Archive for category: the Say It For You blog

Just the other day, a business owner prospect, B. posed a question I’d heard many times before:

 If my website is already showing up at or near the top of Page One on Google
and Bing, what value would having a blog add to the mix?

This question of what value a blog might bring to a business is the sort to which stock answers rarely apply. As I’ve mentioned often in earlier Say It For You blog posts, business blogging must be considered a single tactic in an overall marketing strategy. At the same time, it’s just the sort of question to kick off a discussion of the role a business blog might play in converting "clickers" to customers.

My friend Damon Richards, owner of Port to Port Consulting, would say B. has won the first set of a three-set match, in that he’s "won search". In fact, B. has "won search" without blogging.  B. performs a specialty service in a niche market, and his business name describes the service he provides. It stands to reason online searchers looking for that service will find B.!

Is B. winning the set and losing the match? Apparently so.  "Why am I not getting more business out of my website?" he asks, frustration creeping into his voice.

The second "win" B. needs is to have searchers click on the link to his website, so they can learn more about his business and how he solves problems for his clients. In fact, B. doesn’t know to what extent the second "click" is happening, because he has not set up analytics to give him that information.

Setting aside any judgment on the quality of B’s website itself in terms of content or graphics, adding a blog would keep the material current, offering readers a sense that they’re getting "the latest scoop". It’s much less cumbersome and much less expensive to add new, up-to-date content on blogs than on most traditional websites.

"What Have You Done For Me Lately?" is the title of an article about the Small Business Administration, about new services the SBA provides in addition to business loans. Bloggers for business, take heed. Your loyal customers may know what your core services are, but you can use your blog posts to tell online searchers what your business has been doing lately and what you can do for them!

 

 

Three things Casey WIlliams never wants to see in his rear view mirror, he says in IndianapolisStar.com, are the new Ford Taurus, the Chevy Caprice, and the Carbon Motors police cruiser. all models driven by Indiana State Police.

In business blogging, by contrast, your "rear view mirror" is exactly where you’d like to see your competitors. Continuing to post blog content consistently and frequently, using keyword phrases in your titles and sprinkled liberally through the content of each blog post – all those things raise your chances of rising in search engine rankings.  Add extra engine power from links, social media, and even videos, and you’ll be on track to leave rivals in the dust.

"Great content," says Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware, "depends on understanding the keywords that drive your business." Beggott suggests using online tools to understand the keyword phrases that drive not only your business, but traffic to your competitors’ websites.

Once you’ve gathered this critical intelligence, he explains, you can use it to create pages (blog posts as well as "landing pages" on your main website) titled with those key phrases. 

A police cruiser, whatever the automobile model, in your rear view mirror, would probably prove  to be a less-than-pleasant experience.  The sight of online competitors’ "grilles", on the other hand – now that would be a sight for any business blogger’s eyes!