Blogging for Business: Platforms & Prompts to Get You Started

I have a website & want to start a blog:

If this is you, we recommend that you start blogging within your current website’s platform, whatever that may be. It will make navigation through your site and to your blog way easier. Most platforms offer a blog page template, so add a blog page and start tapping that keyboard. Look at you — you’re ahead of the game! You can skip the next section & scroll down for seven prompts to get started writing your first blog post for your business.

I don’t have a website & want to start a blog:

If you don’t have a website or the one you have is cumbersome, hard to edit, or is totally controlled by a 3rd party service, definitely consider investing in a website that you have full control over. I happen to know two great designers who can help you with that. (Us. We can help you with that.)

Pros of WordPress:

• Full control over all aspects of your website
• Thousands of free & premium themes & plugins available, allowing you to change the design of your website exactly to your liking
• Mobile Responsive (depending on the theme used)
• Compatible with most third party software

Cons of WordPress:

• You are responsible for your web security, backups, & updates
• A fairly steep learning curve
• You need to set up your own hosting

Pricing

WordPress is free, but you will need to pay for hosting and your domain name. We recommend Flywheel to purchase web hosting and Namecheap to find your domain name. We don’t get a kickback for telling you about these two companies, we just genuinely really love them.

Pros of Squarespace

• Easy to use, low learning curve
• Great for small businesses that don’t need robust blogging features
• 40+ well designed templates
• Mobile Responsive
• The Style Editor lets you customize a wide variety of features without having any prior coding knowledge
• Good built-in SEO tools
• Easy to migrate to WordPress if you need a more robust website down the road

Cons of Squarespace

• Limited features, themes, & customizations
• No dedicated mobile editor
• Plugins are very limited
• eCommerce store also has its limitations

Pricing

Squarespace has monthly/annual plans, and there are no setup fees. A 14-day free trial is available and doesn’t require credit card details. Plans vary: Personal ($12/month), Business ($18/month), Basic Commerce ($26/month), Advance Commerce ($40/month). Unfortunately, there are no free tiers after the free trial.

Pros of Blogger

• Easy to use, very low learning curve
• You get Google Analytics so you can track stats on your site
• You can use Google AdSense to monetize your blog

Cons of Blogger

• Options to customize are extremely limited
• While your main domain can redirect to your site, your site will reside at a domain like “yourblogname.blogspot.com,” which isn’t exactly pretty

Pricing

Blogger is a free service, which is a great no-risk option for starters!

7 prompts to help you write your first blog post:

• Share the story on why you started your business.
• Solve a lower level problem for your customer.
• Educate your customer on why they have a problem, and explain the services you offer that can solve that problem.
• Compare solutions to your reader’s problem.
• Share an industry secret with your reader. 
• Share a favorite tool or resource that might make your reader’s life easier.
• Share a testimonial about your service or products.