There's only so much traffic you can get from the homepage or About Us page of your company's website. Of course, those pages are critical for leads who are already interested in your products -- but they often won't attract traffic from top-of-the-funnel. That's where your blog comes into play.

Your blog can be a general resource to help your website visitors even before those visitors are ready to purchase from you. For instance, let's say you sell products for e-commerce stores. You might attract some e-commerce owners who are already searching online for your products, but in most cases, the e-commerce owner isn't going to be ready to buy right out of the gate.

Alternatively, if you begin blogging about tips to help the retail owner who is just starting out -- like "How to start a retail website", or "Benefits of e-commerce vs. physical store" -- you'll slowly attract an audience who enjoys your content and finds it useful. Then, when those site visitors' e-commerce stores begin growing (thanks, in part, to your blog), they'll already know about your brand and already trust it as a helpful source. That's when they'll check out your product pages.

4. To cultivate an online community and engage with an audience.

At the very least, you might create a blog to engage with an online community of readers with similar interests. Maybe you start a food blog and ask readers to share their own recipes with you.

Alternatively, perhaps you start a blog that focuses on DIY projects. You post the fun, DIY projects you've completed in your own home, and you ask your readers to share their own DIY tips in exchange.

How To Blog

1. Choose your target audience.
2. Brainstorm content ideas frequently based on your market segment.
3. Research and review a content management system (CMS).
4. Create a blog strategy and editorial calendar.
5. Pay attention to article structure.
6. Become an expert in marketing and promoting your blog.
7. Learn about SEO.
8. Use a variety of blog post styles.
9. Repurpose old content.
10. Perform a competitive analysis.

1. Choose your target audience.

When you're starting your own blog, it's important to think of your target audience. Who are you creating the blog for? And who do you want reading your blog posts? Before you can get started, you have to consider the niche you're writing about and what topics you'll cover and why.

Brainstorming your target audience is similar to creating a buyer persona for your company. Plus, this will give you an idea on what kind of content you want to produce.

2. Brainstorm content ideas frequently based on your market segment.

Once you've started a blog, you'll want to churn out high-quality, consistent content on a regular basis. This isn't always easy. Creating content is a time-consuming task. You want to ensure your content is something your readers would be interested in and hopefully can help with your SEO — more on that in a minute.

To begin brainstorming content, consider what your competitors are doing. Look for gaps in their content that you can fulfill. Additionally, you should also do SEO research to verify that users are searching for and interested in the topic you want to write about. Tools like SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, and Answer The Public can help.

You'll want to brainstorm content frequently so you always have ideas that you can execute.

A wiki is a collaborative space where anyone who visits the site can edit, share, or publish content -- Wikipedia is one of the most popular examples of this. On the other hand, there is typically only one person, or a team of people, with admin permissions to edit, share, or publish to a blog. Website visitors who come across the blog can potentially leave comments at the bottom of the blog post, but they cannot publish to the site or edit the posted material.

What is a blog used for?

1. To help your company rank on search engines.
2. To share information about a given topic and become an expert in an industry.
3. To attract visitors to your site, and turn those visitors into leads.
4. To cultivate an online community and engage with an audience.

1. To help your company rank on search engines.

Typically, a business will use a blog to help the business's website rank on search engines. You can absolutely employ SEO tactics, or use paid ads, to help your company homepage rank on page one of Google -- but a more effective, long-term solution is blogging.

To consider how your company can rank on search engines via a blog, we'll start with an example -- let's say you work for a web design start-up with very little online presence.

You decide to spend the first year writing and posting regular blog content that strongly relates to web design. Over time, your traffic increases and other companies link to your site for information regarding web design. When this happens, Google recognizes your company as a legitimate source for web design information. Eventually (with a lot of trial and error), your blog posts begin ranking on page one of Google for terms like "web design", "website builder", and "e-commerce website".

Then, one day, you search "web design companies in X city" and find your company is now on page one. This is likely due, in large part, to your consistent blogging efforts.

Take a look at How HubSpot Uses Blogging to Rank #1 on Google to learn more about specific strategies you can implement to rank on search engines.

2. To share information about a given topic and become an expert in an industry.

In 2006, Boston-native Matt Kepnes quit his job and began traveling the world. He documented his travels in his now infamous blog, NomadicMatt.com.

After about a year, thanks to tireless blogging efforts and SEO strategies that enabled him to rank on Google, he began pulling in $60,000. Matt also created e-books, and used sponsorships and affiliate marketing to make money. Additionally, he wrote a New York Times best-seller, "How to Travel the World on $50 a Day."

Now, Matt's blog attracts 1.5 million visitors a month and grosses about $750,000 a year -- and he's become a well-known expert in the travel space.

If you want to become known as an expert in a topic that interests you, from fashion to blogging to fitness, you can -- and, oftentimes, it starts with a blog.

In 1997, Jorn Barger, blogger for Robot Wisdom, coined the term "weblog", which was meant to describe his process for "logging the web" as he surfed the internet. The term "weblog" was shortened to "blog" in 1999, by programmer Peter Merholz.

In the early stages, a blog was a personal web log or journal in which someone could share information or their opinion on a variety of topics. The information was posted reverse chronologically, so the most recent post would appear first.

Nowadays, a blog is a regularly updated website or web page, and can either be used for personal use or to fulfill a business need.

For instance, HubSpot blogs about various topics concerning marketing, sales, and service because HubSpot sells products related to those three subjects -- so, more than likely, the type of readers HubSpot's blog attracts are going to be similar to HubSpot's core buyer persona.

Alternatively, a woman named Kiki started a personal travel blog, called The Blonde Abroad, to document her travel experiences and provide readers with helpful tips and travel recommendations. Her blog doesn't serve a larger company, but it does help her create a personal brand.

