A static website where nothing is added or taken away may seem adequate but your business might be missing out on a trick or two that will help drive traffic and make you more visible to search engines and more engaging for users. Search engines like Google love new content and one of the ways of providing this is with a business blog and continuing to add useful content on a regular basis.
Business Blog
Business blogging drives traffic to your site:
• Your main website will most likely have a small number of pages which give consumers a limited opportunity to find you on search engines. Creating content with a business blog can help boost your search engine ranking for selected keywords and combinations. It’s a great way to utilise long tail keywords that have particular relevance to your business as they can be included in blog titles and text.
• Attracting users via a well written and informative business blog can lead to greater conversions for your business. Choose the right topics and you’ll get people visiting who will be more interested in your product or service.
• You can develop a loyal readership – visitors may not need your product right now but you will be on their mind if they do.
• It establishes you as an authority on your subject and builds trust with visitors. You know what you are talking about, and you’re providing all this useful information, so you must be someone they would like to buy from or hire as a provider.
Blogs come with added benefits
Many businesses struggle to come to terms with using social media. Having a business blog gives you something to Tweet about or post on Facebook. It also gives your visitors something to share with their followings. You can download widgets now that put sharing buttons at the bottom of a post so people can easily share your posts.
Business Blog posts have longevity
If you have your social media and blogging linked up, one post may well lead to quite a few leads or sales in the first instance. But it doesn’t stop there. That blog post could be working for you for months or years to come, attracting valuable traffic and that can only benefit your business. Now imagine that you have ten, twenty, thirty posts all working away for you in this way.
Adding Google+ Authorship Adds Value. Creating a Google+ business account and linking it to your blog publishing gives you more credibility with the Google search algorithm. There is talk in the future that this simple tweak to your blog will form a greater part of getting noticed because articles with a verified author will figure higher in rankings.
Mistakes that businesses make
• Not linking their blog to social media and making it shareable.
• Writing too narrowly and constantly trying to push products or services.
• Not updating with regular content.
• Writing content that is too short.
• Writing content that is bland and of no use to visitors.
To Blog or not to Blog!
Yes, business blog posting can be a time consuming process but it is also a powerful tool when implemented intelligently. Many small to medium size businesses are beginning to see the benefits of regularly updating their site and producing unique and interesting content that makes a difference to their visitors with that increased potential for lead generation and sales. Of course if you are struggling to commit to the time needed then you can outsource this aspect of your Business Development. Make sure the author knows and understands your business, the tone you want to portray and ensure it is working in conjunction with your other sales and marketing campaigns. Business Development streams work best when they are all working together!