The world of Search Engine Optimisation is not Black and White, but consists of a whole lot of shades of Grey (and I am not just talking about hats here). In many ways, SEO is more of an art than a science, and it is pretty rare for everyone within the SEO community to agree. However, I am quite confident to say (without fear of contradiction from my SEO peers), that the two MOST important things for raising your website’s online profile, are Content and Links.
Unique, quality, keyword rich content, along with links to your site from recognised and relevant third party sites, are fundamental to achieving good rankings. Without these your pages are destined to wallow in the relative obscurity (along with the thousands of other pages) of page 2 search results and beyond.
There are many strategies and tactics that can be used for optimising your site, but just about all of them are based around these two simple elements. Most optimisation techniques focus on one or the other of these basic fundamentals, however, there are a few activities that manage to achieve both. That’s why I am a massive fan of blogs – because creating (and properly managing) a blog on your site, can be one of the most efficient ways to improve your rankings, traffic and sales/leads from your website.
But Blogs are Scary
Blogging is one of the quickest and easiest ways I know of, to raise your small business website’s profile online. However, many site owners – particularly those in businesses that have been traditionally offline, still don’t “get” the concept of a blog.
Some find the idea of a blog scary, or think that it is too hard or complicated to worry about. One of the biggest hurdles for small business owners to overcome is the idea that they regularly need to come up with new content for their blogs. But Content is Critical, so if you are not blogging your content, then you need to create it in some other way, and regularly adding/updating your site’s pages is so much harder to do (come on, be honest, when did you last update the content on your site?).
Whether you write blog posts yourself, have your staff do it, or outsource it to an external agency, it doesn’t really matter – as long as you do it somehow.
So what about Links?
The “content” aspects of a blog are fairly clear, after all, each and every new blog post represents another chunk of content for your site. The link benefits however, may not (on the surface) be quite so obvious.
These come from the concept of blogging “communities”, where individuals with similar interests tend to hang out. A blogging community is not necessarily a defined group of sites or blogs, but rather a dynamic and ever changing mass of links and cross references between related posts.
As long as your posts contain interesting, useful, helpful and/or informative content, your readers will comment and link to it from their own websites or blogs. Posts that are funny, topical or even shocking or controversial can be very effective at boosting your links as well.
But wait, there is more…
Apart for the significant content and link building benefits (outlined above) that a blog can achieve for you, there are plenty of other ways a blog can help your business. Here are another 5 reasons why your business needs a blog:
Promote your Products
Nobody knows more about your products and service that you do. A Blog presents a quick, easy, and informal way to talk about your latest offerings – and you don’t have to do it as a sales pitch. Very often a simple overview of a new product or service, without any pressure to buy, can be very effective at generating further inquiries.
Become an Authority
What do you think about the industry or niche that you business is in? Making commentary, providing suggestions, or offering advice about topical issues related to your industry can help raise your “Authority” status within the marketplace. Wouldn’t you rather be known as “the expert” than your competitors? Your competitors are probably already blogging, and if not, it is likely they will be soon.
Relate to your Customers
The informal nature of a blog allows you to show a human side to your business. Adding a personal touch to your blogs makes it easier for your customers to relate to you and your business, and could mean that they are more likely to use (and recommend) your products and services in the future. People tend to be loyal to companies that are transparent and real.
Communicate
A blog provides another forum for your customers to communicate with you. They can comment and interact with your blog and this can be an invaluable tool to help you understand what they like and (more importantly) don’t like about your business.
Do you have a Long Tail?
You may have heard of the term “Long Tail” – which relates to the hundreds or thousands of keyword phrases that people may use in relation to your business, but are not directly related to your product or services. Blogs can help improve your long tail search term rankings, because a blog post allows you to describe your products and services in different ways, and comments from your customers/readers are also likely to use words and phrases that you may not.
As far as I am concerned, there is no reason why any small business website owner should turn their back on blogging – and plenty of reasons why you should embrace a blog. Blogging has a proven track record for SEO and presents a great opportunity for you to promote your business, and increase your rankings, traffic and online sales.
About Darryl
