What Can a Business Blog Do For You?

Blogging is one of the most powerful search engine marketing tactics available today. A blog should be the hub of all the other social media tools, because it functions like a website or as an add-on to your existing website. When a blog is updated regularly, it helps build natural search engine rankings and therefore increases traffic to your website.

As an added bonus, it helps your website be better positioned in the engines as well. As such, any business that’s serious about using online marketing will want to consider integrating a blog into their website.

A blog (a blend of the term web + log) is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, interesting stories, explanations and other material such as graphics or video. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via the blog, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes blogs from other static web pages.

Don’t think of a blog as just a tool to post articles. It’s much more than that. Posting links with your status updates on Facebook and Twitter that lead back to your blog can be very effective, especially if people can easily access and visit your website and look at everything else you have to offer right from your blog. A blog is its own call to action, with an invitation to visit the rest of the real estate you have on the web.

A blog following SEO best practices can help optimize your website by accomplishing the following:

1. Giving Google more and more new content to index. Anytime you add text-rich pages to your website, the new content will result in your website showing up for more searches. You’re casting a wider net, which tends to catch more prospects.

2. Linking to other pages on your site directly. This creates a clear map for Google, describing what you do and where you do it.

3. Linking blog posts together using tags, categories, and archives.

4. Adding new, fresh content to your website notifies Google that you are actively working and updating your website. This ongoing work to your site serves as a recurring alert to Google to visit and index your site more frequently, causing it to move higher in search rankings.

5. Bigger is better in the eyes of Google. Adding two posts per month to your website with quality, keyword rich content should easily grow your site by 25% to 50% a year for the first few years!

Just adding a blog to your site is not going to magically get you more business. However, undertaken properly, blogging can significantly enhance your visibility online. In addition to showing up for more searches, enhanced visibility means you’ll be seen more as an authority in your industry and it will help you build your contact network with potential clients, business and advertising partners.

• Helps you reach out to clients and potential clients
• Establishes you as a subject matter expert
• Gives you free publicity through search engine results
• Brings more web traffic to your website
• Makes your website more lively and friendly
• De-mystifies your business and makes it (and you) more approachable
• Lets you easily provide news, specials, etc.
• Helps you communicate in a timely fashion
• Builds a following of readers or visitors, who might turn into clients one day
• Provides technical support, online documentation, etc. – again, all part of establishing you as a subject matter expert

Additionally, if you have a Facebook page, we can integrate your blog posts with your Facebook account. Integrating your blog with your Twitter and Facebook accounts can make your blog a social media hub of activity, which in turn can help draw traffic into your site. Each time a blog post on your website goes live, this information is pushed to your Facebook and/or Twitteraccount allowing you to share your blog content with your audience and encourage them to share it with their friends.

Blogging isn’t a magical cure-all for your Search Engine Optimization efforts, but done properly, blogging can have a significant impact on your bottom line. Call The Web Guys Phone Number now at 317-805-4933, and let us integrate a blog on your site to increase your visibility online! Contact The Web Guys for all of your website design and search marketing needs. We take the time to consult with our customers and choose online marketing strategies that will benefit their business the most. Contact us or send us an email and start the conversation today!