Let’s start at the beginning. You started a small business. You marketed your small business by developing assets and using traditional tactics such as TV commercials, radio ads, print ads, sponsorships, even a billboard here and there. Then you built a website as the logical next step because that’s what everyone was doing.

It’s a fairly decent website. It’s bringing you some business. You know this because there’s a coupon that people bring in that can only be retrieved from the website, and a contact form that is periodically filled out. Don’t sell yourself short. Your website could be working for you 24/7. Do you know how to increase website traffic? By blogging.

Blogging is an essential part of inbound marketing and is a staple of any content marketing strategy. While blogs started as more personal accounts, they have come to take an increasingly large role in the professional realm as well. Blogs serve to inform and, when done correctly, give you an opportunity to stand out within your field as an informer and an opinion leader.

So you want to develop an online marketing presence and get your site noticed. You want customers to start coming to your site in droves. You want to make sales from those website visits too so that you’re not spending all of those marketing dollars for nothing.

All of this sounds nice, but it won’t just happen on its own. If you're trying to build your online marketing presence, a blog is a great place to start. It can take the form of written content, infographics, images, or videos (or a mix of these). It can be “how-to” in nature, a checklist, or any kind of helpful information.

Every once in a while I get a hankering for Taco Bell. My craving usually hits when I’m stressed, pressed for time, don’t have much in the fridge, or conveniently forgot the healthy salad I made the night before. Not long ago, my content marketing plan was kind of like my desire for Taco Bell – unhealthy.

Although sometimes a necessarily evil, I know that Taco Bell isn’t the best thing for me – so why do I give in? Because it’s become a habit of sorts. It’s an easy grab and go alternative to a healthier choice. My writing used to be like that too. I got into the habit of a grab and go style of writing until I took the time for the healthier alternative – making a plan.

I was recently in a meeting where our client brought up the idea of adding a short video to her blog posts. With a slight – possibly reluctant – smirk on her face she asked us what we thought of this idea. Like each of our clients, she wants her business to get found online by potential customers. We’ve been helping with this process by creating a holistic inbound marketing strategy, part of which includes blogging, organic SEO services, downloadable eBooks, and email campaigns. I smiled at our client and said I thought it was a great idea, something worth trying at least, for many good reasons that I just happen to come across in the recent article below.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a type of marketing that would give you the competitive edge that you need to take your successful small business full of passion and provision to the next level? Normally competitive edge requires having more money budgeted towards marketing. What if I told you that this type of marketing will allow you to compete with the big guys in your industry? Before we get ahead of ourselves let’s start with the basics of this special type of marketing.

If being an inbound marketer and content creator has taught me anything, it’s that the only constant is change. As technology gets smarter and people get braver, new strategies are tried. They might fail and that’s okay because that’s how we learn. But they also might succeed, and then you must adapt. In order to survive and thrive in the inbound marketing world you have to know how to write. If you really want to have a successful small business, then you also need to learn how to blog effectively.

I’m no fortune teller, so what I’m sharing with you is purely based on research I’ve done and my own predictions. But whether I’m right or wrong doesn’t really matter, because the points below will help your blog either way.

You hear everyone telling you that your business should have a blog. But why? Well, your friend says that you just have to and your marketing coordinator says it’s all the trend and if you want to rank anywhere on the internet or be found by customers online and grow your business, you need to keep up. While you don’t completely understand why anyone would want to read blogs about your industry or how writing will even bring in customers, you give in.

But wait, you also aren’t really sure as to what a blog really is.

You never know when you’re going to get the chance to answer a question about internet marketing. The other day I was picking up a prescription at my local pharmacy. Living where I do, it’s no surprise that I knew the pharmacist from a few different circles I’m in, so naturally we had a short catch-up conversation. You know, “how old is your son now? How’s the family?" Yada. Yada. As she was ringing me up she asked, “So are you still working? What is it again that you do?” I told her yes I am, and I read, write, and edit a lot of content, mainly blogs. Her next question was: “Why blog? What’s the point of blogs anyway? I mean I read them, but otherwise, who cares?”

Thinking about creating a blog, more specifically a quality blog? Are you trying to figure out what needs to go into one? Or are you just looking to make sure yours is top notch enough to earn you visitors? When it comes to creating a truly successful blog, there are some internet marketing best practices that you should definitely be doing.