Over the years, we discussed blogging several times. We’ve also talked about connecting the dots, and providing your visitors with enough information that they don’t have to go anywhere else. Yet, we still get this question a lot. When we recommend a blog as part of a marketing campaign, “How does blogging help with SEO” is probably one of the top three questions.
So, how does blogging help with SEO and marketing?
Let’s find out.
Blogs provide a number of benefits in helping your SEO efforts. They can help increase awareness of your brand, and provide a platform to share your industry knowledge and expertise. A blog can also help your website rank higher. A higher rank means more traffic, which can lead to an increase in leads and sales.
5 Ways Blogging Helps Your Marketing
Consider the following reasons for building an informative blog on your website:
1. A blog can keep your website current and fresh.
Consider your own thoughts when happening upon a website that hasn’t been in updated in months, or even years. There is immediate distrust for the product or information provided. You know that its upkeep is not up to par. While you may not have a reason to update each Web page on a frequent basis, a blog can supply fresh and relevant material that keeps visitors coming back.
2. A blog will keep visitors on your website longer.
That’s great for marketing purposes. If visitors find the information they need on your website, they’ll likely return again. When people bounce from your page, Google interprets this as a signal that your content was not helpful. When people spend time on your page, it signals to Google they are responding to the information they found.
3. With blogging, your company can target long-tail keywords more effectively.
The best way to approach long-tail keywords is to look for those that people use to find products/information. Use only those keywords that are relevant to your business.
4. A blog can also give you an opportunity to link internally.
Failure to create internal links is one of the simplest mistakes that a website owner can make. Internal linking can totally blossom when there is a relevant website blog. You can add a ton of relevant and related topics that will extend your ability to link pages to each other.
5. A quality website will give other websites a reason to link to yours.
External linking is one of the hardest jobs with respect to linking. Google places a lot of ranking consideration for sites that connects with external links. The right incoming, authoritative, links can boost your website’s ranking. Of course, it is difficult to gain quality external links without a popular blog.
Find Your Blog Niche
We have talked about creating a blog, but it only solves half the challenge. The other half of the equation is taking the steps to find your blog niche. Just keep in mind that people actually prefer blog niches. They prefer narrow topics because the subject matter speaks to them in ways that a broader niche cannot.
Know Your Market
It is impossible to grow a blog without knowing your target market. You will need to understand their language and speak it. The first stop on your journey is research. Find out what your market needs, and then find a way to deliver it.
Primary Research enables your company to obtain firsthand information about its market and customers. This might happen through phone interviews, online surveys, and things of this nature. This can include exploratory research, specific research, and secondary research. There are also commercial and internal sources that you can tap for information and insights:
- Establish goals. It takes time and energy to produce an informative blog. Determine what you want its end goal to be. Without planning, it will be difficult to experience any real blogging success.
- Create a regular blogging schedule and stick to it. Determine the days of the week for posting. Be aware of last-minute news and emerging trends. Blogging consistency will boost reader expectations, and it will also help you build a habit around writing.
Learn everything you can about blogging. It is one of the least expensive, and most effective ways, to address SEO and the need for upgrades to your website.
If you don’t understand how blogging works or how to build content marketing strategies, contact Level343. We’ve been writing marketable content for over a decade, and have the experience to help your content go further.