Every digital marketing consultant should create a professional blog and keep it as a live showcase or resume, where they capture their experiences and learning. If you are thinking of getting down to work, from Academia de Consultores we are going to tell you what are the first essential steps to start it up. Take note!
1. Domain purchase and hosting
The first step will be research web hosting companies where you will see a lot of options and possibilities. In this sense, our best advice is not to save money and opt for good customer service. Search the Internet for different references and opinions, and stay with a company that can offer you a good service at a fair price.
As you value different companies hosting You can also go looking for web domains, although like many plans hosting include the purchase of a domain for one year, we recommend you wait to decide the hosting to acquire the domain. And speaking of domain, our advice is that if you want to be an independent marketing consultant, you think you’re a good personal brand, and for this, nothing better than your name followed by your first surname as a domain. However, search the net and analyze if you have the chances of getting your personal brand to stand out in front of other people who can be called the same as you. Perhaps you can create a creative brand that refers to your name.
At this point it will also be important, if you do not already have it, to develop your brand and create the logo with which you will be identified at a professional level from this moment on. It will also be a good time to have a professional photography session with which to illustrate your website.
Before finishing this first point about creating a professional blog, we recommend you read our post: Everything you should know before buying a hosting and domain.
2. Choice of CMS, design and plugins
He CMS or content manager The most used to create a professional blog is WordPress because of the many possibilities it offers and how easy it is to manage. If you want, you can consider other options such as Blogger, Drupal or Jomla, but our advice is to use WordPress.
Once we have chosen the CMS we will stop at the design of our professional blog, for which we recommend you invest in buying a good template. Although, in a first launch you can opt for a theme WordPress freewhen you want to launch a fully professional website, a good paid template like the ones you can find on Themeforest (for €30-60) will make a good difference visually with greater customization possibilities without the need for technical programming knowledge.
At this point we will also assess the plugin installation that we consider important. For example, to share on social networks (Monarch or MashShare) or to optimize the SEO of our blog (Yoast SEO).
3. Content planning
Now that we technically have the blog ready, we will focus on its content. On the one hand we will have to define the main page content (about, services, contact, curriculum vitae…), and on the other, propose a plan of content for the blog Mainly said with the keywords and topics that we will deal with and a temporary planning with days of publication.
At this time, it will be useful for you to carry out a study of keywords in relation to the services you want to offer with tools such as Google Keyword Planner (free) or Sistrix (paid).
4. Dissemination of content
Although it seems that we already have our blog ready, the truth is that you are missing a fundamental step to make it successful: dissemination. Consider a good dissemination strategy for your content through social media and other media that you have Reach agreements with other professionals to enhance your reach, or you can even make a advertising campaign in social networks.
5. Subscriber List
Do not forget that getting data from the users who read you is the first step that can lead you to conversion. Create a subscriber list and a newsletter in which you send your new blog content or other information that you consider relevant to your followers.
To do this, you can use tools such as Mailchimp, Acumbamail or Mailrelay, and remember the importance of correctly treating the personal data of your subscribers in accordance with the laws of your country.
Have you seen how easy it is to create a professional blog? In only 5 steps you will be able to have information about your online professional profile, offering your products and services as an online marketing consultant on your own website. Do not wait any longer, and do it!