Lots of our clients ask us whether they should have a blog on their website. They wonder if it’s worth it, how much time they’ll need to spend writing and managing the blog and if they do decide to go for it, what should they even be writing about. Here’s our take on blogging; whether you should do it, how to do it and the business benefits you can achieve.
The personal touch
Writing a blog allows you to establish a connection and develop a relationship with your site visitors, many of which may be potential and existing customers. What you write about and what you have to say about it helps your readers understand you and your business better. Writing is very expressive, and your readers begin to form an opinion about you without even meeting you. With this in mind, it’s really important to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. The topics and your tone can create a real impact.
Boost your SEO
Fresh content is your best friend when it comes to enticing search engines. They favour fresh and valuable content that provides answers to searchers’ questions. In order to keep your site relevant and frequently populated with new content, there is no better way than with a blog. Google and other search engines index the content you create, which will contain those vitally important keywords, and this will help increase your search engine visibility. Over time, you’ll start to benefit from back links as well as other websites find your blog posts and link to your site from theirs.
The voice of authority
Writing a blog gives you a voice. Regardless of the size of your business, a blog can help you build trust and respect in your industry, by providing valuable information and expert opinion on topics of interest. Ultimately, most businesses aim to be regarded as a go-to resource and your blog can help you do this. By having an expert view and sharing your knowledge, you will gain credibility and authority in your area of expertise and establish you and your business as a thought-leader.
Offer value
Ask yourself what do your customers and potential customers want. What are their problems and how can you solve them? The answer to these questions should form the basis of the majority of your blog content. Providing guides, hacks and suggestions to the challenges will earn the respect and establish you as a valuable asset. Blog post that start with “top tips” or “how to” often offer easily digestible and helpful reading for your visitors. Pay attention to the questions that your customers raise with you and take note of repetition. If a number of your clients have the same questions or one answers to the same problems, the likelihood is there’s a lot more people out there that you could help. Use these as content topics and find creative ways to share your advice and know-how in a blog.
Lead generation
A call to action at the end or within the blog can mean that your blog becomes a lead generation tool. If they like what you have had to say and you’ve provided them with value, a “subscribe now” button is likely to be clicked. Using your site analytics and tracking, you can intelligently target them with relevant content in the future, as you know which blog they have read and subscribed via.
Sharing is caring
A blog can be a valuable asset that your audience and community may want to share. Make it as easy as possible for them to do this by providing share buttons. Your readers can become great marketing tools for you and your business. Every time they share your link, tweet it, repost it, or reference it, your potential readership grows.
What not to do
Don’t use your blog as an excuse to pitch your products and services. To readers, this can feel like a dishonest approach. They’re reading your blog post for help, guidance and advice, not to be sold at. If your blog naturally takes you into a narrative where you are explaining examples of your work and you choose to share testimonial style posts, this can really work, but as soon as it starts to feel “salesy” rather than experiential, stop!
If you'd like some advice with getting you blog started, or you would like help writing, drop us a message - we love to write!