So, why should you blog?

Being in the web design and optimisation business, my first question when meeting a new potential client is “Why do you want a website”?

The answers can be wide and varied but many are very similar to “Well, you need one these days, don’t you”, “Everyone else has one”, “We need to be on the internet”!

Whereas they may all be true they don’t really answer the question in business terms.

In reality it should be seen as another tool to help support the aims and marketing objectives of the business! And, the same applies in the case where there is a ?need? to redesign an existing website!

Once its been agreed why its needed and what the most important elements and offers the business can make, it’s built and launched to the world, that’s only the beginning!

Blogging helps make your website more visible and profitable!

Unlike in the past when, perhaps, it was more just a matter of having a website address on your office stationery, in today’s competitive marketplace there’s more, regardless of what business you happen to be in!

More website visitorsIn the past one of the only and main activities you could add undertake to beat the competition was SEO (search engine optimisation).

It helped to ensure your content was laid out in a way that was both of benefit to visitors and enabled search engines to understand the context and index it properly in the hope that it appeared higher up serps (search engine result pages).

And, the result of all that was higher numbers of interested visitors clicking through to your website.

That is still the required outcome as without visitors there is very little opportunity of acquiring new customers, at least, through your website.

If that is not the main purpose and objective it will increasingly become a cost-centre rather than the investment and opportunity it has the potential to be!

Social Media & Blogging

Assuming your site has been optimised effectively for you chosen keywords and phrases, that’s well and good, but it’s still a highly competitive environment and requires ongoing activity.

We can often get seduced by the latests fads, trends and the opinions of ‘gurus’ and to some extent that is what has happened with the explosion of social media, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn; the list continues to grow everyday!

They are not a panacea that can replace tried and tested methods of engagement but that is not to underestimate their real benefit and worth.

More search indexed pagesThey are all additional tools that can be employed to increase the visibility of your company and encourage interested users to visit your site.

Engagement on social media in itself is not bad thing but it is only on your own website do you have the undivided attention of the reader rather than simply being a fleeting entry in the continuous scrolling of their timeline.

Your website is the only place where the real job of converting visitors into profitable customers.

Now, why Blogging?

Now that we might understand how social media might fit into the mix it leads onto blogging. Blogging helps on a number of levels!

More inound linksEvery time you write a blog post, it’s one more indexed page on your website. It’s also another cue to Google and other search engines that your website is active and they should be checking in frequently to see what content you’ve published that they should index.

Every new indexed page is another opportunity for you to show up in search engines, and drive traffic to your website through organic search.

There are 4 main reasons to blog, at least, in business terms:-

  1. It helps drive traffic to your website.
  2. It helps convert that traffic into leads.
  3. It helps establish authority.
  4. It drives long-term results.

Hubspot, a leading inbound marketing automation company gives a detailed outline of each of the above on a post about the importance of business blogging, so pop over to find out more.

Blogging helps drive new traffic to your website and when used and posted on your social media platforms works closely with search engines to ensure the widest possible exposure and visibility.

Some of the major platforms to share your blog content and media

There are a multitude of sites, some already listed above and many other sites such as Technorati, Digg and Stumbleupon that are worthy of publishing your blog content but it depends on time and the resources that you have at your disposal both financially and manpower.

1. Facebook
Once  you have published your blog post then proceed to take the link and update your Facebook page where your Fans will be notified once you upload it

2. Twitter
Tweet the post a few times on the day it is published so it doesn’t get lost in the torrent of other tweets. Also do not hesitate to retweet your older (but valuable) evergreen articles that will continue to provide inspiring resources and content that will make readers beg for more.

3. LinkedIn
Publish your daily post to LinkedIn so that visitors and connections to your profile will see them in their feeds and updates. LinkedIn afficiandos will share them with their connections only if they see them and perceive them as worthy of sharing. (A great headline helps)

4. Install 3 Buttons
You need to place a “Tweet“,  Facebook “Share” and ‘LinkedIn” button as a minimum at the top of your posts (do not hide them at the bottom). These are easily uploaded onto a WordPress blog using free plugins. Make it easy for people to share to their platform of choice.

5. Video
Video that is not online and worth sharing with the world’s web citizens should be uploaded to YouTube and then embedded in your blog so search on YouTube will find you on key words and phrases. (by the way YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google itself).

6.Images
Photos and images that you capture and use on your blog should be published to your Flickr or Picassa outposts (Google’s image hub which is like Flickr).  If you have not set up an account on these sites go and do that today.

7. Powerpoint Presentations
If your presentations that you are willing to share are currently offline they should be should be published on Slideshare and embedded in your blog so Slideshare citizens can share your great ideas.

Also you can add Slideshare to your LinkedIn account as an app so that your presentations will appear as part of your profile

The other additional benefit to all of this sharing and promoting onto social networking and social media outposts is that your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will improve significantly. Getting found on Google and Bing will be enhanced immeasurably.
So share your posts and promote your ideas because getting found online is where the action is.
Read original article on Jeff Bullas Blog

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