Now that you have your handsome new Blogsite set up and ready to go, what should you blog about? The answer to that depends on what type of business you have and who your target audience is. Remember, before you write your first post, ask yourself who you’re writing for, and know your audience. This will ensure that your Blogsite stays focused, organized, and consistent.

Here are a few suggestions to help you fight blog writer’s block. We’ve broken the topics down by industry, so feel free to skip right to the one that applies to you.

Real Estate Blogs

• Your listings and market reports
• Feature a client of yours
• Open houses and special events
• Home staging and decorating tips
• Projects that add value to a property
• Your local area, ie. parks, beaches, lakes, mountains, downtown, etc.
• Local events like concerts, farmers’ markets, plays and shows, fairs, etc.
• Personal interest stories that your readers can relate to
• Your marketing techniques and new technology

Online Merchant Blogs

• You - tell the story of your business and yourself
• Your products and services
• Specials, promotions, and sales
• What sets you apart
• Industry stories and news
• Tell stories of how others have used your products
• Post interviews with satisfied customers or industry professionals
• The changing nature of the Internet and business
• Lessons you’ve learned along the way
• Industry observations and opinions

Business Blogs

• New technology and how it applies to your business
• Marketing online and offline
• Social networking and social media
• Your story and the story of your business
• Lesson of the week
• Post interviews with clients and other professionals
• Ask a question or post a poll
• Current events and how they apply to your business
• What is most important to you and your business
• The role of the Internet in marketing and communicating

These are just a few ideas based on general business models, but the possibilities are truly endless! Put your personality into your blog posts and always write for your target audience. Do you have some more ideas to share? Would you like to see more suggestions on a specific industry? Just leave a comment and let us know!

If you’re looking for an alternative to having your latest posts show up on your homepage, consider setting up a static page instead. This means that the same page will always display on your homepage, no matter what other posts or pages you add to your Blogsite.

The Wordpress default settings of having your latest posts show on your homepage is great for a true blog-style site. However, if you would like to use WordPress as your website with typical website behaviors (i.e. Home, Posts, About, Contact, etc.), a static homepage is the way to go. So, without further ado, here are step-by-step instructions for accomplishing the task:

1. First things first - Create a new page that you would like to use for your Home page. In this example, I will name my new page “Home”.
2. If you want a a static “Posts” page, you’ll also want to create new page for your “Posts” page. I will name this new page “Posts”.
3. Once your “Home” and “Posts” pages are created and published, click “Settings” (upper right of Dashboard).
4. Click “Reading”.
5. You will now be on the “Reading Settings” page. The first option you will notice is the Front page displays option. By default, “Your latest posts” is selected.
6. Click the “A static page (select below)” option
7. Now, click the Front Page drop down box and select the appropriate page (i.e. Home)
8. Do the same for the Posts Page drop down
9. Click Save Changes

You can see the results by clicking the “Visit Site” link (upper left). You will notice that you will not see your posts as you did before (don’t worry, they were not deleted). In the right panel, you’ll see links for Home and Posts.

You can then edit your “home” page as you see fit!

It’s one of the most overlooked buttons on your blog post, which is unfortunate, since it is also one of the most important. Yes, it’s the Spell Check button.

After creating what you feel is the perfect blog post, and adding what you feel are the perfect complimentary images to it, and giving it what you feel is the perfect title… you just want to publish it, right? Hold it right there! Before you hit that enticing little “Publish” button, make sure you hit the little button first! Your perfect blog post will not be so perfect if it has spelling errors.

Checking the spelling on your blog post might seem to be an unnecessary step to you. After all, you’re an educated person and know how to spell quite well. Besides, what’s the big deal if you misspell a word or two? Well, first of all, we’re all human, and whether we like to admit it or not, we make mistakes. So even if you think you are the spelling master, you’re bound to make a mistake at some point.

If your blog post contains spelling or grammatical errors, the people reading it will be less likely to take you seriously, especially if you blog for your business. On the other hand, if you have an impeccably spelled blog post, it will make you look good! Is it really worth skipping the spell check just to save 30 seconds, when it could tarnish your reputation or raise questions about your intelligence? I think we all know the answer to that one.