Let’s get one thing straight right from the start: no one is going to read it.
Your blog doesn’t have an audience. There are no readers.
Yet.
But that will all come. In the meantime, you just have to start writing and publishing. So where do you begin?
Start by asking yourself a few questions:
- Why are you writing this blog?
- What are your goals?
- What will a successful blog look like to you?
- Who is your audience?
These are the considerations to be made before you even begin that first article.
To get the most from blogging, there are three main components.
1. Write high quality content that people will want to read. Be educational, not pushy.
2. Focus on writing for your industry, not your customer. Writing for the people in your industry means that you will gain notoriety and credibility with those that are influencing your field. Gain their attention and respect, and the customers will follow.
3. Write often and use it to build your brand, your persona, your relationships. Aim for 3 times a week. It may seem like a lot, but there are important reasons to keep those posts coming (reasons to be divulged in a later post).
Now that all that is cleared up, what do you write about in your first post? If no one is reading it, is it really important to take the time to write a high quality article?
It takes time to develop a blog, to begin seeing traffic and building an audience. You can always re-post these first articles at a later time to showcase how you introduced your blog once you gain some traction anyway, so it is not wasted effort.
Use this first post to introduce yourself, set the tone of your brand and lay the foundation for what others should expect when visiting your website.
First things first: Identify the key influencers and players in your space. Read their blogs, comments, follow them on your social networks.
Find opportunities and get inspiration from those around you. Scroll through the comments section of the most popular blogs in your industry and try to identify any topics or opportunities for your own site.
Some ideas to get you thinking:
1. Tell the story of why you began this blog/company/product/etc. Stories are a great way to be authentic, no one can tell the same story as you.
2. Write about where you see your blog/brand/product going. Where will you be in 5 years? What should people expect when they come here? What do you hope they will learn from visiting your blog?
3. Take a spin-off of a topic brought up by an expert in your industry. Use their blog as inspiration to fuel your own thoughts and ideas. If you can credibly take an opposite stance of a well-known person in your field, write about that. Be sure to give credit and link back to the blog you refer to!
Have your own ideas of what to write about in your first blog post? Share them in the comments!