If you are trying to monetize your website efforts, for any reason, and don’t have a blog, you’re wasting your time.
In almost every category, sites with well updated blogs come out ahead in the race for eyeballs, and the competition is crazy! With a weekly updated blog, you create over 50 new avenues for potential clients to find your site every single year! How else could you achieve this?
Not only will your customers find and share great blog content, thought leaders in your field will also find and share great blog posts! And in many cases, even your competitors will share good blog content, if it helps their audience understand what they do.
Here are ten essential elements that you can build into your website and content marketing when you start and maintain a blog on at least a weekly basis.
- TRAFFIC: While you’ll hear over and over that “Content is King” (and what better way to produce content than blogging?) TRAFFIC is the goal of all content. Sites with updated blogs get 3 to 4x as much traffic on average than those that don’t!
- INFORMATION: Anyone who’s ever sold for a living will tell you, a qualified lead is worth more than a dozen cold contacts. Adding information for your potential customers to your website in easy to consume, bite sized posts, is a great way to qualify prospects!
- AUTHORITY: When we shop for products, services, or training online, we’re basically dealing with strangers. So, unless someone recommended you, how do I know you know what you’re talking about? Easy, I read your blog and see you put it in action.
- SEO: Search Engine Optimization, is still the biggest buzzword in Search Engine Marketing. Making your site easy to find, and providing relevant, keyword rich content is the number one way to optimize your site for TRAFFIC!
- BACKLINKS: To get the best search engine results, you need backlinks. Backlinks occur when other sites share links to your website content. Blogs are one of the easiest to share types of content on the web today, and one of the most durable types of backlink.
- FRESHNESS: Search engines love new content. They give it preference in almost every case when relevance is equal. How else will you update your content on a regular basis, without spending a lot of time, money, or both?
- DRIVES SOCIAL MEDIA!: You’re already sharing content through social, right? If you’re not, we need to talk, but without a blog, WHOSE CONTENT are you sharing? An active blog allows you to address any topic of interest to your audience and share your own branded content across all channels!
- HUMANIZATION: In the world of digital media, it’s easy to feel we don’t know anyone. It’s all cookie cutter listicles and infographics. Your blog is the place to set yourself apart. Incorporate your own personality into your work so visitors feel they know you, before they even engage with you to do business!
- BRANDING: This term is often misunderstood. In short, it’s the flavor you leave in a visitor’s mind. Visual elements, tone, and messaging should match across your brand. Sharing your own branded content will put your branding on steroids!
- CONNECTION: Whether you’re running a business, or building a platform as an inspirational speaker, sometimes it’s hard to maintain that connection to why you do what you do. Writing and creating content around your brand on a regular basis is a great way to maintain this connection and push yourself to keep doing your best!
This is what I do, so I understand there’s a lot of baggage to unpack around the idea of writing your own blog, but that can be overcome. Whether you need someone to help you write a content calendar to generate ideas for great content, teach you how to write your first blog post, or take over and manage your blog content from helping you ideate, to writing crisp, intelligent, thought provoking content for your site, I can help.
