Create A Blog Even If You Don't Have A Website
If you're starting out in business, but don't have the budget to start your own site and blog, here are two ways you can easily create a blog, get visibility in search results and start building your credibility and expertise in your business area.
Starting a blog is one of the best ways to jump start a content marketing strategy and build relationships with interested prospects that could convert them to customers.
I've talked to new business owners who, for whatever reasons, can't get loans, or don't want to go deeply into debt to get their business going. I understand that; I'm self-funded. Whenever I can, I show them no-cost or very low-cost ways to optimize content with keyword phrases their target audience types into search engines.
One of the biggest costs is getting a website up and running. There are two things that really drive up the cost of a website: the mobile version and a blog platform that looks like the website. I don't have any solutions for the mobile version, but I can offer new businesses two free ways to start a content marketing strategy that leverages optimized blog postings to get traffic and links to the new site. Want to guess which ones?
- Google Plus
Yup, did you know you can post lengthy articles that are blog posts on both sites? Let's briefly go over each way you can use these powerful, no-cost sites to start blogging!
Today, I'm just going to go over how to use G+ for your content marketing. In a later post, I'll go in-depth on how to create a blog using LinkedIn.
Using Google Plus To Create A Blog
It's actually pretty easy. If you have a Google account, you have a default G+ profile. You can write posts directly into your stream. You simply go to Google Plus where you normally see everything in your stream, and click on the empty box with your picture next to it:
You can either create the article (post) right there in the box, or you can use Note pad, or some other text editor. Then, copy and paste the content into the box. For best visibility, make your post public, so it can show up in search results for people who circle you in Google Plus. Optimize the content just as you would a regular web page or blog post by doing keyword research to find a good term to create content around, use keyword prominence and proximity for the text, and write something that's useful for the folks you're targeting.
In addition, you can post the link to Google Plus communities you're part of to expand the number of interested prospects who need your business solutions. You post it the same way you would on your own stream. Depending upon the business community, you may need to pick a specific area or topic, because a lot of these communities like to organize contributions by popular topic areas to help the community members easily find the information they need:
Be sure to read all of the community's guidelines for posting articles and content. Most of them frown on heavy self-promotion for products and services, so be a good community member and contribute something useful!
If you get comments on your posting anywhere, be a good Google Plus person and respond appropriately. It's always good to get a conversation going!
Next time, I'll show you how to use LinkedIn as a content marketing tool to get some traction among your prospects. Until then, practice using Google Plus!
Wondering how to create content that people will read and share? See this post about asking and answering questions that your target audience asks.
Curious to learn more about content marketing strategies and SEO? Consider taking one of our SEO courses!
Now you have the option of doing basic SEO online as well!
As always, please stay safely between the ditches!
All the very best to you,
Nancy McDonald
