Blogging for business isn’t just about ticking a box or having something to link to on social media, it’s a great example of how to get Google to look at you, again. All of your website’s makeup from the page structure to imagery all counts towards your Google ranking scores. However, blogging gives you a new fresh chance to be seen on Google, every time you press publish.

Here’s the point of blogging…

When you create a website, be it through a Northampton web designer or on your own, the likihood is that your website has an average of 10-30 pages depending on what you need on your website. When you design a website and press ‘go live,’ Google will crawl all of those pages and assess how it will rank on Google for certain key terms.

When it comes to web pages, i.e your services, products, about us, etc – you’re less likely to update these weekly or even monthly because you’ll be happy with the existing content. Due to this, there’s little you can do to ‘update’ your web content without going to a mass effort every month to reword it which could actually hamper your SEO efforts.

With every blog post you write, on various topics, you’re giving Google an extra reason to look at you. If you wrote a blog a week, that’s 52 more chances to get seen on Google, especially compared to your competitors. It is also fantastic for giving you that extra piece of information or something to say on social media too.

Think of it like an auction house.

There’s logic here, we promise. At an auction house, you raise your hand to bid. Generally, you need to speak loudly and be seen as a small ‘yes’ said quietly from the back of the room won’t get you the prize. If you were bidding to get in front of 100 people who were looking for services just like yours and were willing to spend with you, would you bid LOTS or not at all, if money was no object?

Obviously, you’d keep bidding. you’d do everything you can to get your sale and you’d probably give it every opportunity you’d get. So why are we not doing the same for our websites? We should be screaming about them from the roof tops and giving Google every reason to look at us. They are the bread and butter to our businesses. Even if we’re excelling on social media, the website is the house of information that does the talking for us.

How often should I blog?

If you’re not a confident writer, maybe make the effort to get at least one blog a month done, it’s 12 pieces a year and as we recommend 350-500 words a blog, it’s not impossible. You could probably say that amount of words out loud just in one networking session.

Ideally, blogging as much as humanly possible would be the dream but we know it’s not viable for everyone and every business.

What do I need to do to make sure Google likes it?

Ensure that blog posts are relevant to your business, answer those FAQ’s, include keywords that you want to get ranked for and always look at your linking. Look at what you’re currently ranking for, is it actually what you want to be known as?

Don’t forget to link to services within the business. Look up at the top of this blog post, we included a link to Northampton Web Designer. You probably didn’t even notice it, but subtle links like this allow users to either follow up with this page but most importantly, you’re building a web of links through your website that Google will account for.

Need some inspiration to get you started?

• Why did we set up the business?
• What you need to know when choosing a (insert your service/profession here)
• Things to consider when buying a (insert your product here)
• Common mistakes when it comes to (insert relevant topic)
• Give away a top tip/recipe/how to guide/infomation pack – these things will help entice sales, not hinder them
• 5 Mistakes a buyer makes when it comes to X
• A cheatsheet of (SEO/Recipes/Cleaning Hacks/buying a home/choosing a solicitor)
• Why using X is better than X
• Our most popular products
• A profile on an employee, what makes them special – a random fact that makes them unique?
• Common questions a X has about X
• Seasonal and current affairs – has something happened in the news that you can relate back to your business?
• What we’ve learnt in X number years of business?

If blogging really isn’t your strong point, we have a team of writers who are ready to help kickstart your chances! Get in touch with us today to discuss.