Blog

Blog, blog, blog.  Blog, blog, blog.  All you need is blog.  OK that was admittedly cheesy, but it gets my point across.  Now, that’s only partially true, not all you need is a blog, but you definitely need one!  Are you running a web site for your company?  Then you should have a blog.  Stop!  Yes, you should!  Don’t argue!  Just hear me out.

Everyone says, “I don’t have time to update my blog, or write articles, I don’t even know where to begin”.  Save it.  I don’t have time either, but I believe that the blog is a critical part of my customer communication, and I know this from the comments I receive from my clients.  So I take the time to do it.  Blogs are not just for people who like to type or for technical people.  One of the best blogs I’ve seen from my clients is by Jim Wynes at Earth Works.  Jim has great information on his blog, its not a direct advertisement for Earth Works.  He share’s planting tips, seasonal information on lawn and shrub maintenance and other useful tidbits.  Its a great way to position himself as an expert in his field and have regular contact with his customer base.  This is exactly how you should write your blog and why you need one.  It generates a following, shows your authority and exposes your knowledge to your customers without having to lift a telephone or convince them in a 5 minute conversation.

A great by-product of the blog is what it does for your search engine rankings, we all know as I mention time and time again, one of the best ways to get traffic is by keeping your site’s content fresh and changing.  Google loves new content, why?   Here’s a good example:  Let’s say you are searching for tips on baking chocolate chip cookies.  Two sites are found, 1 page was updated in 2008 and the other page was updated just two weeks ago, Googles sees the newer page with similar content as more relevant because the page is more recent.  Google knows it users want up to date accurate information.  A blog is a good way to show Google your site is changing, active and your articles are fresh.  Plus, Google has a lot more to sift through on your site, you may never hit half of the search terms you planned on by simply writing some perfectly tuned marketable content, but by constantly adding to your site’s information on a weekly basis you are growing your site and the amount of terms and words that Google can find you on.

Having a blog just makes sense, it helps your search engine rankings, it shows you’re up to date on things, you’re active, you’re an expert and you get to inform your customers on whatever you want.

Happy Webbing.