When you first start out building your small business blog, you may not know the ins and outs. This article walks you through the steps.

1. Figure Out Your Goals: Will you use your blog to obtain clients, sell a product, offer a class, create community, or for something else? Consider what you want to accomplish before you do anything else. Once you have your plain laid out, then the decisions that follow will be a bit easier to make.
2. Use a Branded Domain: Many online marketing training programs will tell you to purchase a keyword-laden URL (website address). If they tell you to do this so you will rank higher in search engines, they are correct. I’ve tested it. If I buy purpleshoes.com, then I can often quickly rank well for the phrase “purple shoes.” Decide if you prefer to rank quickly (which Google could change at some point) or if you want to have a strong brand for your company. If you want to establish a brand for your name or your small business, be sure to select your own unique domain and purchase it. Avoid trademarked names or you may be forced to change it later. One of my favorite domain names (not mine) is crazymikesapps.com. A domain name only costs $10-12 per year and is a low-cost investment in your business future.
3. Use Your Own Web Host: Select a good web host from the start. How do you know if a web host is any good? Get recommendations from web-savvy friends. I use Host Gator and like DreamHost (affiliate links) a lot. These two hosts have offered me good customer support, few problems, and easy-to-use website management tools that allowed me to install WordPress with a few clicks.
4. Understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics: Before you get too deep into blogging for your small business, be sure you understand basic keyword research, on-page SEO factors, and how to build links.
5. Enter the Wild Word of Plugins: If you use WordPress, you can find free or low-cost plugins (software) that add functionality to your website. A few of my favorite plugins include: Editorial Calendar (tracks my posts in a calendar) and Akizmet (blocks comment spam).

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