Blogging is more important than ever right now. Google loves fresh, original content. With every new post, Google will come back and visit your site, which improves your overall ranking. Your online tribe loves connecting with you and what you have to share.

Blogging helps your tribe get to know, like, and trust you. In addition, every post gives you an excuse to email your list and post on all the major social media sites, which drives more and new traffic back to your site.

So why not start a blog?

Ready to launch your blog? Here are 5 easy steps to start a blog:

Step 1: Determine your desired reader.

Spend 10–15 minutes describing the type of person you want to read your blog. For some of you this will include very specific things like demographics (age, gender, location), but for others it will be less specific.

Remember, your blog has a purpose and isn’t just for your random thoughts. You have to have a theme so your readers know why they should come back and check on your latest articles. Your blog should be able to help your ideal client or customer so they can see you know your stuff!

Step 2: Identify another successful blog in your niche.

IMPORTANT: This step is not to copy, but just to get ideas. You want your website to be unique and, later on, you might not want to follow any blogs in your niche to avoid any jealousy or copying.

But, in the beginning, it’s important to just get your ideas flowing and notice what you like and don’t like about other people’s sites and what is missing that you can provide better.Ask yourself the following questions:

• What topics are they covering?

• What are they ignoring?

• What topics are generating the most engagement in the comments?

• What questions are readers asking?

• What do you think of their design?

• What have they done well or poorly with their design?

• What options do they have for readers to subscribe?

Step 3: Come up with at least 5-10 categories your new blog will cover.

When you start a blog, your goal is never to run out of post ideas. You do not want to be strapped for time and writing something last minute. You want quality and your readers will want consistency.

Continually add to this list so when you sit down ready to write something you won’t be starting from scratch. It’s always easier to write when you have an outline ready to go. We recommend batching your time together and writing multiple posts at the same time.

For instance, maybe spend an hour every Saturday coming up with ideas for the next month on your blog. Then, the following day, start writing as many articles you can in a two-hour time frame. You may be surprised at how many articles you can get scheduled ahead of time just by devoting focused time to one activity and avoiding distractions.

Step 4: Take 5 Categories and Post Ideas and think of 5 other posts for each category.

When you come up with one great idea, don’t stop there. How can you make a series or a month’s worth of posts on the same topic? For instance, could you explore the opposite view or answer a question about the idea?

Maybe you could take a news article about the idea and write what you think about it. Could you give step-by-step instructions about the idea? For example, if one post idea I had was about how to start a blog, other ideas I could also write step-by-step instructions, how to use a blog to start a business, how to pre-schedule your blog when you are really busy and how to blog when you have a full-time job. It’s also really fun to do a series. For example, a 30-Day Networking Challenge.

See how one idea gave me so much more to work with? Just one idea can create so many more little blog posts. Your goal should be to plan out the entire month of blog posts before the month starts.

 The process outlined in this post is what I try to do on at least a monthly basis. I set aside time at the start of each month to brainstorm as many possible topics as possible.