If you're creating a website for your business or reviewing an existing one, you may consider whether including a blog is worth the time and hassle. It takes effort to create good content, but it can be valuable for the success of your site.

Waking up Your Website

You've invested resources to craft a beautifully designed masterpiece, and you're now relieved that you can cross the job from your to-do list. That's great, but it doesn't matter how proud you are of your website if nobody knows it exists. You can promote it yourself, but you really need help from the search engine giants to start ranking in their results. 

Companies like Google have complex algorithms, and one of the things they can check for is how active a website is. This means consistently updating your site with new material. Your blog is the ideal platform for this. 

In addition, consider the impression a neglected website can give to potential clients that have found you. If there are no signs of visible activity for a year or two, it may give cause to speculate whether your company is still trading. Your website, like a garden, needs ongoing nurturing to prosper continuously. 

Finding the Magic Words 

It's not just about creating any content for your site though. It needs to be relevant to rank in the type of searches your potential customers are enquiring on. The algorithms of Google and its compatriots again come into play by identifying particular keywords relating to specific subject areas. This is a crucial component of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Don't, however, think that you can get ahead with filling your writing to the brim with keywords. If you're blatantly keyword stuffing, Google won't like this. This approach is also unlikely to produce compelling and informative content for the reader either. 

An additional option is to try and pinpoint more detailed questions prospective website visitors might use in searches. Once determined, you can create pieces accordingly. Including these long-tail keywords means less competition with the high demand single keywords. There's likely to be less search volume, but it can bump up your visibility. 

If you can provide frequent and appealing content, your rankings on search engines will increase immensely, leading to more traffic to your site. 

Building Credibility

Blog pieces are an opportunity to establish your expertise. Sharing information indicates that you can be a reliable source of knowledge. Visitors could be more likely to have your business in mind when considering their next purchase. You'll not only be a trusted authority for visitors, but search engines will recognise this too. 

Another aspect of using your blog is to reflect your company's personality and principles. If your business has introduced a new sustainability initiative, write a piece about it. Talk about a recent teambuilding event that your employees participated in. Highlight your involvement in a local charity event. Let visitors see that you're a credible and engaging business. 

Getting to Know Your Customer

Use your blog to encourage interaction and build customer relationships. Encourage feedback on your postings. It demonstrates your approachability, and it's an opportunity to answer questions or even resolve negative feedback swiftly. It allows you to understand the customer requirements and identify how you might meet these.

Now That They’re Interested

You’ve attracted a reader with an engaging and informative blog posting; what now? Don’t just let them go. This is the perfect moment to incorporate a suitable call to action at the end of the piece. You could insert a link to a relevant product or service. You could provide a space for them to sign up for a newsletter and receive a discount with their next order. Encourage them to share the article on social media. 

Talking of Social Media

Remember that you can also share your blog posts on your business’s social media sites. It will reach a wider audience and help drive traffic back to your website. 

Sharing is Caring

We've established that getting your blog posts shared will drive interest back to your website. If other websites consider your article a source of valuable information, they may cite the piece and link it within their own content. This is SEO gold. It acknowledges that your business is a trusted authority on this topic and is good news for your search rankings. It also raises your profile as potential customers discover you on other sites. 

Long-term Rewards

Once you have placed a high-quality piece of content on your website, the search engine algorithms will log it. While it remains on your site, it will continue to contribute to your rankings. A blog post can potentially drive traffic to your site years after creation.

Blogging can seem like a complicated beast and a drain on your time, but if you keep focused on providing content that your customers want to read, it's worth the effort. 

If you would like some help creating blog pieces, please get in touch.