Fifty-five percent of businesses who blog report their blog as a major source of new business. 73% of businesses that blog more than three times a week report that their blog is a major source of new business. People are searching for businesses like yours right now. One of the best ways to get found on the web is to have a blog on your website, post regularly and gain authority with search engines as a respected source of information. Over the past two years, Google has changed its search algorithm to promote more natural content like blogging. In short, the more you blog, the more visitors you get to your website. Google is also rewarding websites that have fresh content added regularly. Every time you create a blog post, you add another indexed page to your website. The more pages you add, the higher you rise in the rankings. Blogging provides one additional benefit to an inbound marketing program. It’s sharable content.

 

Today, more people will likely find your site from social media than from a searchengine. This means you need to share your voice, opinion, position and blog on social media. Blogging regularly is a great way to consistently share blog posts via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social sites. The more you post, the more people connect with you, follow you, like you and view your messages. The more people you are connected with, the wider your reach and the more opportunities to turn that reach into new business. Your blog quickly becomes some of your most popular pages. On our site, 30% of our most popular pages are blog pages. Your prospects enjoy reading blogs because they are educational, contain stories and have a conversational tone to them.

 

Finally, there are a few best practices that need to be considered when blogging for your business.

• Every blog post must use a keyword from your prioritized and targeted keyword list in the title and in the first line. Do your best to get that keyword into your post two or three more times. Don’t do “keyword stuff” and don’t write for search, always write for your clients first and search second. 

 

 

 • Every post must have a graphic CTA (call-to-action) button. • Every post must have an image that is tagged with one of your keywords. • Every post must have meta tags and a meta description that uses the related keyword or keywords. • Make sure your post is between 600 and 800 words. • Make sure your post is assigned to an individual so that you are able to build up authority over time. • Every post must have social sharing icons that allow readers to easily share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and email it along to a friend. • Make sure that the keywords in your post are linked back to relevant pages on your site. Try to use other links to other sites so your blog posts represents a variety of opinions besides just yours.

 

Follow these simple instructions and your blog will quickly lead to an increase in overall website visitors to your site and, eventually, more leads for your business.