Nope, I didn’t miss a word there. If you want a strong presence online then starting and regularly uploading blogs is something you really need to consider.
So many of our clients come to us and say “we want to start a blog, because that’s what everyone is doing”. So……
| Do you know why you should blog? Do you know the commitment to maintaining a blog? And do you know the true benefits of maintaining a successful blog?
Let me start with the why you should blog. Adding content to your website on a regular basis keeps your website up to date and should be part of your long term strategy for SEO management. When you blog, you’re making your website more visible to people who are “using” keywords associated with your product or service via search engines like Google.
Keep it current
Have you ever come across a website that clearly hasn’t been updated in years? Your interest is lost instantly and you probably question the authenticity of the business; does it still exist? Is it any good? And then, you move on.
Google doesn’t want to share outdated information. Websites with regular updates, signal to Google that the website is alive and sharing new information. It also provides Google additional content to index. Updating your home page or services probably doesn’t happen very often (or need to happen often) so updating a blog is much more manageable.
Keep your audience on your website
We often look at Google Analytics and see that people viewing a website might remain on a page for between 3-30 seconds. However, a blog can keep them on a page longer because they are reading content that they find relevant #blogsneedpurpose
Hostgator have written a brilliant article on SEO and how blogging helps:
“Google’s number one priority is providing the people performing searches with the information they’re looking for, so they’ll keep coming back to use Google again. If someone who does a search clicks on the first link, then finds it unhelpful and immediately leaves to go back to the search page – that tells Google that the first result wasn’t as helpful as they thought. On the other hand, when someone clicks on a result and stays on the website for a while, that signals to Google that this website is actually very helpful.”
Internal and External Linking
This is a super important aspect to nailing the Google algorithm, however we could talk about linking for days so will write another blog on that soon! Make sure you sign up to our newsletter so you know when our blogs are released.
Size does matter!
A blog post needs to be at least 300 words for Google to rank it as content. Longer posts obviously give Google more content to review and determine what you’re actually talking about. However, you need to consider readability and your audience. Posts over 1,000 words can be hard to read and you really need to have experience in writing to keep your audience engaged for that length of time.
If you aren’t confident about your writing abilities – aim for 700/800 words in length. To help, here are some tips on writing a great blog article:
- Make sure it is structured and easy to read
- Make paragraphs short and clear
- Add lots of subheadings
- Sentences should be short
- Don’t use difficult vocabulary #keepitsimple
Have Purpose
Make sure you have purpose to what you are writing and make sure you write something your audience wants to read. Before you start typing, think about the theme of your blog and the message you want to relay to your audience.
Consistency
Ok, so you’ve decided blogging is the right strategy for your business and you’ve got ideas for a few topics. Before you share them with the world, think about how often you are going to blog and then stick to it and make sure it’s manageable long term! For example, if you are going to commit to one blog post per month, set a calendar reminder that on the same day every month, the blog will be released. It sets up an expectation for your audience and creates anticipation. The other thing to consider here is that if you start a blog and don’t maintain it, it could be causing more damage than good.
So if you have something to say that your audience wants to hear, it might be time to start planning your blogging calendar with purpose, intent and consistency.
If you need a hand with a content plan, writing or even blog management this is something we can assist with within our SEO management services, reach out!
