Some may say blogging is passé, a precursor of tweets and Facebook updates. But for many businesses, blogging still makes a whole lot of sense. A blog allows you to add fresh content to your site on a regular basis; it is a reason for people to come back to your website and, also not unimportant to most: Google loves fresh content.
So what should you write about?
Many websites could benefit from a blog section. If your website has a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Joomla then it is easy enough to add a “blog”, “News” or “articles” section to it. These hybrid sites can work really well, because you have a section with new content as well as the more beefed-up content pages that will help you convert the visitor into a customer.
Website visitors looking for your product or service will have questions. Going through your content they will get even more questions. The more (potential) questions you answer on your website, the higher the conversions will be. So be sure to link blog posts back to your “frequently asked questions” page, your “about us” page or product/service descriptions.
How to write your blog posts?
First of all: determine the topic of your post(s). Even though people refer to blogs as “online journals,” you should not treat it as a medium to just record whatever comes into your mind. You want to stay on topic – and work towards a conclusion. Then you want to grab people’s attention, so you will want to start with a compelling headline. Because you know the headline is almost certainly going to be read, and it will be the deciding factor whether people keep on reading the rest of the article or ignore it.
Try to make the headline beneficial (“What’s In It for Me?”), teasing, intriguing or unusual. The post itself should have the reader in mind: how can you add value? As soon as people start to think “so what?” you have lost them … And try to wrap the article up with some sort of conclusion or “next step” that hopefully spurs visitors to action. It can be as simple as asking people to check out a previous post, come back for a future post, subscribe to your Newsletter or check out your Facebook page.
Blogs allow you to build a relationship with your target audience as well as the search engines – now how powerful is that?
For more information contact Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce director Nardo Kuitert at nardo@ucwebs.com or 519-787-7612.
