1.1 Introduction to the Course

Welcome to this course on blogging for Business. 

Now, you’re probably here because you’re good at writing. Or you’ve been told you’re good with words ever since you can remember. Maybe you’ve even blogged a bit personally and you’re looking to go pro. 

But here’s the thing. Blogging is SO much more than just words.  In fact, we'd go as far as to say that writing content is no more than 40% of being an ace blogger. There’s a lot more to running a successful blog than putting words on a web page and we’ll go into this in a lot more detail during the course. 

But, for now, let me start by affirming your decision to step into the world of blogging and investing your time and money into learning this skill. 

Now, don’t know if your parents ever told you this but we’re proud of you. Good job.

You aren’t just some lone ranger taking an ambitious step. Make no mistake, you’re stepping into one of the biggest marketing functions of our generation. 

Let me back that up with some numbers. Because there is nothing more reassuring than a bunch of statistics, right?

There were around 600 million active blogs globally in 2020 and roughly 77% of internet users regularly read blog posts.

And, sure a few of these are some really weird blogs like the Ryan Gosling Disneyland Cats blog which you’ll find is exactly what it sounds like – photoshopped images of Ryan Gosling in various Disney parks hanging out with cats. 

Oh and don’t forget Hungover owls which is a blog dedicated to owls that look a lot like most of you in the morning when you’ve, you know, had one too many drinks and forgotten to stay hydrated. 

But these are just the weird ones. The internet is filled with amazing blogs on every topic under the sun – sports, politics, philosophy, motivation, spirituality - you name it, they have it.

And then you have blogging for business which has been growing at a crazy pace over the last decade. 

In a survey, over 45% of marketers said that blogging is the no #1 most important part of their content strategy which is why over 86% of B2B companies host a blog. 

In today’s day and age, businesses cannot ignore the importance of having an active blog that adds value and builds trust and credibility with their customers. 

Now, here’s the catch. There may be a gazillion blogs on the internet but a very small percentage of them are what you would call ‘successful’.

Very few businesses and bloggers know how to create and run a world-class blog that drives results. And in this course, we’re going to teach you how to do exactly that. 

Now, before we dive straight in, let’s take a look at what’s coming up ahead for you. 

To get started, the first chapter isn’t even about blogging. We’re actually going to start off with a bit of marketing education. Yep, you heard that right. And that's because blogging is actually a marketing function. Most blogs– and by that I mean around 90% of them – are directly or indirectly trying to make money off of you. 

And here we were thinking these really nice bloggers were trying to give back to the universe. It’s always about the money and the sooner you realise that the better. Hence, we start with marketing. 

The next thing we will look at are search engines. Why? Well, there’s no point in writing a blog if nobody can find it. Any successful blog must be optimised for search so that people across the world can find it and become loyal readers. 

We’ll then walk you through the research that goes into creating any blog so you’re set up for success. 

And finally, we’ll get into the actual writing of the blog. Oh, and as a bonus, we’ll throw in a small bit on how you can create a subscriber list on email to build even deeper roots with your audience. 

We have a lot to cover together, so let’s get into it right away, 

I’ll see you in the next episode.