4 Reasons You Should be Blogging
Featuring a blog as a key part of your website will give you a 434% better chance of being ranked highly on search engines. (Source: Tech Client)
Really?? Come on, Karen. No Way!
Is your blog just another page on your website? The last time you posted was sometime last year? I have visited blogs that still have the “Welcome to WordPress” default page.
If this is you, don’t even bother writing any more posts. In fact, un-publish the blog page on your site.
You are actually hurting your business if you aren’t taking blogging seriously.
However, if you want to use blogging to generate a lot of traffic, build your credibility, and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry, read on.
Blogs are actually a content management system. Blogging software, such as WordPress, allows you to begin posting your content to the Internet in minutes and when you harness that ability with an RSS feed you have a powerful traffic magnet.
Let’s look at some of the other reasons you should be blogging.
Publishing a regularly updated blog helps you keep in touch with your existing audience and/or customer base.
Blogging can provide valuable information to your current clients. You can have a stellar product or service and the best pricing but if your customer service does not meet or exceed customer’s expectations, they will turn to your competitors. Use your existing blog to build a relationship with your clients.
On “Maximize Your Social Business”, Dave Schneider goes into detail regarding how to make blogging part of your content marking plan.
Remember, your blog posts attract the search engines and, because of this, it will attract new visitors. If your blog answers the visitor’s questions or attracts their interest you have just found another qualified lead.
Blogs and RSS feeds often rank higher in search engines than traditional websites.
Search engines love blogs and RSS feeds. If you design your blog properly then every time you update it the search engines are notified. Even if you don’t regularly ping, most search engines will revisit blogs more frequently than websites. Plus the very organization of a blog lends itself to good search engine ranking.
Blogs can help you establish or build your reputation in your industry.
As your blog grows you will demonstrate your knowledge in your chosen niche. Keep these basic keys in mind.
Regularly post positive content. Regularly publishing your own content in a variety of places increases your visibility online and lets people know who you are and the values you represent.
Keep your private information private.The best defense against any future problems online is to keep private information hidden from public eyes.
Deal quickly with any negative information.If you do find that there is something inappropriate, nasty or unflattering about you out on the web, you’ll need to counteract it quickly.
Blogs are great ways to generate leads.
Even if you don’t want to put any advertising on your blog, you can use it to promote or capture leads for your own programs. These are great leads and the fact that they came from your blog means they were already interested in your topic and your individual message.
Creating your own blog is the easiest way to establish a presence on the Internet and creating an RSS feed is even easier. In fact, it is also the cheapest way to get started on the Internet as there are a number of free blogging sites out there.
I recommend.
One of the most popular blogging platforms and my choice is WordPress. In fact, most web hosts now offer WordPress (or other free blogging software) as a free site add-on. Installing WordPress from scratch is quick and easy and your web host usually has tools that make it even easier. WordPress automatically creates your RSS feed. In fact, it’s done behind the scenes so if you don’t know to look you may not even realize it exists! Simply put, your RSS feed for a WordPress site will be www.yoursite.com/feed. How easy is that?
As you can see, there are several benefits to starting your own blog and RSS feed. If you can count that many benefits from an internet marketing technique that is free and easy, then you would be foolish to not use it for yourself.
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