Over the past couple of years, Blogging has become an internet sensation and is arguably one of the most effective, proactive steps you can take towards improving your web presence.
What is a blog?
Blog stands for Better Listing On Google! – Not really, although the idea behind this is not far wrong. Blog is actually derived from Web Log, a blog is a website or part of a website, which is updated with quality content on a frequent basis.
Some of the very best blogs on the internet have developed a community of avid followers, people who subscribe to the blog to receive updates and then read the article and then comment. This generates a tremendous amount of interest and encourages interaction, not only between the readers, but between the readers and the author.
Blogs have evolved to include the use of pictures, music and videos – all of which add a little more audio or visual interest to the post. Videos themselves are becoming very popular with Google placing ever increasing importance on the use of videos. As a result, Vlogging is now extremely popular, with some Vloggers even making a living out of it on YouTube and other websites.
Why would I blog?
As a business owner, it is safe to assume that you know your own industry inside out. This is the perfect opportunity to position yourself as an industry expert – and your customers will be very keen to read your views on the industry, insights into how it could be changing or even new products which are soon to be launched. A good quality blog will build up a strong dedicated following and could perhaps have readers who come back on a frequent basis to read what you have to say.
The process of continually creating quality written, informative and keyword rich content for your website has tremendous benefits for your SEO efforts. Although Google have a highly complex algorithm for determining which order competing websites are placed in their search engine rankings, two things constantly stand out – links and content.
Refreshing the content on your homepage and inner pages can be a monumental task, whereas adding a few hundred words to your blog is relatively simple and highly effective.
How to blog
A blog only has to be about 350 to 500 words. The best blogs are ones which you have an interest in, one which you can give a lot of information on and just let the words flow. There are however times where you will have to carry out in depth research the topic if it is a new development, this can be slightly time consuming, but well worth it – you might even learn something new.
There are two ways in which you can write a blog. The first would be an informative blog, this is one for your customers, it should answer frequently asked questions and be written in very simple terms so everyone can understand it. The second would be a blog written specifically for search engines. This type of blog would have to be keyword rich, because the content is so keyword rich Google and other search engines will reward you, usually with a higher listing.
Once you have created the most important thing (the content) then all you have to do is post it! This is actually quite simple, you can either post it to the blog section on your website, or onto your dedicated blog site. Blog sites such as Blogger and WordPress allow anyone to set up and customise a blog site, and the platform is extremely user friendly, so it is very easy to post and make changes. There is one thing you should beware of though, blogs are a spammers paradise, some blogs can become inundated with spam comments.
Frequent blogging is highly desirable, but a blog once a week would be highly recommended.
At WSI Digital Web, we believe that quality content is one of the easiest and most effective ways of increasing the performance of your website. We do however, realise that many businesses are too busy to take the time to write the content and post it. That is why we offer professionally written SEO friendly blog posts and we can even integrate the content for you. These blog posts are heavily researched and beautifully written. Contact us today to see how blogging could help your business 028 9048 0257.