Unless your business is already sitting pretty atop Google’s page 1 search engine results page (SERP) - you need a blog. A blog can make a material difference to where your business shows up on the SERP. So, unless you’re happy to settle for a page 3 or 4 ranking (gasp), you better get typing.
Google thrives on fresh content, and rewards businesses who are continually updating and injecting new copy into their websites. Google bots crawling around the back end of sites are hungry for new information and are simply ecstatic when they find some. Maintaining a blog is the easiest way to do this and meets the following objectives:
1. Enables you to share your expertise and positions you as knowledgeable in a certain field
2. Helps potential customers by providing useful information which may educate or assist with purchasing decisions
3. Allows your business to showcase a bit of personality, opening up lines of communication with potential buyers
4. Enhances your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), providing more pages to insert keywords, links, structured data, title tags, alt image and meta-descriptions
5. Satisfies Google’s desire for high quality content which will improve your SERP ranking
And here’s a compelling statistic to motivate you into action - businesses who blog produce 67% more leads.
Where to Start
Now for the challenging part, what do you write about? If you can’t get past the blank screen with the cursor incessantly blinking in avid anticipation of your first word, help is at hand. The marketplace is full of content writers just champing at the bit to write your blog. It could set you back a few hundred dollars per blog, but that could be a decent investment if writing is not your thing.
Or you just go for it. Write away. You’re an expert in your industry, no one knows your product as well as you do. If you’re passionate about what you’re selling, that will come through in your writing. The most popular blogs are the ‘How to…..’, so I’d recommend starting there. Share your knowledge and enthusiasm, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how that starts to gain some traction.
Be strategic in your blogging approach. Have a brainstorming session with your team, collaboration drives innovation. Think about what problem you are trying to solve or what you are trying to educate readers about. Consider how you might integrate occasions (Valentine’s Day, Christmas), seasons (Summer, Winter) or call to actions (free webinar, free with any purchase). Collectively, you will come up with some captivating ideas.
Write it all down and schedule your posts in an editorial calendar. Blog as often as you can – some larger businesses blog every few days, but fortnightly or monthly is more realistic for small businesses.
Spread the Word
Think about other platforms where you can share your blog - Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. The more platforms you can reach, the bigger your potential audience. Repurpose the blog as needed, make subtle adjustments depending on where you are posting.
And an SEO tip for young players. Make sure you insert structured data behind the scenes, so your blog is eligible for Google’s rich results (another free advertising opportunity potentially landing you on page 1).
As with everything in life, the more effort you put in, the greater the reward. And blogging is absolutely no different. So, stop reading this and get on with the writing.
