As a creative business owner, it's crucial to have a beautifully designed website with excellent content. And a huge part of the content that you should include is a blog, but it’s difficult to know just what to include in blog articles posted on your site as a small-business owner.

In this article, I’ll provide some quick tips and ideas for what to include on your website blog as a floral designer. I’ll also talk through ways to make blogging easier as a small-business owner!

Why should you have a blog? 

Your blog is a relationship-building and search engine optimization tool. Simply put, this means it helps people find you because there is more information on your website—and search engines like that. It also means that once people find you, they can get to know you through your website.

Think of it this way, if your website is like an introduction and first impression (which it should be), your blog is the conversation that happens immediately after the introduction.

If a potential client comes to your website, they need to be impressed by how gorgeous the site design and images are to build the feeling they are working with a legitimate, top-quality designer. They also need to be able to find the information they need to see what is really involved in choosing wedding flowers and working with a floral designer.

You'll get bonus points if they feel like they know you a little bit from your story and photos, but the magic weapon that can seal the deal is your blog. When they read your posts and see the strong connection you have with your past clients and the vendors you work with, they'll start building a trusting relationship with you before they ever meet you. You can tell them what it's like to work with you on your website, but it's on your blog that you can actually show them.

BLOG TIPS AND IDEAS FOR YOUR FLORAL BUSINESS:

• When writing blog posts, be yourself. Write like you speak and speak to your dream client. Just like in all of your website copy, avoid the tendency to be stiff and "business-like," as this can come across as cold and insincere. You’re in a creative industry; it's ok to be unique.

• Show your personality. Your blog is the place on your website that you can share the things you love and let people get to know you as a person (not just a designer). Occasional posts about things like hobbies, other creative endeavors, casual family photoshoots, and a look at your work behind the scenes shows people who you really are. However, make sure these are genuine and somehow connect back to your business (and that you aren't just coming up with something to post).

• Share behind-the-scenes photos (but still use the best quality photos possible). You can designate someone on your set-up crew as the team photographer who makes sure that—in spite of the craziness—some photos get taken. Or, if you are the team, schedule time into your design and set-up days to snap a few good images. If you have an exceptionally amazing event, hire or trade with a photographer to capture images of the event set-up, the design session, your interaction with the client, and working with your team.

• Use your blog to show your work. The blog is the place to highlight your designs that don’t quite make the website portfolio. Or maybe it’s the place you share about a particularly strong connection with a couple that you designed wedding flowers for!

• Be sure when you blog a wedding that you show a few scenes from the whole event—not just the flowers. Tell a little about the event and the client, and be sure to list (and link to) the other vendors. When blogging a wedding, I suggest including 8–12 photos (enough to communicate the feel of the event, but not so many that readers lose interest).

• Interview other vendors. Interviews are one of my favorite types of blog posts! They allow you to highlight people you’ve worked with or—even better—would like to work with. It also gives you a networking opportunity. When interviewing, be genuine and come from a place of service. Ask how you could help them (even if you aren't working together) or how you can learn from them. Be sure to let them know when the post is up so they can share it!

• Interview past clients. Highlight their lives, family, and new life events, as well as their style. For example, if a past client that you have a good connection with has a maternity shoot or newborn photoshoot done, ask if you can share it on your blog along with their good news. You could have them share at least one thing they would recommend to a new bride or one thing they wish they knew when planning their wedding.

• If you have a team, hold a staff event and share about it on the blog. If you hold staff event at least once a year—such as a workshop to build the skills of your team or even just a casual team dinner—have photos taken. Use the photos and write a short post about your team members. This is a great team-building event and an excellent way to get candid images of your team for social media or your About Us webpage.

HOW TO BLOG SMART AS A SMALL-BUSINESS OWNER:

• Create an editorial calendar for the year that outlines what you will post and when. Compiling content during slow times of the year—and even creating it and scheduling it monthly to post automatically—is one of the best ways to keep up with blogging.

• Be sure to have a menu of categories at the top of your blog. Tag each post to show up in these categories so that potential clients can browse through your blog content by category and easily find what they are looking for.

• Make sure the design of your blog is user-friendly and on-brand. It should be easy to navigate and be part of your website.

• Use blogging as a creative inspiration. Create posts based around something you want to learn or practice. Order flowers and do a photoshoot of you arranging seasonal flowers just for fun.

• Always blog like a pro. Resist the urge to slap something up quickly just to get another post up. Remember that your blog is a marketing tool, and the time you spend on it is an investment in your business. Take the time to create quality posts that reflect the spirit of your work and establish professionalism. Focus on quality, not quantity.

• Make blogging a priority. Commit to creating at least two posts per month, preferably 3–4 at the beginning until you build up some content. For the most part, your content should be “evergreen,” meaning it will still be relevant six months or even 2–3 years from now. You are blogging as a small business owner, not a professional editorial blogger. Your audience is not looking for daily content. Instead, they want to know what you are all about and how you stand out from the crowd of designers.

• Use batch scheduling for efficiency. You can set aside one day per month to request wedding photos from photographers and past clients, to set up interviews, and to write your posts. You can also schedule your articles to publish on your blog on predetermined, set days. From every blog post you create, you can then create multiple social media posts and build it all into your editorial calendar.

So, that's the basics of blogging for florists. Since it's a lot of information (but also super important to do), I created a free guide to blogging that will show you how to create your editorial calendar and get started with blogging. You can jump over to my site and download it here.