How to Write a Blog Post

Here are the steps you'll want to follow while writing a blog post.

1. Understand your audience.

Before you start writing your blog post, make sure you have a clear
understanding of your target audience.

Ask questions like: What do they want to know about? And, what will

resonate with them?
This is where creating your buyer personas comes in handy.
Consider what you know about your buyer personas and their interests
while you're coming up with a topic for your blog post.

For instance, if your readers are millennials looking to start a

business, you probably don't need to provide them with information
about getting started in social media — most of them already have that
down.

You might, however, want to give them information about how to

adjust their social media approach (for example — from what may be a
casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-
focused approach). That kind of tweak is what helps you publish
content about the topics your audience really wants (and needs).

Don't have buyer personas in place for your business? Here are a few
resources to help you get started:

 Create Buyer Personas for Your Business [Free

Template]
 Blog Post: How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas
for Your Business
 [Free Tool] Make My Persona: Buyer Persona
Generator
2. Create your blog domain.
 Next, you'll need a place to host this and every other blog post you
write. This requires choosing a content management system
(CMS) and a website domain hosting service.
Choose a CMS.

A CMS helps you create a website domain where you'll actually

publish your blog. CMS platforms can manage domains (where you
create your website) and subdomains (where you create a webpage
that connects to an existing website).
HubSpot customers host web content via CMS Hub. Another popular
option is a self-hosted WordPress website on WP Engine. Whether
you create a domain or a subdomain to start your blog, you'll need to
choose a web hosting service after you pick a CMS.
Register a domain or subdomain with a website host.

Your blog's domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. The name

between the two periods is up to you, as long as this domain name
doesn't yet exist on the internet.
Want to create a subdomain for your blog? If you already own a
cooking business at www.yourcompany.com, you might create a blog
that looks like this: blog.yourcompany.com. In other words, your
blog's subdomain will live in its own section of yourcompany.com.
Some CMSs offer subdomains as a free service, where your blog lives
on the CMS, rather than your business's website. For example, it might
look like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However,
to create a subdomain that belongs to a company website, register the
subdomain with a website host.
Most website hosting services charge very little to host an original
domain — in fact, website costs can be as inexpensive as $3 per
month.

Here are five popular web hosting services to choose from:

 GoDaddy
 HostGator
 DreamHost
 Bluehost
 iPage
3. Customize your blog's theme.

Once you have your domain name set up, customize the appearance of
your blog to reflect the theme of the content you plan on creating and
your brand.

For example, if you're writing about sustainability and the

environment, green might be a color to keep in mind while designing.

If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for that
existing website, ensure the article is consistent with the website in
appearance and subject matter. Two ways to do this are including
your:

 Logo: This can be your business's name and/ or

logo — it will remind blog readers of who's publishing
the content. (How heavily you want to brand your blog,
however, is up to you.)
 "About" Page: You might already have an "About"
blurb describing yourself or your business. Your blog's
"About" section is an extension of this higher-level
statement. Think of it as your blog's mission statement,
which serves to support your company's goals.
4. Identify your first blog post's topic.
Before you write anything, pick a topic for your blog post. The topic
can be pretty general to start. For example, if you're a company that
sells a CRM for small-to-enterprise businesses, your post might be
about the importance of using a single software to keep Marketing,
Sales, and Service aligned.
Pro tip: You may not want to jump into a "how-to" article for your first
blog post.