any key ideas.

When you’re done writing, you can copy-paste the entire text directly into WordPress or any alternate blog platform that you use.

2.5. Edit and format your blog post

Once you’ve finished writing the draft of your post, it’s time to format and refine it.

Here are some tips on how to format a blog post:

Edit and proofread.

Before you publish your first blog post, double-check for any errors. You can check grammatical and spelling errors on Grammarly.

If you’re using Google Docs, then just install the Grammarly extension on your Chrome browser. As you write and edit, you will get suggestions to improve your content.

Check your post for accuracy

Edit and revise your post for clarity and accuracy.

Make sure that there aren’t any unintended mistakes in wording or inferences. Give the post one last review to ensure all facts are accurate and properly cited.

Make your blog post easy to read.

Just like any piece of text, make sure you edit your blog post with the elements of a good blog post:

• Write short paragraphs
• Use simple language
• Use bullet points whenever applicable
• Keep lots of white space
• Use short sentences
• Choose a legible, clear font that’s good for big pieces of text, and one that matches your brand
• Keep your font size big enough for everyone to read easily. I usually use 16.
• Use active voice

You can use a tool like the Hemingway App, to help you write better.

Include a Table of Contents.

It’s much easier to scroll through a blog post, especially a long one, when you have a Table of Contents. Then you can jump to any section you want.

If you are using WordPress, you can use a plugin called Easy Table of Contents to automatically generate a table of contents for the blog posts you want.

Write a powerful headline.

A headline (title) is key to attracting your audience and readers. You can look at different titles of similar posts on Google and see how you can make the title of your first blog post more compelling.

One tool you can use to test your headline is the free analyzer Coschedule.

Try different versions of the headlines, but it takes a while to craft the perfect one, so don’t let that hold you back from writing.

Remember to include your primary keyword in your post headline/ title.

Make your post visually interesting.

Break up your written post content with different kinds of media. Some easy ones to use are:

• Shot or stock images
• Screenshots to explain your points
• Graphs
• Charts
• Infographics
• Videos

You can use an easy tool like Canva to get high-quality photos. You can also get professional templates to create and add beautiful visuals to your blog post. Canva offers both a free account and a free 30-day trial.

There you go! You’re all set with writing your first blog post for your business.

Here are the steps again.

But wait, don’t publish your post yet!

There are a few more steps you should ideally complete before you put it up on your website.

3. What to do after you write your first blog post

3.1. Optimize your post for SEO.

There are many benefits of organic traffic, like high engagement and conversions.

Now that you have written your post, you need to optimize it for SEO to get your website noticed. Use website positioning tools to make sure your post is optimized from every aspect for high rankings.

Include your primary keyword in your URL.

In WordPress, you can just click on the permalink and edit it to include your keyword.

My primary keyword for this post, for example, is ‘first blog post’.

And this is my permalink/ URL: https://weignitegrowth.com/first-blog-post-small-business/

Include your keyword in the first 100 words of your post content.

Ideally, use it within the first 2 lines if possible, because that helps Google quickly scan what your post is about.

Compress your images.

If you have added visuals in your post, try to make the sizes as small as possible, without losing the quality.

The smaller the images, the lighter the site. The faster it loads, the better it is for SEO.

In WordPress, you can use a plugin called Optimole to optimize your images. You can also minimize your images with Tinypng

Write a compelling title and meta description.

These little sections you see after a Google search are what could convince your readers to click on your post and visit your site. Or not. A high number of clicks is better for your SEO, not to mention your engagement.

Let’s see an example from before, when the search was ‘nutrition for new mothers’.

• Include your primary keyword in your title and meta description.
• Keep your title less than 60 characters and meta description within 160 characters (including spaces).

In WordPress, you can install a plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.

At the bottom of the post, you will find a place to enter these descriptions, and it will also show you a preview of how it looks on Google.

Create internal links.

Linking between your website pages is a key factor in SEO. So for your first blog post, link to a few existing pages on your site, even if they are product or service pages. It helps Google understand the context of your site and pages.

It also helps your reader move around on your site and engage. As you write more content, you can link between different blog posts.

3.2. Add a Call-To-Action.

Whatever your blog post is about, end it by asking the reader to do something.

It could be to just contact you for a consultation, sign up for a free trial, or enter a contest. It just has to be something that will prompt the reader to take action and engage further with you.

3.3. Add social share buttons.

Make it easy for your readers to share your post. You must have seen social share buttons on many web pages already. Install them for your website now.

For WordPress, you can install a free plugin called Shareaholic, which lets you customize your buttons for desktop and mobile.

Now that you’ve optimized your post both for the user and the search engines, it’s time to publish your post!

If you are using WordPress, just go to Posts -> Add New. Copy-paste the entire document that you created in Google Docs, and just upload it here. Add the title, enter the permalink, title & meta description for SEO, and add your media.

Preview the post once, and if all is good, hit Publish!

3.5. Distribute & promote your post.

Blog post creation is generally only 50% of the work. The rest 50% is about sharing them. Popular channels are social media, to your email lists, communities, and forums.

