What Is a Blog, & Why Should You Create One

Even if you're not sure what a blog is, you've no doubt come across one at some point in time. Perhaps you've stumbled across a blog when you've searched "healthy dinner recipes".

Alternatively, maybe you used a blog to get more information onSEO strategies.

In fact, if you're reading this, guess what?You're on a blog.(Very meta, I know.)

If your business doesn't have a blog, you might want to reconsider — B2B marketers who use blogs获得67％的潜在客户比那些没有的人，博客被评为5th most trusted sourcefor accurate online information.

从最基本的角度来看，博客可以帮助您发展在线形象，证明自己是一个行业的专家，并吸引更多质量的领导全部pages of your site.

If you're contemplating creating a blog for your business, or simply want to know what one is, keep reading.

What is a blog?

First, let's go over a brief history -- in 1994, Swarthmore College student Justin Hall is credited with the creation of the first blog, Links.net. At the time, however, it wasn't considered a blog … just a personal homepage.

In 1997, Jorn Barger, blogger for Robot Wisdom,coined the term "weblog", which was meant to describe his process for "logging the web" as he surfed the internet. The term "weblog" was shortened to "blog" in 1999, by programmer Peter Merholz.

In the early stages, a blog was a personal web log or journal in which someone could share information or their opinion on a variety of topics. The information was posted reverse chronologically, so the most recent post would appear first.

Nowadays, a blog is a regularly updated website or web page, and can either be used for personal use or to fulfill a business need.

例如，HubSpot博客涉及有关营销，销售和服务的各种主题，因为HubSpot卖products related to those three subjects -- so, more than likely, the type of readers HubSpot's blog attracts are going to be similar to HubSpot's core买方角色.

Alternatively, a woman named Kiki started a personal travel blog, called在国外的金发, to document her travel experiences and provide readers with helpful tips and travel recommendations. Her blog doesn't serve a larger company, but it does help her create a personal brand.

If a personal blog is successful enough, the writer can also make money off of it via sponsorships or advertisements. Take a look at5 Strategies to Monetize a Blogto learn more.

What is a blog post?

A blog post is an individual web page on your website that dives into a particular sub-topic of your blog.

For instance, let's say you start a fashion blog on your retail website. One blog post might be titled, "The Best Fall Shoes for 2019". The post ties back to your overallblog topicas a whole (fashion), but it also addresses a very particular sub-topic (fall shoes).

博客posts allow you to rank on search engines for a variety of keywords. In the above example, your blog post could enable your business to rank on Google for "fall shoes". When someone searches for fall shoes and comes across your blog post, they have access to the rest of your company's website. They might click "Products" after they read your post, and take a look at the clothing items your company sells.

A blog post links back to your overall blog site. For instance, right now, you're on www.eigoj.com/marketing/what-is-a-blog. The "what-is-a-blog" section of the URL is tied back to /marketing/, which is the blog as a whole.

There are plenty of benefits to blogging -- it helps drive traffic to your website, it enables you to better convert that traffic into leads, it allows your business to establish authority in an industry, and it continues to help your business grow and attract new customers months and even years after publication.

要了解有关博客好处的更多信息，请查看为什么写博客？博客对业务和营销的好处.

1.帮助你的公司排名搜索engbob全站appines.

通常，企业将使用博客来帮助企业在搜索引擎上排名。您绝对可以采用SEO策略或使用付费广告来帮助您的公司主页在Google的第一页上排名 - 但是更有效，长期的解决方案正在博客。bob全站app

To consider how your company can rank on search engines via a blog, we'll start with an example -- let's say you work for a web design start-up with very little online presence.

You decide to spend the first year writing and posting regular blog content that strongly relates to web design. Over time, your traffic increases and other companies link to your site for information regarding web design. When this happens, Google recognizes your company as alegitimate网页设计信息的来源。最终（有很多反复试验），您的博客文章开始在Google的第一页上排名“ Web Design”，“网站构建器”和“电子商务网站”等术语。

然后，有一天，您搜索“ X City中的Web Design Companies”，并发现您的公司现已在第一页上。bob全站app这在很大程度上可能是由于您一贯的博客工作。

Take a look atHow HubSpot Uses Blogging to Rank #1 on Googleto learn more about specific strategies you can implement to rank on search engines.

2. To share information about a given topic and become an expert in an industry.

In 2006, Boston-native Matt Kepnes quit his job and began traveling the world. He documented his travels in his now infamous blog,Nomadicmatt.com.

After about a year, thanks to tireless blogging efforts and SEO strategies that enabled him to rank on Google, he beganpulling in $60,000. Matt also created e-books, and used sponsorships and affiliate marketing to make money. Additionally, he wrote a New York Times best-seller, "How to Travel the World on $50 a Day."

现在，马特的博客吸引了每月150万游客，每年票房约75万美元-- and he's become a well-known expert in the travel space.

If you want to become known as an expert in a topic that interests you, from fashion to blogging to fitness, you can -- and, oftentimes, it starts with a blog.

3. To attract visitors to your site, and turn those visitors into leads.

There's only so much traffic you can get from the homepage or About Us page of your company's website. Of course, those pages are critical for leads who are already interested in your products -- but they often won't attract traffic from top-of-the-funnel. That's where your blog comes into play.

