Once you’ve identified your reader type, decided on the level and type of content you are comfortable sharing and have implemented the various features and functionality to your new business blog, it’s time to publish your first post.

Business Blog Writing Tips

1. Consider how much time you can regularly devote to writing blog posts Posting daily is not necessary for a business, but you should aim to post at least once a week to keep your blog current and updated, and to give you fresh content to promote via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
2. Set your posting schedule If you plan to post more than once a week, be sure to spread out your posts over the course of the week vs publishing posts 2 or 3 days in a row. For many industries, Mondays are the best day to post; however, if you write a blog for a business that’s travel, dining or entertainment-related, for example, posting on a Thursday might be best as that’s when people begin to look for weekend activities.
3. Set your posting time Seventy percent of the population of the U.S. resides in the Eastern and Central time zones. Sure, you might live in Portland, but if your customer base spans the whole country, publishing a new post at 6 or 7 a.m. Pacific is not optimal.
4. Include a photo when possible Having at least 1 image in your post is considered a “plus” from a reader standpoint. Also, photos are favored on social media platforms like Facebook and Google Plus. If you aren’t taking the photos yourself, please be mindful of proper photo use techniques.
5. Don’t have time to write it now? Save it as a draft! Writing inspiration can hit at the most inopportune times. To be sure you don’t forget your great idea, jot down a few thoughts or phrases on a pad of paper so you can come back to it later, or add a new post with those thoughts, and save it as a draft.
6. Write now, schedule ahead If you find yourself with a block of time to sit and write uninterrupted, take advantage of it! But be sure to hold back on clicking the Publish button. Instead, schedule your posts ahead to time to publish according to your typical blogging schedule.
7. Be flexible with last minute blogging schedule changes You may find that you are in a good writing groove and have developed a solid posting schedule. But then a breaking news story hits and it’s something you want to cover on your blog. Be sure to take advantage of that trending news topic and bump your planned post to a later date.
8. Become familiar with SEO tools Speaking of trending news stories, don’t miss your valuable keyword opportunities with your blog posts. Each published post is one more opportunity to rank on relevant keyword phrases. Spending time learning how to use the Adwords Keyword tool and about title tags, meta descriptions and the like, is time very well spent.
9. Full vs Partial Feed You have the option to control whether a blog subscriber receives the full text of your post in their RSS reader view or email, or just a few sentences. There are pros and cons to each approach, and the nature of your business and website can dictate a lot.

(This is the fourth post in a series on how to start a business blog.)