Want traffic? Write a blog as part of your Marketing

You know your business better than anyone else. You got into your business most likely because of the love of doing what you do. So why not write about it. “I can’t write, I am not a writer” you say, you are selling yourself short if this was your first reaction to my first statement. You would be suprised how much the knowledge you have about your business will come out when put to paper (well, when put to digital paper). You are not only sharing your knowledge with others but when you blog you are also increasing your “street credibility” on the web and with search engines which in turn will increase your visitors which in turn increases your sales!

Where to start, where to begin. Well, write about what you KNOW and LOVE, YOUR BUSINESS core. If you own a brewery, maybe your love is pairing beer with foods – if you are an event planner, maybe your love is organizing, share some tips with your site visitors – if you are a insulation company, write about why insulation helps save your visitors money – if you are a photographer, write about hobby photography tips. Getting the picture now? Writing CAN be intimidating, I know personally from writing these blogs I write on ‘internet marketing’ (see how I snuck that keyword phrase in there). But I enjoy it because I love how SEO works and love watching our clients success. So it is natural for me to share my knowledge with others. Starting with that blank page can seem daunting at first. Start with basics though, with what you know and love.

How does this help my business and website traffic?
If you follow the MLT blogs you have heard me say before CONTENT IS KING. It is now the primary way to gain the above mentioned “Street Credibility” with the search engines. These engines do not just look for “keywords” any more, they look for a whole array of phrases, words, images alt tags, title tags and more – they put all of these together as a sort of picture of your website and what it is about. The more content you have about your core product or service the bigger the picture is with the search engines the more “Credibility” they give you, the higher you will rank. When you naturally write about your business you already instinctively are writing and adding keywords and keyword phrases relevent to your business to your content. But remember this, blogging is not about “Hard Pressuring” your visitors with blatent marketing materials. Blogging is about talking to your visitors, sharing your knowledge of what you already know with them. Draw them in with knowledge.

In addition to the “Keyword Credibility” a blog gains you there are several other advantages as well.

Inbound Links
The more blogs you write, the more visitors. The more visitors that come to your site FOR your blog the more links to your blog are produced through those visitors sharing your blog with others they know with similar interest. Inbound links are very important to marketing your website (Come back next month for more on Inbound Links).

More rankable pages
The more you blog the more “pages” you create that contain keywords and content relevent to your business. The more pages you have, you gain more opportunities to be found and get ranked. If you website has 100 pages about YOUR business type, and another site has 3…well, anyone can see the odds are much better of getting found with 100 pages vs 3.

More social interaction opportunities
We have said it before, social media is here to stay. Interaction and content can go hand in hand with a blog. By sharing your blog through all of the Social Media outlets and allowing your blog readers to comment you are encouraging interaction with your company by your visitor. This in turn eventually leads to them sharing -> more visitors -> more customers. This is a core principle of Inbound Marketing.

If you think you do not have time to sit down and write a blog you are wrong, you can’t afford to NOT have the time to write a blog, the benefits of spending that 1-2 hours per week far outweigh any negatives. Once you get started you will find out it is actually really FUN and the interaction you gain with your visitors is not only personally satisfying but also financially rewarding. The competitive advantage of websites that blog vs those that don’t are solidly proven. A website that has a blog DOES BETTER than one that does not. IT IS FACT!

Blogging today is easier than ever. There are MANY free blog sites you can get started right away with. Want to blog under your own domain? There are also a wide array of blogging software packages that are FREE to install and use on your website. So there really is no good excuse for NOT blogging… so why aren’t you doing it? There is NOTHING to lose and EVERYTHING to gain.

If you ever get stuck or have questions, feel free to drop me a line at tom@mltinnovations.com. We can assist with getting you setup and on your way to a successful blogging future!