Why blogging is so important for your business
The free marketing tool you wish you’d started using sooner, plus 5 tips on how to write effective blog posts.
Having your very own blog is one of the most effective marketing tools you can utilise. And all it costs is your time. In this article we run through the basics of why starting your blog is essential in today's climate and how it can set your business on a path to success well into the future.
History of the Blog
The term ‘blogging’ was not coined until the 1990s and there were many precursors in use before it came to be. With roots in Bulletin Boards, where users could log in and send messages and read the news, the modern blog evolved from people keeping personal diaries online, often known as diarists or journalers. Proliferating in the 2000s, with the likes of Twitter gathering momentum with micro-blogging, we fast forward to a generation who want short snippets of their daily news. As of January 2020, there are over 500 million blogs out of 1.7 billion websites (with 1 blog post published every 0.5 seconds) according to Blogging.org
The Advantages of Blogging
Blogging has become a tool marketers rely on to engage with their customers and a way to increase their company profile. Despite the SEO benefit, a blog brings through keyword integration, its a sure-fire way of driving traffic to your website through ranking on Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
The Formaula to Effective Blogging
Blogging has become synonymous with SEO. In fact, it's an indispensable tool in a marketers arsenal to incorporate into their SEO strategies. Sure, everyone can create an Adwords campaign, and that might work initially at driving traffic to your site however over the long term, writing quality content to cater to the needs of your end-user, is the best way to ensure long term engagement with your customers.
“There are no shortcuts when it comes to organic search engine optimisation”.
5 Handy tips to creating a great blog post.
Tip 1: Make Your Title Catchy
Having that all important title that draws the reader in is vital if you want to attract people to read your blog.
Think of the magazine shelves in the local supermarket. Which magazine to purchase largely depends on which ones catch your eye. Those dramatic headlines are what works to cut through the noise of the hundreds of other magazines fighting for your attention.
Tip 1: Introduce Your Article
Having that all-important title that draws the reader in is vital if you want to attract people to read your blog.
Think of the magazine shelves in the local supermarket. Which magazine to purchase largely depends on which ones catch your eye. Those dramatic headlines are what works to cut through the noise of the hundred other magazines fighting for your attention.
Tip 3: Create Meaningful Sub-headings in the Body of the Content
People like to skim read. We all do it. Catering to this habit is necessary to engage with your reader. Sub-headings are best used with five or six lines of text to support each subheading. Large reams of text put readers off altogether so keep things simple. Short and sweet and informative and tell your story.
Tip 4: Link Out to Others
Having links to other resources on the web is great for raising your profile. Doing so builds your sources and citing them and it builds credibility for you making you look more like an expert. Once you've linked to that URL, send an email to them to let them know you're linked to that source. After all, flattery goes a long way. The goal here is for that source to link back to you because having that backlink to your site will improve your page rank giving you a significant SEO boost in the process.
Google will see those multiple shares/links and through its algorithm, you will begin to see higher page rankings as a result. The more content you create using these steps, the more people are likely to read them.
Dwell time is the time spent on site which is also a factor in Googles search algorithm. If you want further insight into creating backlinks, be sure to check out Neil Patel's How to Create High-Quality Backlinks.
Tip 5: Have a Conclusion
Concluding your blog post gives the reader a summary of the article. Look to end with a proposition or question. To encourage engagement, a question in the conclusion can significantly increase the likelihood of this. User comments can be read by other readers and offer a chance to open dialogue with your target audience.
By engaging with your audience on this level shows that you are passionate about your industry, your brand and your community. It's a perfect opportunity to upsell your service or product. A call to action here can pay off dividends.
Conclusion
See what we did there!? I hope the above helps give you the confidence to get started with your own blog. If you need help writing an article or blog post, then do not hesitate to contact Caribou Creative. We can help you devise an SEO strategy to work alongside your blog writing.
We offer content writing and organic SEO services to small to medium-sized UK businesses.
If you're one of our clients, you can check out some further reading on how to integrate a blog into your website.
Whether you are looking for web design services, looking for some website design inspiration, please see some of our designs here and give us a call for a chat.
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