If your business has a website (which I hope by now it does) but does not yet have a blog then you need to do something about it. Many businesses do not realise how vital a blog is to a business website nowadays. In fact, many businesses do not understand how much they are missing out on by not having a blog for their website.
Here are some of the things a blog can do for a business website:
- Search engines like fresh content – You want people to be able to easily find your business online when they search for it, right? After all, if they have to know the direct URL then they are probably already customers. However, I have seen many businesses ignore SEO to the extent that even a direct search for the business name has their site at the bottom of the list. A blog is a great way to do SEO without having to invest a lot of money. By providing fresh content through your blog with keywords and phrases relevant to your business’ niche, you can boost your rankings without having to pay for placement. You can also get in new business through general searches for similar topics.
- Blogs offer connections – Speaking of new business, having a blog on your business website gives you the opportunity to connect with new and current customers. Comments and connections through social media sites, provide you with insights into what your customers are looking for and if they are having any issues. You can also show your support for non-profit organisations, community projects and sister companies by featuring them on blog posts. This shows that your company is concerned for the greater good and also encourages those groups to share links back to your blog, thus furthering your website’s reach and potential customer base.
- Blogs give brands a voice – When you designed the logo for your company you had in mind a specific feel you were going for. Maybe it’s professional, maybe whimsical and creative, maybe elite and fashionable. Whatever voice you were going for, now is your chance to expand on it. By creating a blog for your business, you have the opportunity to give your company a voice. Are you innovators? Do you get things done? Are you generous? Show that in your blog. By creating a voice for your company you can give customers a glimpse into what makes your company work and what it would be like for new customers to work with you.
- Blogs help you market – Online marketing is a huge part of most businesses now, but in the future it will only become greater. By creating a blog, you are in control of how your company is marketed. You can talk about your products or services, promote your good points and handle any issues that come up in a professional way. Believe me, your company will be talked about somewhere. Isn’t it better if you are in control of the discussion?
Once you have created a blog for your company’s site, what can you do to make it successful? After all, we all know business blogs that are nothing but a drain on resources. Instead, use these tips to make your business blog work for you:
- Cross connections – I’m sure your business has some kind of social media presence. By connecting your blog to your social media sites, you will get the benefits of cross connections. Many times a customer will find one of these avenues but not know about the others. By promoting cross connections, you allow current and potential customers to get all the information they need.
- Make it easy to find – One of the big obstacles that company blogs often run into is that they are not set up correctly in the first place. A blog should always have the businesses original domain. For example something like Business101.com should have a blog called Business101.com/blog. By creating a link between the original site and the blog it allows customers to easily get from A to B. Make sure to exploit SEO to your full advantage and also create a connection between the blog and the website with your products or services. You should also have a link to your blog on your website’s homepage for the same reasons.
- Making money – While a business blog is usually not there for money making purposes, at least not if you are just now setting it up, it can be a profitable aspect to the company. Beyond just getting in new customers or attracting customers to come to your company’s main site to buy products, you can also make money off the blog itself. One way to do this is through ads. Adding ads to your blog like Adsense is easy to do and can be profitable if you optimise your blog. You can also sell ad space directly to companies you work with. For example, if your company refurbishes homes you can sell ads for paint, sheetrock, countertops and flooring.
- SEO – Speaking of making money, SEO is an important aspect of setting up a blog that will really pay off. If you are taking the time and putting in the effort to make your business blog great, you should also be reaping the benefits. The only way you can do this is by getting a lot of traffic to your blog. Search engines are the backbone of traffic. There are many ways to use search engines to get traffic to your blog. One way is to pay for that traffic through banners, ads, and pay-per-click programs. While these do work, they are really not something that most new business bloggers want to use because they require an initial investment. Sometimes they pay off, but often you will only break even. Many of the ‘get traffic quick’ schemes you pay for also rely on gimmicks and fads. Once Google updates its search protocol, like it did for Penguin and Panda, those schemes will hurt your blog rather than help it. Organic SEO is not expensive, though it does tend to take a little longer to pay off. Here are some simple tips to get organic traffic:
i. Quality content – By providing good quality content on your blog, you have already done the first step. Make sure you write at least five hundred words per post to meet search standards.
ii. Know your customers – The second step is to know who you are writing for. Are your customers mostly older, younger, professionals or blue collar? Are they in school or retiring? When you know who you are writing for you can target that market and be much more successful.
iii. Use keywords – Once you know who your target audience is you can use a variety of online tools to do your research. Find out what they search for and what questions they have. Then use those keywords or phrases in your blog. That way your blog will come up in their searches and you will get the customers that will actually pay off to come to your site.
iv. Be human – Finally, remember to be human. No one wants to read a blog written by a faceless, emotion free machine. By forming real human connections with your customers they are more likely to keep coming back and tell others about your products or services.
Adding a blog to your business website is a must. If you do not have one on your site now you are already falling behind the competition. To remain viable in the increasingly connected online world you need to make a niche for your company. A blog is a great way to give your company a voice and make sure your customers can find you and communicate with you easily.
Written by Liz Nelson of WhiteFence.com. Liz is a freelance writer and blogger from Houston. As ever, we welcome your comments. Questions can be sent to: liznelson17 @ gmail.com.
The post Why your business should have a blog and what you can do to make it great appeared first on WTG BLOG.