Your blog can be a general resource to help your website visitors even before those visitors are ready to purchase from you. For instance, let's say you sell products for e-commerce stores. You might attract some e-commerce owners who are already searching online for your products, but in most cases, the e-commerce owner isn't going to be ready to buy right out of the gate.

Alternatively, if you begin blogging about tips to help the retail owner who is just starting out -- like "How to start a retail website", or "Benefits of e-commerce vs. physical store" -- you'll slowly attract an audience who enjoys your content and finds it useful. Then, when those site visitors' e-commerce stores begin growing (thanks, in part, to your blog), they'll already know about your brand and already trust it as a helpful source.That'swhen they'll check out your product pages.

4. To cultivate an online community and engage with an audience.

至少，您可能会创建一个博客，以与具有相似兴趣的在线读者社区互动。也许您创建了一个美食博客，并要求读者与您分享自己的食谱。

Alternatively, perhaps you start a blog that focuses on DIY projects. You post the fun, DIY projects you've completed in your own home, and you ask your readers to share their own DIY tips in exchange.

1.Choose your target audience.

When you'rebob app下载 , it's important to think of your target audience. Who are you creating the blog for? And who do you want reading your blog posts? Before you can get started, you have to consider the niche you're writing about and what topics you'll cover and why.

Brainstorming your target audience is similar to creating a买方角色for your company. Plus, this will give you an idea on what kind of content you want to produce.

2. Brainstorm content ideas frequently based on your market segment.

Once you've started a blog, you'll want to churn outhigh-quality, consistent content定期。这并不总是那么容易。创建内容是一项耗时的任务。您想确保您的内容是您的读者感兴趣的内容，并希望可以帮助您的SEO - 一分钟内更多地。

To begin brainstorming content, consider what your competitors are doing. Look for gaps in their content that you can fulfill. Additionally, you should also do SEO research to verify that users are searching for and interested in the topic you want to write about. Tools likeSEMrush,Google Keyword Planner， 和Answer The Publiccan help.

You'll want to brainstorm content frequently so you always have ideas that you can execute.

3. Research and review a content management system (CMS).

In order to host your blog, you'll most likely use a CMS. A CMS is a tool you can use to design, manage, and publish on your website.

Once you've decided to start a blog, figure out if your current CMS has all the capabilities of hosting a blog. If not, you'll want to review CMS options that might integrate with your site or look for an entirely new CMS to migrate your site on. There are several options in the CMS world, including HubSpot. (你可以尝试我们的CMShere）

4. Create a blog strategy and editorial calendar.

Just like creating a business, you can't create a blog without a战略in mind. Your strategy should answer questions like:

• Who are you targeting?
• What type of content will you produce?
• 您什么时候发布？
• Where will you promote your content?

Overall, you should have a mission, vision, and goals for your blog.

Then, create aneditorial calendarto keep you organized and on track. A calendar will help you track what posts are coming up, ensure writers are meeting deadlines, and assure you have enough content ideas for the foreseeable future.

5. Pay attention to article structure.

When you'rebob app下载 ，重要的是要考虑article structure. For instance, are you using subheads to break up the post so it's easy to digest? Are you using bullet points and images that make the post easy to scan? These are important factors that will help keep your reader on the page.

此外，您需要确保您正在使用calls-to-action (CTAs)，这将指导读者接下来要做什么。这就是您可以开始赚钱并从博客中产生潜在客户的方式。

6. Become an expert in marketing and promoting your blog.

Another element of blogging is marketing and promoting your blog posts. It's like the age-old adage --"When a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Consequently, if you write a blog post but nobody reads it, will it have a positive impact on your company or brand? Probably not. That's why you'll have to market your posts. You can use social media, SEO, your website, or your email newsletter to reach current and potential customers.

7. Learn about SEO.

Like I mentioned above, you want people to read your blog posts. One way to do that is to get organic traffic throughSEO. If you want your blog to be successful, learn how to research keywords, how to rank in search engines, and how to build an SEO strategy.

8. Use a variety of blog post styles.

您的博客文章对于阅读它们的每个人，尤其是阅读每篇文章的客户都应该很有趣。对于那些活跃的关注者和博客大使的人，您应该使用各种博客文章样式，以免您的博客变得陈旧。考虑使用操作方法，基于列表的帖子或思想领导力。

9. Repurpose old content.

始终如一地生产博客内容可能很难。但是，每次写博客文章时，您都不必重新发明轮子。您可以更新旧的博客文章，以使其准确和全面。此外，您可以使用自己的其他内容，也许是YouTube视频或播客，并将内容重新用于博客文章。

10. Perform a competitive analysis.

To understand your audience, run acompetitive analysison your top blog competitors. This will help you identify trends, uncover gaps in the content in your industry, and give you ideas on topics and ways to promote your blog.

Running a competitive analysis will help you build and iterate on your own blog strategy.

有了博客，天空是极限 - 对您的业务的好处也是如此。如果您正式准备好开始自己的博客，请看一下如何创建成功的博客策略：逐步指南.

另外，如果您从头开始并担心第一篇文章，请阅读bob app下载 .

Editor's note: This post was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.