Over the last 18 months 'blogs' have been the big buzz word. So what goes into a blog and how can it help your company? Firstly read our article why keeping your website up to date is so important.
Read it? Ok - so now you know keeping your website up to date is important to help our with your natural search engine results. It also demonstrates to your customers that your business is a professional and well run company. Have you ever visited a website that was 2 years out of date? Did you think it was a professional company?
But how does a blog fit in with this?
Ok … let's first define what a blog is.
Wikipedia (which is a web based encyclopaedia - www.wikipedia.com) says:
"A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. "
So if you were a law firm for example: two of your lawyers could post a blog every 2 – 3 days with a commentary on local decisions handed down in court, changes in the law and perhaps a personal insight on some of the cases they may be working on. Obviously you would need to ensure client confidentially – but this is a classic case (pardon the pun) of a how a blog would work well.
How can blogs help your company?
- Search Engines, such as Google, like websites that are constantly kept up to date. This will boost your position in any search made through them (read our article on Trent's top 5 search engine tips here).
- A blog encourages people to return to your site more often. If your blog is really popular and well written – people may return to your site 2 - 3 times a week to read a particular opinion. This also makes great email marketing - read more about email marketing here.
What to consider before implementing blogs
- A blog by definition is written in first person and as such is not meant to replace good marketing copy. If you are thinking about having blogs on your site you will need to consider how they may reflect the professionalism of your company.
- Offsite blogs such as blogger.com provide a valuable source of inbound links, which may help your company out. Read how inbound links help your website here.
