In a post I wrote back in April, Blogging is it right for all businesses? Yes!, I told you about a client who needed to convince her boss that blogging is beneficial to their small business. The benefits of blogging out weighed the cons, so with my help, she was able to get the ball rolling on a new blog. During a strategy meeting, the question I love the most arose: “What do we blog about?”

Finding the right topic to blog about can be a challenge if you’re not sure who your target market is. Knowing who you’re speaking to and how to effectively reach them is key. The more focused your topics, the more value you will bring to your audience.

For example. Let’s pretend I own a small local restaurant and I want to start a blog. My first inclination may be to blog about how great the food is at the restaurant, or to blog about the specials of the week. Well, that may be OK if you don’t want visitors at your restaurant, never mind visitors who read your blog. Instead, find that niche – that special something – that will help you stand apart from your competitors.

For the local restaurant, say for example, they hold wine dinners and other special events at the restaurant. Then, they may want to blog about the best type of wine that best accompanies steak. Or, maybe they write a blog post on the challenges they faced planning a the menu for a client and how they overcame the obstacles. They could even designate a certain day of the week to an ingredient and post a sample recipe or two for their readers to make at home.

The topics are endless once you’ve determined your special niche. To determine your blogging niche, start by reading other blogs. Use tools like blogsearch.google.com and search for your industry. When reading other blogs, consider the following:

• What topics are bloggers writing about?
• What are the trends?
• Which topics are blogged about often?
• Which topics don’t get enough attention?
• What blogs do you like, or not, and why?

By reading other blogs in your industry, you’ll get to know who the major players are, how much competition there is and what topic is best suited for you.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Small Business Blogging where we’ll discuss types of posts that encourage comments.

Have you been blogging for your small business? Share your story. Want more information on how you can start a blog for your business? Contact Patti Fousek for a free consultation.