At last week’s Market Saint Louis Conference, one word seemed to dominate every session. It was mentioned more than anything else, and it wasn’t ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, or even ‘social’.
What was the word that was mentioned more than any other? WordPress.
During my session on Local SEO, one of the business owners raised his hand and said, “All throughout these sessions the number one thing we keep hearing is blog, blog blog. Why is this so important to a small business owner?”
I loved this question. It’s a question I get in most of my small business sessions, and it’s one that can be easily answered. There are a lot of reasons to blog, but there is one (in my opinion) that stands out above the others.
Blog for the long tail
In my opinion, the long tail of search is one of the greatest places for most businesses to pull in great leads. A long tail searcher is already considered a warm lead compared to someone who’s looking for a more generic phrase. For example, if you fix washers and dryers, which customer would you think is a warmer lead? One that searches for ‘maytag washer’ or ‘maytag washing machine repair company 63103′?
Assuming you’ve written a blog that covers maytag washers, there’s a higher probability that the second searcher will a) land on your site and b) be a much warmer lead which will probably convert (if your site is well optimized to grab that lead)
Since long tail words are virtually unlimited, the vast variety of them will best be harvested by consistent and diverse content.
Blog for content
Those wacky search engine spiders love content. They love to come to a website and see more than just pictures. They want something to digest, something that’s original and industry related. If you are fattening them up with quality industry-related content, they’re going to like you. And like leads to rank. Just like Santa Claus, leave out some good cookies and milk each week. You’ll see your site grow, you’ll make the spiders happy, and you’ll reap the profits of more traffic.
Blog for activity
There’s nothing worse than a stale website. If your website isn’t changing, updating or growing, you can forget about any search engine love. They like to see movement. Movement means life, and a website that’s ‘alive’ will have a much better chance at ranking.
Blog for community
One of the best things about blogging is the fact that people can interact with your business. There’s something cool about being able to leave a comment on a post that was written about something I’m looking for. If you’ve written a post on Why Your Maytag Dryer Isn’t Turning, and that’s just my problem, there’s a darn good chance I’m going to buy from you. And I’ll probably leave a comment on your post thanking you.
And if that’s not my problem, there’s still a chance that I’ll leave a comment with my problem/symptoms. You can then answer this, or better yet – write another blog about that problem.
Having your blog open to comments (moderated, of course) will lead to an interactive website. Your visitors will give you free content in the form of comments, and you’ll be able to better serve your community of followers. Win-Win.
Does your business blog?
Do you think it’d be a good thing to start? What are your biggest hurdles in getting a blog going?
No related posts.
If you are talking about WordPress, I want to be involved.
Great post Will — starting a blog is the HEALTHIEST action you can take for your online presence. Creating and sharing content in a place that you OWN will help you branch out to all of the other powerful Internet Marketing tactics that are out there.
Bottom line is that you need a home base for your content.
Oh yeah and it is great for SEO!
Great post Will — so to take it a step further and you may have touched on this in previous blogs, but, for the sake of discussion… Let’s say that a small business sees the benefits of blogging but is still caught up in the implementation steps required. Meaning, they do not have the time to personally do a blog (in their opinion), and have limited staff to get it going. I see this as an obstacle in some instances, have you had similar experiences? And if so, what has been your suggestion and/or solution to help them overcome the hesitation and concerns?
You hit the nail on the head!
From the other side of blogging it seems to be the one thing that all customers really really respond too, a company’s ability to stop with the bullhorn approach of sales and give the people what they really want. The answers to their questions. The web is the ultimate source for those answers.
Customers already know you sell it or offer it as a service, but if you can explain a product better, talk about weaknesses and product strengths you can distinguish your business from others who only yell sale sale sale!
If your business is service related, blogs give a business a way to explain why a person or another business may or may not want to tackle a lofty project. A blog gives a business a way to establish and show that it is the leading authority on said product or service by taking a different approach to sales. Doing or selling something different from the norm is OK. The truth is it may actually be better and or cheaper for the consumer and businesses and a blog can explain why.
Great post, very detailed and I love wordpress!!! it’s an amazing tool!
Great blog Will. I’m inspired! Hoping to do my first blog in WordPress in the next week.