For most small businesses, blogging is stuck somewhere between ‘important’ and ‘never gets done.’
We get it... there’s never quite enough time to sit down and write, ideas tend to dry up when you’re already stretched thin.
Even when you do manage to publish something, it’s often hard to know whether it’s actually working (is anyone even reading this thing?).
We’ve seen this pattern across many small businesses here in Hobart, from Kingston through to the Northern suburbs, where smart, capable people have plenty of knowledge to share, but lack a system to help them do it consistently and strategically.
Blogging ends up being reactive, irregular, or rushed, when really - it should be working quietly in the background to bring people to your site and build trust over time.
In this post, we explore how a simple blogging calendar can help shift content creation from a last-minute scramble to a steady, strategic part of your marketing.
We’ll also touch on how it supports long-term SEO in Hobart - not just by adding fresh content, but by helping you build topical relevance, improve internal linking, and keep your website working harder for your business every month.
First, let's take a look at why blogging is still important in 2025...
It’s easy to assume blogging has lost its relevance - especially when you’re already posting on social media or running ads.
But while those platforms constantly shift, the fundamentals of search haven’t changed: people still turn to Google to find services, compare options, and answer questions.
Blog content, when done well, plays a critical role in helping your website show up and stand out.
A good blog post acts like a long-term investment - unlike a social post that fades within a day or two, a blog can keep attracting traffic for months - even years - after it’s published.
In fact, businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than those that don’t (Source: Hubspot).
That’s because blogs give search engines more content to index, more relevance to assign and more trust to build around your website.
For service-based businesses, blogging also helps you build topical authority - showing Google (and your audience) that you know your stuff.
If someone searches for a question like “Do I need council approval for a pergola in Hobart?” and you’ve written about it, you’re more likely to be the one who shows up - and the one who gets the enquiry.
Blog content also makes everything else easier.
With the right strategy, one well-planned post can be crafted into a range of social content - from educational carousels to short-form reels - giving your business a stronger presence without creating everything from scratch.
“We’ve seen posts written two years ago still bringing in traffic and enquiries - that’s the beauty of blogging when it’s tied to a strategy, ” says Dominic, owner of Hobart Digital Marketing Agency Wakeford Digital.
"The example above of Trout Tales Tasmania ranking for 'best trout fishing spots Hobart' was one of the first SEO actions we took for the local fly fishing business and still to this day ranks in the top two positions.
Read more: Extend upon this strategy by doing content that works for both people and AI in our AI SEO Guide for Hobart.
A good blog plan is more than just ticking boxes or keeping up appearances but about using your content to support the rest of your website and build visibility where it matters.
Here’s a practical way to map out blog content that actually helps your SEO, keeps you on track, and can easily be managed - even if you’re short on time.
1. Start With Keyword Research (It’s Simpler Than It Sounds)
Keyword research is the process of finding out what your potential customers are actually typing into Google.
These might be questions, phrases, or topics they’re searching for when they’re looking for a service like yours.
You can start with tools like:
Look for relevant, helpful phrases - even low-volume ones - that match the kinds of searches your customers make.
2. Assign Keywords to Parent Pages (Or Blog Posts)
Once you’ve gathered keyword ideas, assign each one to a logical part of your site:
This step helps you avoid duplication, and ensures each page has a clear focus.
“If you don’t have strong service pages to begin with, start there first. Blogs work best when they’re part of a bigger plan - not floating off on their own," suggests Dominic.
3. Look for Gaps You Can Fill
This is where blogging and FAQ pages in particularly become especially powerful - filling content gaps that your main pages can’t cover in depth.
Use keyword tools or Google Search Console to spot:
Every one of these is a potential blog post idea that can drive meaningful traffic to your site. Add these to your map of keywords and you should have a comprehensive plan.
4. Plan It All in One Place
Use a shared Google Sheet to keep things simple. At a minimum, include:
This gives you visibility, helps with delegation, and makes it easy to build momentum over time - even if you’re only publishing once a month.
Dom suggests, "Earlier, we mentioned about how to know if you're successful in your efforts too - so another column you may like to add is current position you're ranking for that keyword".
"This is helpful because you can add into your calendar in a months time to come back and check to see if you've improved your ranking at all."
Bonus: Add Notes If Using AI or a Team
If you’re working with AI or outsourcing to a writer (either internal or external), include a notes column in your blog calendar.
This can include:
These prompts give the writer (or the AI) context - and help shape something that feels authentic to your brand.
Dom’s Tip:
“AI can do the heavy lifting, but it still needs your brain. A few handwritten notes can be the difference between generic and genuinely helpful content.”
Once your blog plan is in place, the next hurdle is writing - and for most small business owners, this is where things stall.
The ideas are there. The intent is good. But when you’re running a business, sitting down to write a 1,000-word blog post just isn’t realistic.
That’s where AI can step in - not to replace your voice, but to speed up the process and make it easier to stay consistent.
At Wakeford Digital, we use a range of tools such as Relevance AI and Descript to streamline blog creation.
Descript makes it easy to record a quick voice note, conversation, or even a client Q&A - then transcribe that into text (see above where we've mentioned about adding notes).
From there, we feed both the transcription and the blog brief into our custom Relevance AI agent, which generates a first draft based on the client’s tone, services, and planned topics.
The result?
A rough but usable blog post that captures your ideas without needing hours of writing time.
With the right inputs - keywords, notes, tone - the output comes back more human, more helpful, and much closer to done.
“One of the best hacks we’ve used is recording 10-minute chats with our clients and running the transcript through AI. That’s often enough to create an entire blog post - without needing them to write a thing,” shares Dominic.
Whether you’re working solo or collaborating with a team, this approach removes the blank page problem and gives you a head start - every time.
You don’t need to publish a new blog every week.
What you do need is a clear plan, a list of relevant topics, and a way to make content creation manageable - whether you write it yourself, use AI, or delegate the task entirely.
Done right, blogging becomes more than just a task - it becomes a long-term asset. One that builds trust, improves search visibility, and gives you fresh content to share across the channels that matter.
If you’d like help setting up a blog calendar, getting keyword research sorted, or using AI in a way that actually feels aligned with your brand, get in touch with us at Wakeford Digital.
We’ll help you turn “we should blog more” into something that actually gets done - and gets results.
