Question: Does your business (or personal) site also have a blog on it?
Have you considered adding a blog but aren’t sure about the return on your time investment? Adding a blog is free (Wordpress, etc.) but we are not talking a standalone blog which “is” the website. (Standalone blogs are typically created around an interest or hobby, a cause, usually as a way to attract web surfers - in order to generate advertising income for the blogger.)
In this article we will review the top reasons for making the decision to add a blog to your website.
TOP 3 reasons to add a blog to a business website:
- * 1st - search engines eat them up and keep coming back for more. Blogs are particularly savory to the appetite of Google’s stomach (and the other various search portal out there).
- * 2nd -it a marvelous way to provide current, or chronological information, to educate and entertain your visitors about your: industry, products, services, etc.
- * 3rd - a blog gives a more ‘human’ face to your website - making it potentially more appealing than your competitor’s sites.
1) Blogging SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits
Every webmaster, that is paying attention, would like for their website to appear on the “first page” of the search engines for particular keyword searches. Considering the bigger picture, the reality is there are a lot of other sites (and webmasters/marketing agents) striving for the same high ranking spots.
Search engines wisely don’t reveal the secrets they use to determine or program which sites will display above others, for a given keyword search. However, we all can agree that search engines rank higher for fresh, relevant, high-quality content. Google (and others) have the same goal as webmasters: they want their visitors to keep coming back. So logically they need to make sure the most relevant, high quality, (and often fresh/recently-updated) links are returned for searches.
A problem many small to medium sized businesses currently face is that their websites lack extra text content. The typical site contains 1-2 dozen pages of static page content. Also it is not uncommon for the pages to *not contain* a lot of text… i.e. “juicyness” for search engines! Static content only makes it difficult for a site to rank on the first page.
Adding dynamic frequently updated blog content (of relevant/high-quality) helps a site jump ahead in the search engine results pages. By definition of a “blog”: a lot of text and new content is added (or updated) regularly. Sprinkle in cleverly chosen keywords (or phrases) into the mixture and your site should soon be moving up in those results pages.
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2) Blogs are like virtual conference-rooms or classrooms
A quality, well-written blog is a great way to educate your clients about the products , services, or general information they are seeking. A blog can also be used to keep customers informed about new developments and updates in your industry. Blogs are also an effective way to convey to your customer-base that you have expertise, are current/active - and why they can count on you, or your company to fulfill their needs.
3) Blogs add more of a *human face* to your business
Blogs are conversational in style, some even offer a comment section when appropriate. So blogging has the effect of putting a human face on your business and helps connecting you with customers.
Summary
Adding a blog to a website does require a bit of a commitment, but it is a perfect way to keep your site fresh in the eyes of the search engines - and your visitors/clients. Blogs are also an easy way to add content in a structured/organized fashion. With one article a month (or more) you can not only educate your clients about issues specific to your industry, but also keep the search engines interested too. Lastly, blogs are an effective way to “humanize” your site - and build more rapport with your competitors and customers. Isn’t this blog enough proof of all of the above? ; )
