Ideas to help you start blogging – Tips for when you are doing it for the first time

I recently attended a Lionesses of Africa breakfast event. It was a space for female entrepreneurs to network with each other and to learn about several (speakers) successful businesswomen’s journeys.

My first time at @LionessesA #LionessesLeanIn 🙂 Very excited! #SBIncubator

— Melissa Javan (@melissa_nel) May 25, 2017

Fatuma Abdullah, founder of the black doll Akiki and author of Akiki’s Stories, was one of the speakers at the event.

#LIONESSLEANIN Our 3rd speaker is Fatuma Abdullah, founder of Akiki Dolls – building positive self-image in our children #SBIncubator pic.twitter.com/cGq2U6TikH

— Lionesses of Africa (@lionessesA) May 25, 2017

Love Fatuma Abdulla’a mantra “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up” – get your Akiki Doll #LionessLeanIn

— Community Centre JHB (@ComCentreJHB) May 25, 2017

While sharing her story with us, she said that learning how to use social media for business is important. She wasn’t much on social media, until clients told her: “Where can we find you on the internet?”

This prompted her to get her own website.

Anyway, today I would like to give you ideas for blog posts. I have been told by several entrepreneurs that they would like to do blogging on their websites, but they do not know where to start.

For those of you who are unsure about the term “blogging” – it’s a term used by people like myself who sees ourselves as bloggers. We journal or write about things on our websites.

The article “How to start blogging for business or yourself” will give you more insight about this.

Okay, let me give you reasons on why you should start blogging.

WHY START BLOGGING AS A BUSINESS OWNER?
Marang Marekimane, a businesswoman, told me that the benefits of blogging includes it helping her to educating her target market. “Where people may not be aware of my credentials to provide the service, this (blogging) would affirm my knowledge on the subject,” Marang explained to me.

She has been blogging since she started her business three years ago. Here’s what else she said:

Blogging attracts traffic to the website – beyond the people who know me or about the business.
The blogs have also lead to sales leads, invitations to speak at events or to host workshops.
It helps me with research – to understand trends, responding to typical challenges, understanding the target market.
It has increased my network of strategic partners.

[Related post: The power of bloggers and micro-influencers]

IDEAS FOR YOUR FIRST BLOG POSTS
So, if you’re stuck – you don’t know what to write about, consider this:

When I was in university we learned about the 5 W’s and the H. This is “who, what, where, when, why, and how?” We would use the 5W’s and H whenever we go out on a story. You would ask questions based on the 5W’s and the H.

[Related posts: The #1 Reason Why It’s Good Not To Give Up + This Is How I Got Into Journalism]

Let’s start:
– Your why asks why did you decide on this topic for your blog. Let’s say mentorship is your topic. Start writing down reasons why you want to talk about this topic on your blog/ website.

Why was it important for you to get mentorship?

– Where did you start with this (topic of your journey) and with who?
My mentorship journey started with me watching webinars about branding and marketing. I also joined chats for entrepreneurs and learned a lot on content marketing.

Eventually I read and heard about influencers and successful businesspeople like Vusi Thembekwayo, Thebe Ikalafeng, Marie Forleo, Melyssa Griffin, Seth Goldin, Gary Vaynerchuk. They became my virtual mentors.

I was led to a local mentor Ndzavi Derrick and I went to see him in person for guidance on a project I had been working on. I didn’t know how to do a particular task in this project, so his advice was needed.

– What have you learned through this journey?
What lessons were learned, what mistakes did you make, what have you found to be things that are challenges or out of your comfort zone? These are all things you can identify under this category.

– When and how did you get onto this journey?

Each one of these categories (5Ws & H) could lead to a blog post.

I would advise you to focus on what you have learned. One could have learned five lessons and that could be five different stories and/ or blog posts.

The “Why” post could be a separate blog post. A lot of people write their “why” in their “About Me” page of their blog/ site.

Once you have finished the above action (of identifying your 5W’s and H) you will at least have three blog posts to start with.

Do you have ideas yet? If you already started blogging, please share what your first blog posts were. Thank you for reading!