If a personal blog is successful enough, the writer can also make money off of it via sponsorships or advertisements. Take a look at 5 Strategies to Monetize a Blog to learn more.

What is a blog post?

A blog post is an individual web page on your website that dives into a particular sub-topic of your blog.

For instance, let's say you start a fashion blog on your retail website. One blog post might be titled, "The Best Fall Shoes for 2019". The post ties back to your overall blog topic as a whole (fashion), but it also addresses a very particular sub-topic (fall shoes).

Blog posts allow you to rank on search engines for a variety of keywords. In the above example, your blog post could enable your business to rank on Google for "fall shoes". When someone searches for fall shoes and comes across your blog post, they have access to the rest of your company's website. They might click "Products" after they read your post, and take a look at the clothing items your company sells.

A blog post links back to your overall blog site. For instance, right now, you're on blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-a-blog. The "what-is-a-blog" section of the URL is tied back to /marketing/, which is the blog as a whole.

Lynn Slater started the ‘Accidental Icon’ because of the dearth of fashion blogs catering to the needs of women over 50s, 60s and beyond. You won’t find too many people like her, but you know the world needs more of that. With snow-white coiffed hair, this sixty-something grandmother is living it all up and raising bars, more like breaking barriers for all the right reasons. With floral kimonos, flaming hot oversized sunglasses, and a contagious fashion sense, Lyn Slater believes and shows us time and again that ‘age is just a variable.’ Thanks for proving the world wrong, Lyn, your 400,000 and growing fan club couldn’t be more grateful.

Blog – www.accidentalicon.com
Instagram – www.instagram.com/iconaccidental

Lynn Slater started the ‘Accidental Icon’ because of the dearth of fashion blogs catering to the needs of women over 50s, 60s and beyond. You won’t find too many people like her, but you know the world needs more of that. With snow-white coiffed hair, this sixty-something grandmother is living it all up and raising bars, more like breaking barriers for all the right reasons. With floral kimonos, flaming hot oversized sunglasses, and a contagious fashion sense, Lyn Slater believes and shows us time and again that ‘age is just a variable.’ Thanks for proving the world wrong, Lyn, your 400,000 and growing fan club couldn’t be more grateful.

Blog – www.accidentalicon.com
Instagram – www.instagram.com/iconaccidental

Lynn Slater started the ‘Accidental Icon’ because of the dearth of fashion blogs catering to the needs of women over 50s, 60s and beyond. You won’t find too many people like her, but you know the world needs more of that. With snow-white coiffed hair, this sixty-something grandmother is living it all up and raising bars, more like breaking barriers for all the right reasons. With floral kimonos, flaming hot oversized sunglasses, and a contagious fashion sense, Lyn Slater believes and shows us time and again that ‘age is just a variable.’ Thanks for proving the world wrong, Lyn, your 400,000 and growing fan club couldn’t be more grateful.

Blog – www.accidentalicon.com
Instagram – www.instagram.com/iconaccidental

Lynn Slater started the ‘Accidental Icon’ because of the dearth of fashion blogs catering to the needs of women over 50s, 60s and beyond. You won’t find too many people like her, but you know the world needs more of that. With snow-white coiffed hair, this sixty-something grandmother is living it all up and raising bars, more like breaking barriers for all the right reasons. With floral kimonos, flaming hot oversized sunglasses, and a contagious fashion sense, Lyn Slater believes and shows us time and again that ‘age is just a variable.’ Thanks for proving the world wrong, Lyn, your 400,000 and growing fan club couldn’t be more grateful.

At 43, Kat Farmer is a fashion blogger, wardrobe consultant, a personal stylist, and full of life. In her own words, she’s trying to tackle the 40s without being frumpy, and her statements are just that. There’s an exciting balance of feminine, floral, and fashionable pieces put together, redefining style.

Blog – doesmybumlook40.blogspot.in
Instagram – www.instagram.com

At 43, Kat Farmer is a fashion blogger, wardrobe consultant, a personal stylist, and full of life. In her own words, she’s trying to tackle the 40s without being frumpy, and her statements are just that. There’s an exciting balance of feminine, floral, and fashionable pieces put together, redefining style.

Blog – doesmybumlook40.blogspot.in
Instagram – www.instagram.com

At 43, Kat Farmer is a fashion blogger, wardrobe consultant, a personal stylist, and full of life. In her own words, she’s trying to tackle the 40s without being frumpy, and her statements are just that. There’s an exciting balance of feminine, floral, and fashionable pieces put together, redefining style.

Blog – doesmybumlook40.blogspot.in
Instagram – www.instagram.com

At 43, Kat Farmer is a fashion blogger, wardrobe consultant, a personal stylist, and full of life. In her own words, she’s trying to tackle the 40s without being frumpy, and her statements are just that. There’s an exciting balance of feminine, floral, and fashionable pieces put together, redefining style.

Blog – doesmybumlook40.blogspot.in
Instagram – www.instagram.com

At 43, Kat Farmer is a fashion blogger, wardrobe consultant, a personal stylist, and full of life. In her own words, she’s trying to tackle the 40s without being frumpy, and her statements are just that. There’s an exciting balance of feminine, floral, and fashionable pieces put together, redefining style.

Blog – doesmybumlook40.blogspot.in
Instagram – www.instagram.com

At 43, Kat Farmer is a fashion blogger, wardrobe consultant, a personal stylist, and full of life. In her own words, she’s trying to tackle the 40s without being frumpy, and her statements are just that. There’s an exciting balance of feminine, floral, and fashionable pieces put together, redefining style.

Blog – doesmybumlook40.blogspot.in
Instagram – www.instagram.com