However, since this is your first post, and you may not have an email list yet, just distribute it as much as possible on the social networks applicable for your niche and industry.

If you are a part of some communities, online or offline, try to share them there too. The key objective is for maximum people to get eyes on your content.

You can do ads if you want, but I would hold off on that expense for later posts. Since you are not a seasoned writer yet, I would hold off on investments and focus on creating more content.

3.6. Build relationships.

As you keep creating more content, you will need to distribute and promote them more. For your website to be ranked high, you need links and referrals from established influencers in your niche. That will only happen by building relationships.

So start now.

Don’t even ask them to share your first post. You can ask for their feedback, sure, or compliment them on their work. Comment on their blogs.

By the time you have written substantial content in the future, they will be ready to genuinely endorse you to their followers.

Blog writing tips

A guide on how to write your first blog post for a business won’t be complete without a few blog writing tips.

Here are 8 tips to help you take your first blog post to the next level.

1. Keep the topic (title) in mind.

You started writing with one core blog topic and sub-topic in mind.

Don’t move away from that core idea. Just start filling in your thoughts and ideas in your outline.

Keep checking back with this topic as you write; that way you won’t wander off and forget why you started writing in the first place.

Plus, your readers will appreciate when everything all flows together nicely.

2. Divide your post into 3 clear sections.

Your blog post should always be structured in 3 clear parts:

• Introduction
• Main body
• Conclusion

In the introduction, try to hook/ immediately capture the reader’s attention.

Some ideas for the intro could be to address a problem they may be facing, a feeling they may be experiencing or sharing a personal anecdote or story about yourself.

Then immediately explain how you will be providing a solution to their problem in your post. Give your audience a reason to keep reading.

Finally, wrap up neatly with a concise conclusion. Summarize any key points that you shared as well.

3. Write freely, edit later.

When you sit down to write a blog post, don’t get too caught up in worrying about perfection.

Just keep writing and let the ideas flow until you have all your thoughts on the page. Once that’s done, go back and review it later.

Make sure that you’ve effectively conveyed all your points in an understandable manner. You can also work on adding any humor or other little details that may make your post even better – something your audience will truly appreciate.

4. Make your blog post sufficiently in-depth.

Focus on making your post in-depth. Sure, writing only 300 words will get the job done.

But I bet that to cover a topic in detail you have to write more words than that. Give the maximum value possible to your reader.

5. Keep the tone light and conversational.

Of course, the tone depends on your topic, niche, and brand.

But if it is a blog post and not a white paper, make the reading light enough that your audience can follow easily, quickly, and yet comprehensively.

You can also give insight into your own experiences. Sharing stories helps keep readers engaged throughout the entire process—which keeps them coming back time and time again to read what else you have to say.

6. Retain your brand’s communication style and tone of voice.

Ideally, you would have already developed your brand story.

So you have a specific tone of voice for your brand. Stick to that in your writing. For example, are you using slang and colloquial words, or just sticking to a professional style?

Retain that in your blog post.

7. Be careful not to do keyword stuffing.

We talked about the importance of using related keywords before.

However, be careful not to do keyword stuffing – that’s when you repeat exact keywords very often in your post.

Because Google may detect that and penalize you for it.

Stick to the list of related keywords that you’ve already compiled in your research phase.

8. Add external links.

You can add an extra level of authority and credit to your blog by including helpful external links.

Refer your readers to other sources that help make and clarify the points you’re making in your blog post, and add a link.

Your readers can then have the most amount of information, and external linking will also help your SEO.

How long should a blog post be?

This depends on your niche and the post topic you have chosen. If you are doing an introductory post, for example, it can be a few hundred words.

But if you are writing an informative blog post, aim for at least 1500 words to provide sufficient in-depth content for your readers.

Blog writing tools

These are some tools that can make the process of writing your first blog post much easier and more organized.

• Google Docs: Create your blog outline & structure
• Grammarly: Editing & proofreading
• Hemingway App: Make the text easy to read
• An SEO software like SEMRush: Fast & specific keyword research

How to write your first business blog post – Conclusion

Focus on completion instead of perfection.

Your first blog post won’t be perfect. It may not even be great. But that should not be the focus of your first post. You just need to stop procrastinating, getting scared, wondering where to start, and just do it.

Prioritize content and provide value.

A blog is all about helping others. The more value you give people the more information and help they can get out of this, the more it benefits them. And the more they read your blog, the more they trust you and come and buy your services.

So while you have a lot of tips above on how to write and format your first blog post, the core thing to prioritize is that your readers will benefit from your content.

Avoid competitive comparison

It is good to research your competition (if you know who they are) before writing your first blog post. Check out their content, see how they write, which posts rank high on Google.

But don’t compare your posts and see if you’re better right at this point. Just do your thing. As you get better and more confident at writing blog posts, then you can slowly start to compare and see how you can beat them.

Here is a full recap/ checklist of how to write your first blog post.

Good luck!

And let me know, which of these tips was most helpful for you? Do you have any other processes in mind to write your first blog post?