By now it is very likely that you have typed into your search engine of choice, a topic or term for which you would like more information about. What you might not have noticed is that a significant number of the search results you see no longer reference a standard web page or site. What started out as mainly online diaries, Blogs (short for web logs) have been steadily climbing to the first page of search results as authors continually post fresh and relevant content to the internet. Search engines, such as Google and Bing examine websites for this content, rate it, index it, and if deemed worthy, deliver it to the user who searched for the topic. The benefits of utilizing a blog for your business are numerous, and most of all, can bring your business to the attention of potential new clients.
Five Ways Blogs Can Grow Your Business
- Your posts will get you noticed. Each new article or subject that you post will get indexed by the search engines. And if your blog is part of your website, or is your website, then you are adding to the page content of your domain. As with all things on your site, the quality of your content is important. Posting fresh, relevant content on your blog will provide search engines with results to show customers who are searching for information about a service or product you provide. A well-written post, along with search engine optimization, can help put your business in front of them and bring them to you.
- Show readers that you are an authority. By posting regularly about your expertise in a particular industry and about your business, you can build a long web reputation as an authority on the subject. You have valuable knowledge and useful products that your client is looking for, so make sure they know that you can help them by giving them your references through your blog. Your posts can provide answers to the common questions that your target market is searching, and they will come to you for solutions if they see how you can benefit them.
- Your blog is not merely a one-way communication medium. Almost all blog software installations allow readers to post comments or even questions in response to your posts. Allowing a reader to ask follow up questions or request a personal contact through your blog gives businesses one more way for to interact with their customers. One word of caution: your blog can be the target of ‘robo-posters’, which crawl sites to post irrelevant responses and back-links on behalf of other sites. We can assist you in setting up your blog properly so that you can protect yourself from these posts, and still allow readers to interact with your blog.
- Lead generation from your blog. You have posted great content, you post regularly and with proper SEO practices, and people are finding your content on the web. Terrific! But how do you turn this reputation and visibility into tangible business growth? The answer is to provide additional incentives for your readers to go further than just reading your blog, encouraging them to provide their contact information in exchange for a valuable service or special information that they want to receive. A ‘call to action’ on your blog that brings the reader to your lead generation funnel is key to capitalizing on your blog.
- Your blog is an engine for growth. Don’t look at your blog as just a way to fill pages for your website. Your blog can be used as an anchor point for your social media posts, as newsletter content that can be part of your regular email marketing, as a customer service tool to provide answers to customer questions, or as a way for your sales people to showcase their knowledge to their clients. And unlike a static website that often requires some web skills to update, a blog can be set up for any employee to easily add content and interact with.
If you would like to have a consultant contact you to set up a review of your website and how adding a blog can benefit your business, contact our Marketing Director, Sam Gordon, to schedule a free consultation.
Authored by Drew Beattie, IT Director