7 Lessons To Learn on Blogging for Your Small Business
After spending farrr too much of my time scrolling through the interwebs and analyzing nurse-owned businesses, I have found that many nurse entrepreneurs overlook the power of blogging.
I’m not entirely sure why but I think it’s actually something that carries over from our bedside experience. As nurses, we’re often SO focused on patient care that the idea of sitting down to write long-ass notes can feel like it’s pulling us away from our real mission.
I find that a similar sentiment happens when nurses create websites for their small businesses. We create a website and then tend to view blogging as just another task on our ever-evolving to-do list — something that takes time away from what we really want to be doing whether that’s impacting our communities or building our business in general.
But what if I told you that blogging can actually be an extension of the care you provide as well as a BIG part of your process of scaling your purpose-driven business? Because blogging for your small business is a perfect way to educate, connect, and empower your community for GREATER impact.
And becoming a nurse blogger can be one of the most effective ways to grow your small business. For nurse entrepreneurs and nurse bloggers in general, blogging isn’t about selling your products or services directly but about building a relationship with your audience by providing them with information that is useful and relevant to them.
It may sound nerdy as heck, but trust me, blogging for my small business is my favorite style of content marketing. And becoming a nurse blogger was the best thing I ever did for my business. 😏
The lessons I’ve learned from blogging for my own small business will show you how a blog can become a powerful tool to attract the right clients, build trust, and scale your purpose-driven business.
Let’s dive in.
Lessons Learned About Blogging for a Small Business
1 | Higher SEO Rankings on Dr. Google Only Matter if Your Content Is Engaging the Right People
The most obvious reason to start blogging for your small business is businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don't and produce an average of 67% more leads monthly.
By creating content that’s optimized for search engines, you can attract more traffic to your website because websites with active blogs have 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links than those without.
But attracting more traffic and generating more leads only matters if your content attracts and engages the right people — the people you want to work with.
The lesson here is really about market research and keyword research because you really can’t have one without the other if you want your nurse blog to succeed on Dr. Google.
I’ve told you before that I’d choose conversion copywriting over SEO copywriting any day, but there’s no reason you can’t have both — and I’ll always argue that you should have both for your nurse blog.
You’ll use market research to figure out what the heck your audience even cares about, and you’ll use your keyword research to make sure your audience can find the answers they’re searching for.
2 | Figuring Out What Your Audience Really Wants Is More Important Than What You Want To Write About
As I said in the last lesson, it doesn’t matter what you want to write about — harsh, I know, but hear me out: Ultimately, your website isn’t for you, and, therefore, your nurse blog isn’t for you.
Understanding your audience’s interests, needs, and pain points is the best way to create content that genuinely resonates with them.
So, blogging for your small business is really about knowing your audience, the problems they need solving, and what they’re dreaming about or working towards.
You can research and analyze your target audience for your nurse blog using tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and surveys.
But blogging for your small business means you won’t get to just write about the things you’re most interested in. Your audience’s interests are more important than yours.
Now, hopefully, your business is something you are wholeheartedly interested in because then blogging for your small business will be infinitely easier since you’ll be blogging about things you and your audience care about.
Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, you can create content that provides value to them, making you their go-to.
3 | Blogging for Your Small Business Humanizes Your Brand
Developing customer relationships is a critical aspect of business success, and becoming a nurse blogger can help you achieve that because blogging for your small business allows you to put relationships before sales.
Today’s customers don’t just want to buy products or services; they want to connect with the businesses they support on a personal level. They want to know what makes your business unique, what your values are, and what you bring to the industry.
When it comes down to it, people want to buy from people. In fact, 70% of people would rather learn about a business through blogging than advertisements.
While a website’s primary pages can provide some of this information (and you can totally add your personality to it), your nurse blog can help you further develop a personality for your brand and connect with your audience in a more personal way.
By creating blog content that helps, entertains, and inspires others, you can showcase the human side of your business. You can share stories, opinions, and insights demonstrating your expertise and show customers what your brand stands for and what makes it unique.
By creating content that resonates with your target audience, you can build a relationship with them that goes beyond a simple transaction. You can create a community around your brand and engage with your customers in a way that makes them feel valued and heard.
If you start a blog today and share your knowledge and expertise through your blog content, you’ll establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, making you stand out from your competitors and build trust with your audience.
