When used as a small business marketing technique, blogging adds a fantastic amount of value. Not only is it good for your website, good for your customers, it is also good for your profits. Let’s look at why it is essential that a blog plays a part in marketing your small business.
What is a blog?
A blog could be described as a collection of web pages containing short articles (known as posts). Some may compare it to a regular column in a periodical. Just as the column has regular readers who seek out the next addition from a journalist, the blog has readership.
Why blog?
There are a number of reasons that maintaining a blog will reward you and your site. Let’s explore these:
- Search engine crawling. Search engines such as Google delight in discovering new pages and content. By regularly adding new content, you will encourage the search engines to crawl your site more regularly. You will also add kudos for being current and up to date. Your blog should be on your website and not on one of the sites that provides space for blogging such as Blogger or WordPress.com to benefit from Google’s preferences.
- Keyword optimization. Optimization of the blog posts can enable your site to appear on Google’s first page of results, if you are diligent.
- Good content will earn readership. By delivering engaging, informative and educational material, people will visit your site to check whether you have any new posts.
- An opportunity for familiarity. As SEOMOZ’s Rand Fisher states ‘Blogs build familiarity and positive branding’. The bottom line is, people need to feel as though they know you and trust you to do business with you. The internet can present some incredible challenges to businesses in this area, due to its very nature. A blog is an opportunity to connect with people so that not only can they get to know you, they can begin to like you and trust you.
- Small businesses have an advantage over corporations. Blogs provide an opportunity to humanize a business. The proprietor can really open up and even mention the author’sfavorite lunch. By making such triviality public, small businesses marketing can gain ground on big business.
- Blogs are great for networking. By spending time on other blogs in your business niche, you can build links and traffic. By making friendly, supportive, and useful comments on other blogs, you can invest in your place in the community. You will be rewarded with return visitors from the blog owners and other passing traffic.
- Help your readers to develop your business. Ask your customers and readers their opinion on certain topics that you can apply to your business. For example, what is their favorite flavor, their favorite product, or even what issues have they found with a particular product?
- Cement your position as an expert. Blogs provide the stage for you to shine as an expert. Share your knowledge and expertise so that people can witness and discover that you really do ‘know your stuff’.
Blogging will take time and effort. But if you are looking for a small business marketing strategy that will get you in front of your customers and provide you with myriad benefits, then invest in blogging. I’ll see you out there in the community!
