Do you sit down once a year and develop your goals for the coming months and years?
Do you track statistics to make sure your business is on track?
Do you continually focus in on how to service your customers in better ways?
Do you blog?
If you said “no” to this last question, you might not be doing all you can for the first three. And without a blog, your business may suffer, in some cases terminally in the months and years to come.
Pretty harsh words. But words that anyone familiar with the online marketing world would probably agree with.
A site with fresh, regular content will keep prospects, clients and search engines coming back again and again. A site with unchanging information, no matter how valuable the content may be, will do little to keep customers coming back, or hold the attention of the search engines for any length of time.
Why are blogs so powerful?
Blogs Are SEO Machines
If you’ve ever hired people to manage SEO, you understand the process of adding tags and keywords and summary information to every page on your site. While that once worked for search engine placement, blogging platforms of today have built in structure to make the most of your content. With simple checkmarks and plugins, your content is perfectly set up for SEO purposes. By adding content regularly and categorizing it, setting up link structures, and focusing in on keywords best for your industry, your content will be equally loved by both your customers and the search engines. If content is easy to find, available on a regular basis, ranking will come naturally.
Current Content Has Meaning
Blogging provides an easy way for you to post updated information any time you choose, from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. If you can login, type and hit submit, you have the power to add content. Plus search engines love new content and will provide more weight when it comes to ranking. If your content is current and you are providing it on a regular basis, your expertise will quickly shine through with your regular readers. And they will be more inclined to share your content with those they know, which builds your expertise with those in your network. It’s a process that has stood the test of time in the marketing world; one that will be with us for many years to come.
Blogs Build Relationships
When people find content they love, they share it. Yet they also want to get their opinions heard. So they share it on social media sites, or write up a comment to connect with you. The more connected they are to you, the more they follow you, the more they share what you have to say. If you are a trusted resource, why wouldn’t they check in with you all the time? The more this occurs, the more people connect and share what you do, the more connected you will become, the more opportunities will come your way. How about receiving an offer to write for a trade publication in your industry based on the content in your blog? Or the opportunity to speak at a tradeshow because a producer reads your content regularly? Opportunity comes to those that take action; and blogging can be one of the easiest ways to make that action happen.
You just have to write! (Or hire it done … ready for a ghostblogger to help you achieve results?)