Creating a blog for your pet business

So, perhaps you’ve been toying with the idea for a while, but you’ve finally made the decision that you want to set up a blog for your pet business. Maybe you already have a website or a social media account, but you want to leverage this activity by adding a blog into your marketing mix.

No matter where you’re currently at with your online marketing activity, there are myriad reasons why starting a blog could be good for your pet business.

The benefits of having a blog for your pet business

Sure, blogging isn’t a walk in the park; it takes time, effort, commitment and some creativity—not to mention writing skills! However, starting a blog can be highly rewarding, as it can bring many benefits. Here are a few reasons why having a blog for your pet business is a good idea.

• Incorporate keywords that help your business rank higher in Google searches, bringing more traffic (read: potential clients/customers) your way.
• Educate existing and potential new clients/customers on what it is you do and the services or products you offer.
• Connect with other businesses and pet professionals and share ideas or build a network.
• Share testimonials, stories, reviews and case studies, which can showcase your pet business in a positive light.
• Support and promote animal welfare causes and important charities or fundraising events.

NOTE: If the only reason you want to set up a blog for your pet business is to get instant traffic, don’t bother. It takes time for your blog to crawled and indexed by Google. Plus, for your blogs to appear in searches and attract traffic they need to include good ‘search engine optimization’ (SEO) and provide value to the reader. Blogging isn’t a quick fix or a silver bullet, but it is a worthwhile investment (of your time, not necessarily money!).

There’s no denying having a blog can be quite useful. Of course, next comes the question of how on earth do you start your pet business blog. For many people, this is the stumbling block. It all seems too hard, but it needn’t be.

Time to work on your blog strategy

Now, before you start to feel overburdened by the techie side of setting up a blog, hang fire! There’s absolutely no point in setting up a blog for your pet business if you have no idea what you are going to blog about. You need a blog strategy.

What does a blog strategy involve?

Let’s say you don’t have a full-blown website and you simply want to create a blog. People will still want to know who you are and why they should read your blog. As such, you need some sort of an ‘About’ post or page. This should explain to your audience who you are, why you are blogging, what topics you intend to cover, what expertise you have or what you would like your audience to gain by reading your blog.

Of course, if you are adding a blog to your website, hopefully, you already have a robust ‘About’ page.

So, back to the strategy. Your blog strategy should include a list of the key things you want to mention in your ‘About’ post. Alongside this, you might want to:

Write down the reasons why you are creating a blog for your pet business

This can come in handy down the track, as you can use it to see if you are meeting your goals.

Define your niche

The pet business is a big industry with many different areas. What’s your passion? After all, it’s much easier to write about something you are truly passionate about.

Consider your target audience

Your key audience may be really broad or very narrow. Either way, knowing your audience will help when it comes to working out what you are going to write about and what style of writing you’ll use.

Write a list of potential blog topics

A rolling list that you can constantly add to when you get a new idea is a must. This will help keep things fresh and ensure you don’t forget any of those great blog ideas you will no doubt have!

Think about time and frequency

How much time do you intend to dedicate to your new pet business blog? Be honest with yourself. There’s no point telling yourself you’re going to spend 4 hours a week blogging if that’s never going to happen.

TIP: Typically, I allow 1.5-2 hours per blog post. This includes the time to research your topic, consider your keywords, write and read over your blog, source images and upload it. Bear in mind, I’ve been a freelance writer for more than a decade so if you’ve never really written before, it might take you a while longer.

The frequency of your blogging really depends on how much time you can give to writing your posts. You can always start off with 1 or 2 blogs a week and see how you go. The important thing about blogging is to be consistent. Regularly adding new content to your blog is favoured by Google search.

What the heck do I blog about?

It’s surprising how many people set up a blog (I’m talking about the techie side here) and then find themselves pondering what to actually write about. In this case, they usually end up writing nothing and eventually they forget they even set the blog up in the first place. What a waste of time!

By starting off with a strategy for your pet business blog you can avoid wasting time and instead enjoy creating valuable content. Indeed, when it comes to blog content VALUE is key. Not only do your blog posts need to be well written and interesting, but they also need to offer something valuable to your readers.

If you’re a humorous person that enjoys giving others a giggle, perhaps you are going to write about funny pet events. What’s the value of this? People will engage with you and enjoy the fact that you’ve lightened their day and given them a laugh.

If you’re an animal trainer, you might answer common questions about training pets. What are the things pet owners should and shouldn’t do when training their pets? Can you provide advice on teaching pets common commands? Are there certain rewards that are best for dog training?

Still stuck on what to blog about? Try:

• Blogging about what it is you do
• Reveal industry insights and opinions
• Answer common questions
• Offer advice points or tips
• Talk about pet-related things in your area
• Share customer stories or case studies

Blogging can be lots of fun, but it certainly pays to give it a bit of thought before getting started. The more you write, the more ideas you’re likely to come up with. Soon it’ll be easy peasy and you’ll wonder why you didn’t start your pet business blog years ago.

Good luck and happy blogging!

Do you have a blog? What’s your advice for coming up with awesome content ideas?

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