4 | Find Different Ways To Garner Backlinks and Tell More People About Your Blog
While SEO is a huge factor to consider to increase visibility, you’ll have even better results and a higher domain authority if you promote your nurse blog in other ways— by collecting backlinks that direct traffic to your website from other websites (also referred to as inbound links).
Basically, when other websites link to your nurse blog, it signals to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant.
You want your nurse blog to be so freaking good that other people on the internet are referencing and linking back to your website and reaching as many people as possible.
Using social media to promote your nurse blog, engage with your audience, and build relationships with other nurse bloggers and industry influencers is likely the most popular way to build backlinks. Think of your nurse blog as the home of your most in-depth content and your social media channels as the outposts that help you reach your target audience.
You can create intriguing teasers with catchy headlines and images that entice readers to click through your nurse blog because every click to your nurse blog is crucial in building brand awareness and improving your search engine optimization (SEO).
5 | Track Your Analytics but Don’t Become Consumed by Them
It wasn’t that long ago when I started blogging for my small business and became absolutely obsessed with the numbers game.
I’d hit “refresh” daily on all my analytics platforms — I religiously stalked my Squarespace website’s built-in analytics, Google Analytics, and Ubersuggest, and honestly, got nowhere fast.
If your business or website is newer, then becoming consumed by the numbers won’t really help you much since being ranked on Dr. Google takes time, and you’ll probably be really disappointed and discouraged to continue posting. BUT tracking your blog’s performance will still help you to understand what works and what doesn’t.
You can use analytics to measure your blog’s traffic, engagement, and conversion rates, which are all critical data points to help you improve your blogging strategy, create content that resonates with your audience, and attract more readers.
6 | Being Consistent Is Truly the Most Challenging Part of Blogging (And Anything in Life, Let’s Be Honest 😜)
Blogging is truly a looong game — as is SEO — and you’re certainly not going to get any results or a ton of traffic from posting a blog here and there.
So if you decide to become a nurse blogger for your business, you are going to have to put in the work to be consistent. I’ll tell you from experience that being consistent will genuinely be the most challenging part of blogging for your small business, especially if you’re like me and you’re a one-woman show.
You’re bound to find every excuse under the sun not to write and publish a blog post every week, and I’ll tell ya now that you’re doing yourself a disservice by not blogging for your small business — but I know you know this, right?
Blogging for your business gives you alllll the juicy benefits of leveraging SEO to get Dr. Google to rank your website higher on her results pages.
By becoming a nurse blogger and publishing blog posts regularly, you’re maintaining your blog’s (and business’s) credibility, relevance, and ability to attract new readers.
But the key to literally anything in life is consistency, so my best advice for consistent blogging is to figure out strategies to get back on the wagon when you inevitably fall off.
7 | If You Need To Take a Break, Take a Break
Okay, but on the flip side to the last point, the last lesson in blogging for your small business is quality over quantity.
Creating high-quality content is a non-negotiable to any nurse blog’s success, especially when AI-written content is saturating our online space.
You’re not going to be out here publishing generic and boring AF blog posts, and you’re definitely not going to start your blog posts with “in this digital age…,” okay?!
Seriously, you are so much better than that, and I know you have sooo much more personality to write stellar content your audience wants to read.
If you’re looking to create a goal to be more consistent with your nurse blog, it’s better to publish ONE well-researched, informative, and actually-interesting-to-read blog post per month than several mediocre ones.
Quality content provides value to your readers, establishes your brand as an authority, and attracts backlinks and shares from other websites (everything you want in a good blog).
Blogging for Your Small Business Can Change Your Business
Blogging is a powerful tool for small businesses to build their online presence, establish brand authority, and attract potential dream clients while you sleep.
By applying the lessons I’ve learned about blogging for my own small business, you can create a successful blog that provides value to your audience while helping you achieve your business goals.
Remember to know your audience, maintain consistency, prioritize quality over quantity, promote your blog, and measure your success.
Start a blog today, and with time and consistent effort, your blog can become a valuable asset for your small business and the factor that changes your business for good.
Aaand if you're ready to start blogging for your small business but not ready to become a nurse blogger yourself, then call me, beep me, if ya wanna pay me as your resident website-obsessed nurse blogger to start your nurse blog for you and help grow your business with on-brand SEO blog writing services. 😝
Ready to redefine what it means to be a nurse and scale the business of your dreams with connection-worthy copy?