How to launch your business advisor blog
Blogging is a brilliant marketing strategy for women business owners, and business advisors are no exception. It’s often tricky to stand out on social media, but a blog can get you seen, and noticed, via Google. Plus, a blog can spotlight you as your industry’s go-to pro.
Here’s how to launch your business advisor blog:
1. Define your niche
Business advisory is a broad field, and business advisors can specialise in various niches based on their expertise and interests.
You might provide business management services to women entrepreneurs, supporting them with marketing and growth strategies.
Or you might offer industry-specific consulting for businesses in a particular sector, such as finance or retail.
It’s important to define your niche before you start blogging.
Once you know who your business advisor blog is for, you can start planning the topics you want to write about.
Then you can research the keywords you want to target to appear in front of your best-fit clients.
Aside from attracting ideal clients, blogging for a niche can improve your chances of becoming an authority in that specific area. Narrowing your focus allows you to compete more effectively within a smaller, less crowded field.
Next, get clear on who your ideal client is. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine their pain points.
Perhaps they want to grow their business but don’t have a clear strategy. Perhaps they’re struggling with time management and productivity. What impact are these issues having on their business and personal life?
Truly understanding your ideal client’s needs will help them find and connect to the content you’re sharing on your blog.
2. Research and plan
It’s time to get a plan together for your business advisor blog.
Now you’ve identified your niche, you’ll need to find the words and phrases your ideal clients are Googling, aka keywords.
By including these keywords in your blog posts, you’ll increase your chances of appearing in their Google search results.
We use various tools to find relevant keywords for our blog clients.
Some handy options for keyword research novices include answerthepublic.com, Ubersuggest, and the Google Ads Keyword Planner.
Fancy learning how to do basic keyword research? Download our free power guide: ‘Attract ideal clients to your website (in five easy steps).’
Once you’ve found the keywords your ideal clients are Googling, pop these into a spreadsheet.
Congratulations! You’ve just made a content calendar for your business advisor blog.
With one topic and associated keyword per week, you’ll never be stuck for ideas.
Quick tip: don’t worry if you’re not the spreadsheet type. Your content calendar can be as simple as a list in your phone’s notes app.
You can also add more blog topic ideas to your content calendar over time.
Have a snoop at your competitors’ blogs – are they covering subjects you’re also positioned to talk about? Are there any holidays or upcoming dates you can theme content around? For example, Small Business Saturday or International Women’s Day.
Quick tip: you don’t have to choose between your website and these platforms. Cross-posting your website blog posts on, say, Medium can get even more eyes on your content.
3. Design your business advisor blog
Have you ever clicked on a link to a blog post or article in Google but:
- The website took so long to load that you give up?
- The writer took ages getting to the point, so you ended up clicking away?
- The content was poorly laid out, and you struggled to find the info you wanted, so you returned to the search results to find info elsewhere?
You’re not alone. The average bounce rate for consulting and professional services websites is 49.47%. That means around half of the people landing on business advisor blogs are leaving five seconds later.
To improve your bounce rate, your business advisor blog should be as visually appealing and user-friendly as possible. Do this by:
- Increasing your website’s loading speed. There are various ways to shave valuable seconds off your load times, such as reducing the size of unoptimised images and videos.
- Designing your blog with the reader’s experience in mind. Make navigating your blog posts a breeze with contents tables and links that let readers jump between sections. The easier it is for them to find the exact information they need, the more likely they are to stay on your blog.
- Optimising your blog for mobile users. Over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and 63% of Google searches occur on mobile in the U.S. It’s safe to say lots of people are reading blog posts on their mobile phones. So it’s crucial that your website and blog have a responsive design that can adapt to any screen size.
Quick tip: check how your blog posts look on a mobile device in case elements that work on desktop are off-putting on a smaller screen. For example, pop-ups or large images above the fold.
4. Create compelling content
It’s time to pop your writing hat on and populate your business advisor blog with high-quality blog posts.
You’ll need to post at least once a week to attract visitors to your blog. If you can’t set aside a regular time slot to write and upload a blog each week, consider writing in batches.
Remember to incorporate the keywords in your content calendar into your posts. Pick one primary keyword per blog post and make it 1-2% of the overall word count. For example, if your blog post is around 1,000 words, you should include this keyword 10-20 times.
This is just one technique to optimise your blog posts for search engines. Other blogging best practices include:
- Using header tags like H1, H2, H3, and H4 properly. Doing this will make your blog posts easier to read and increase your chances of appearing in search results. (Google relies on header tags to understand your blog posts’ content.)
- Keeping language straightforward and free of industry jargon that your readers might not understand. (That said, writing about ‘ROI’ or ‘KPIs’ isn’t a bad thing if your ideal clients are business owners who understand terms like these.) Just make sure you avoid writing blog posts that read like dense business reports.
- Adding at least three links to your other blog posts and web pages. These internal links will keep visitors exploring your site and learning about your business advisory services.
Above all, creating compelling content is key to having a successful business advisor blog. It doesn’t matter how well designed or optimised for Google your blog is. If what you’ve written isn’t interesting or valuable to your ideal client, they’re not going to hang around for long.
5. Spread the word about your business advisor blog
There’s plenty you can do to spread the word while you wait for your blog to start making waves in Google, like:
- Sharing links to your blog on your social media. You can even repurpose stand-out tips and insights from your blog into social media content. Remember to refer your followers back to the original blog posts on your website.
- Promoting your blog in your email newsletter. Again, why not save yourself some time and use your blog posts to craft engaging emails for your subscribers? Touching on the topic in an email and directing readers to the full blog post for details is another great way of driving traffic to your website.
- Reaching out to other blogs and websites in your niche and asking the owner to publish your post with a link back to your site. Collecting backlinks is a fantastic way of showing Google your website is credible and worthy of ranking higher in search results.
- Telling people about your blog whenever you attend a networking event. Potential clients or collaborators will be delighted to know they can pick up free advice from your online content hub.
- Connecting with influencers or other thought leaders in complementary industries. Offer to collaborate on content or seek their endorsement of your blog to increase visibility.
- Pitching yourself as a guest on podcasts related to business advisory services or entrepreneurship. Share your expertise and mention your blog during the podcast, directing listeners to find more info on your website.
Outsource your business advisor blog: the Finer Blog Package
When done right, blogs can boost your brand awareness and website traffic. However, blogging can take some time to gain traction. Most blogs take 12-18 months to achieve multiple page-one Google rankings. And that’s only if you post at least once a week.
We got our first page-one Google rankings within four months of launching our blog. But we’re blogging pros. We know which keywords to strategically target to improve a blog post’s chances of doing well in search engines. We know how to craft effective copy that keeps readers engaged (you’ve read this far, haven’t you?).
Fancy similar results for your business advisor blog?
About Finer Things Editorial
Finer Things Editorial is a high-end copy studio for female founders who want their voices to be bigger and bolder. Our head-turning copy transforms women’s businesses the way they transform their clients’ lives. With finessed messaging and carefully crafted words, these women attract dream clients instead of chasing them.
