Hello again, and welcome to Small Biz Betties, where I share my experience in setting up a small, online costuming/crafting business. This week let's talk about setting up and maintaining your most important internet presence - your blog.
Blogs are brilliant for so many reasons. They allow you to share with the world news about your business, yourself, projects, anything, and offer great ways to build your brand as well as your audience and potential customer base.
Before you start a blog, think about how it will fit into your business. Think about...
- What will I write? Am I able to or comfortable with sharing my in-progress and/or finished projects online?
- How often will I post? You don't need a set schedule, but regular blogging builds audience quickly. Commit to at least once a week.
There are several platforms you can choose when starting your blog, but the two easiest to use are Wordpress and Blogger. I personally recommend Blogger because it is extremely easy to set up and maintain, and comes with a built in traffic network, "The Blogosphere," provided by Google. It's important to note that all Google properties (such as Blogger, Google +, etc) are favored by Google, and rank highly in search engine results, so if you want to start off with good visibility, Blogger is the way to go.
Alternatively, for those of you integrating a blog into an existing website, Wordpress offers far more powerful tools than Blogger, and in fact, you can build entire web stores, portfolios, all kinds of scarily powerful websites, on Wordpress. If you have web programming skills, Wordpress is a good one for you.
After you've decided what platform to use, you get to customize to your hearts content. It can be a lot of fun, and I encourage you to make custom background images, pretty buttons, side bar imagery, and a smashin' cool header. Here are some things to keep in mind about your blog design:
- Show your personality, taste, and style through your blog design
- Be sure your text is easy to read (in all search engines) - no smaller than 12 pt., and a dark color on a light ground.
- You can find swish blog backgrounds at ShabbyBlogs.com and HotBliggityBlog.com, or make your own in a paint program - find the dimensions needed in Blogger's template tools.
- There is such a thing as blog TMI - too much information. You don't want too much going on in your side bars. Keep the most important information near the top - this may be your profile information, or blog article tags, a link to your website or Etsy store, or a newsletter opt-in.
- Consider using tabs/pages to help your readers navigate your blog - for instance "About Me," "Shop," or "Portfolio" are great to put on their own, permanent pages. Tabs appear right under your header, so they are easy to find.
These are just a few ideas. Tweak and move things around to your heart's content, until you have your blog looking super fly, just as you want it.
Then it's time to start posting. The first post is always the hardest! It's good to introduce yourself like you would at a social mixer - "Hi, my name is {your name}, and I love costuming/sewing/knitting/painting/eating cake." Then go from there. Remember to include at least one big picture in every post. Here are some things to remember when blogging:
- Be yourself, but don't over-share. Keep it positive and focused on your main goal.
- Link your blog up to a supporting Facebook page, and your web store, if you already have one. Be sure to link back to your blog from every online presence you maintain.
- Introduce yourself in your blogger community by visiting other costume/crafting/vintage blogs, leaving comments (legit ones), and signing your name/handle and a link to your snazzy new blog.
- Provide good content - useful, on-topic information, and plenty of pictures.
So are you ready to get started? Go for it! This is just a small cross-section of "blogger theory," so if you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment, and we'll discuss. :-)
If you have questions you'd like answered, or are a small business owner and would like to guest post for SBB, drop me a line - lauren@american-duchess.com .
