GIRL…YOUR WEBSITE NEEDS A BLOG!!!
You probably have heard the myth that blogging is now passe and no one does it anymore or they are not popular, but good entrepreneurs know that couldn’t be FURTHER from the truth! Having a blog on your website is one of the best things you can do for your business and marketing! Having a blog on your site is now more important than ever in the days of social media, Google analytics, and search engine optimization (SEO)!
There are many ways that having a blog on your website can benefit your business, but here are the biggies in today’s entrepreneurial world. Blogs will help you do the following with your business:
Increase your SEO performance
I don’t know about you, but while I really enjoy the brand identity side of things, numbers and analytics and SEO are not really my jam. However, it is important to understand that your blog can significantly improve your SEO performance. Basically, the more keywords and topics you include and the more specific you can be with them will help people find you and the content you are providing. Also, if you post consistently, you move up in search engines because the engines can see it is a website that is maintained, meaning someone is actively monitoring and engaging with it. Also, be sure you allow comments on your blog, this also helps your SEO because you will rank higher on search engines because it shows that people spend more time on your site which they have to do to write a comment! Plus, the comments give you another way to engage with your audience. Just like social media, posting consistently and responding to comments in a timely manner all increase your optimization.
Establish yourself as an expert in your field
The more you write and share the more apparent your expertise becomes to your potential customers and clients, as well as to other business owners in your field. Everyone wants to hire the “expert” right?!?! If you have done your research, you know who is considered an “expert” in your business niche, they obviously had to do something that established them as such and a blog can help you do that too. Just make sure that some of your content really adds value and education and shows off your skills in your particular area.
Share your brand identity and personality
Having a blog on your website helps to humanize you, your business, and shares your mission. It would be great if we could meet tons of people all the time and express ourselves face to face and draw them into our businesses (well at least for extroverts like myself), but in the absence of that, what we put out online really helps people get to know us and our brand. You can definitely tell the personality of the person behind the brand the more you delve into a company’s website. Your blog is the opportunity to capture what makes you and your brand unique and amazing and will help drive people to the services you offer when they decide they love your personality. It allows you to tell the story behind the brand and stories are what sell and connect us with our consumers and potential clients.
Provide free value that drives people to your site
Just as we use “freebies” or “opt-ins” on our websites or on sponsored ads, blog content can do much the same thing. With your blog, you can provide free content that offers great value. This will help your potential clients view you as someone who is so giving and helpful with your free content that your paid services must be even more amazing! It’s also a place where you can link to when commenting on someone else’s post asking for assistance, thus driving people to your site, or another company or entrepreneur can link to a topic in your blog, also driving people to your site. Either way, your help, and value-added content is a great way to drive people to your site and a great reference to share with others.
Be “shareable” by others
A blog gives others the ability to link to your useful content and provides more material to share on your social media outlets. I know many people are worried about what to write or what to say and there are a lot of resources out there that can help you do that. However, do you want to write less? Then have a blog. How does that make sense? Because you are going to repurpose your blog content to be able to use it to link to on social media and in your newsletter or emails you send out to your clients. There are so many ways to use and reuse your content while still making it feel fresh and thus it actually can result in you having to write less because you repurpose well. As mentioned previously, having a blog also allows others to send people to you and your site because you provide really great content! It’s just one click from your blog link to the amazing services or products you offer.
So what will you write in your blog? The big thing to take away from this article….is “GIRL…YOUR WEBSITE NEEDS A BLOG!”
Danielle Lively Neal is a former professor turned entrepreneur who provides brand strategy consulting, career coaching, and marketing services for clients.
