So, what exactly is a blog? It's okay to ask, there's no need to be
embarrassed. A blog is basically an online journal which you can easily
update with new content. Sometimes a blog is a smaller part of a larger
website and sometimes it is a stand-alone website in and of itself.
Blogging
can, and should, be an important part of your web strategy because it
can bring a lot of traffic to your site that you could otherwise be
missing out on. There are a few reasons for this. First, the search
engines, such as Google and Bing,
love new content. If you are producing fresh content on a regular basis
you will rank higher in the search results than a similar site with
"stale" content that is never updated. Second, the more information you
make available to the search engines, the better your chances of
getting found through an online search because you have more words for
the search engines to index.
Another important benefit of
blogging is that it gives you an opportunity to engage your clients in
dialogue because they can leave comments on your blog posts.
Unfortunately,
there have been a few too many instances where we have built a new
website for a client that included a blog that went unused. I think
many times a client may not know how to use their new blog so in this
post I am going to tell you how to become a successful blogger.
Write Often
You may not be a natural born writer but you can still be a successful blogger. The more you write the easier it will become. It's a good idea to come up with a blogging schedule and then stick to it. You should really post to your blog at least once per week, maybe even twice. The more you can post the better, but...Quality Beats Quantity
Don't post too often at the expense of quality content. Nobody is going to want to read your blog if you are not providing interesting and well edited content. On the other hand, if your content is useful to your audience you will keep them coming back for more - which is great for your brand.Get to the Point
Lengthwise, your posts don't have to be too long. You probably want to write at least 3-5 decent paragraphs per blog post. In fact, you shouldn't write articles that are too long. Keep it to the point so your readers don't need to sift through your article for the information they are interested in.What to Blog About
Different companies use blogs for different purposes. You may want to use your blog as a way to deliver news or you may want to use your blog to write how-to articles for your products. Blogs are a great way to educate potential customers about the benefits of your products. One good blogging strategy is to create a "series" of posts in which you describe a technique or give advice over a number of posts. This keeps readers coming back for more week after week.Other blogging topics could include comparisons between your products and those of your competitors, holiday and seasonal topics, press releases and product launches, special promotions and discussions on industry news. Be creative and put some effort into your blog and you will begin to experience the benefits in a number of weeks.
Add Tags and Categories
Your blog gives you the ability to help your readers sort through your content to find what they want to read in the form of tags and categories. Tags are labels you can put on each post to help readers find other similar content on your blog. Categories are obviously similar, but you may want to have just one category per post whereas tags can be numerous.
Get More Out of Your Posts
In order to have the greatest impact for each blog post you write, try submitting your finished posts to news outlets and social media sites where it can gain extra exposure such as:
This will also help you build your audience because it can introduce your blog to people who have not discovered it yet and let people who already like your content help you promote it.
It's also a good idea to sign-up for Feedburner, a free service from Google that empowers your blog's RSS feed. What is an RSS feed you ask? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it allows people to easily "subscribe" to your blog's content. Don't worry, it's a feature that is already built-in to your blog so all you have to do is produce great content!
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