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How Creating & Maintaining a Business Blog Can Help Your Brand

Derek Cirino - Apr 29, 2020

When people want to learn something, more likely than not, they Google it. In fact, Google has roughly 92 percent of the search engine market share, making it the most widely used search engine for people to find answers to queries. And when people search for answers, a study by Ignite Visibility found that close to half of all clicks go to the top three pages displayed on the search engines results page (SERP). Why is this important? Because if you’re a business, you want to rank high on search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, to bring more traffic to your site and convert leads into customers.

One way to establish authority and boost your ranking can be done through blogging. Creating and maintaining a business blog can help you build your brand in more ways than one. Whether you’re a startup or are in charge of a large corporation, never underestimate the power of blogging. Continue reading below to find out why businesses should maintain a blog along with social media profiles to help their brand or use the list to skip to a section of your choice.

  1. Improves your website’s SEO
  2. Become a leader in your industry
  3. Generate leads
  4. Build a brand voice
  5. Promote your products or services

1. Improves your website’s SEO

To land on the first page of a search engine results page and crack into one of the top three positions, you need highly-optimized content. Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing, or enhancing, your website, web pages, and posts to be more visible on search engines to increase website traffic. User experience, page speed, backlinks, and content are just some of the ranking factors that can set your company’s website apart from the rest. Today, we’ll be focusing on content.

When you create a business blog, you want to make sure your posts are optimized to be easily read and indexed by Google. Some SEO tips for creating optimized content include:

  • Keywords: Conducting keyword research before you begin writing is essential. When determining what you’re going to write about, make sure you look into what keywords you want to rank for, such as “tax professional” if you own an accounting firm. Then, make sure you use your top 3 to 5 keywords throughout your post to garner traffic. However, make sure not to “keyword stuff,” or overuse your keywords, as this can result in a penalty from Google.
  • Title: Your title tells Google and users what your post is about. Make sure your title includes the keyword you’re trying to rank for and provides a thorough description of the content in your blog post. For example, an accounting firm may write a blog post titled, “How to Find the Best Accountant: A Step-by-Step Guide.”
  • Structure: You want to make sure your blog posts are cohesive and flow. To do so, focus on the structure of your blog posts by using appropriate headers (H1, H2s, H3s, etc.) to break up your text. Each post should have an introduction, a main section divided with various headers, and a conclusion. When using headers, make sure to only use H1 once. From there, the rest of your headers should follow a hierarchical pattern.
  • URL: Google also crawls the URLs of each blog post. Make sure your URLs include only necessary words, with the words separated by a hyphen (-). For example, if you’re writing a post about how to choose the best accountant, your URL may look something like /finding-the-best-accountant.
  • Linking: Internal linking (linking to relevant posts and pages on your site), and external linking (linking to other relevant websites) is a great way to show Google what another page is about and encourage users to read more about a certain topic. Linking can also help make a post more authoritative by linking to high-quality sites, such as .gov, .edu, and .org websites. 

2. Become a leader in your industry

Regularly maintaining a blog is a great way to establish yourself as a leader in your industry. Posting a variety of blog posts that pertain to your industry will show both Google and users that you are a trusted source of information. Let’s take Trust and Will’s blog page, for example. In the image below, you can see their blog page has multiple categories, including “Estate Planning,” “Wills,” “Trusts,” “Guardianship,” and “News.” 

With multiple categories, readers are able to learn about a variety of topics regarding the intricacies of estate planning. Regularly posting blogs that answer a variety of questions commonly associated with your industry will improve your credibility, reputation, and trust.

3. Generate leads

Blog posts are also a great way to generate leads. This is because blogs create the perfect opportunity for you to incorporate call-to-actions (CTAs). At the end of a blog post, you can insert CTAs where readers can subscribe to your newsletter, learn more about the products and services you offer, or sign up for a free trial or demo. With thoughtfully-placed CTAs, you’ll be able to gather contact information, such as emails and phone numbers, of people visiting your site and convert them into lifelong customers.

 

 

4. Build a brand voice

Your website’s pages can only tell so much. With a blog, you’ll be able to produce more content that allows you to express your brand’s voice. Whether you’re on the conservative side or the fun side, a blog will allow you to articulate your brand’s values, tone, mission, and so much more. In turn, you’ll be able to bring in more leads and connect with your customer base.

5. Promote your products or services

If you’re selling a product or service, your category and product pages usually highlight the main functions and properties of what you offer. A blog will give you a platform to provide more in-depth information on your products and services and showcase how they work, why they’re useful, and why consumers should buy. After all, 60 percent of consumers make a purchase after they read a blog post about the product or service. With a blog, you’ll be able to interact with consumers through the comments section by answering questions and receiving feedback, which can help you grow your brand.

Wrapping up

Running a business is hard work, and becoming a well-known brand in your industry can be even more challenging. A blog is one way you can take your company to the next level. Through blogging, you’ll be able to increase your site’s visibility on search engines, establish a brand voice, connect with consumers, and become an industry leader. With these tips, you’ll be on your way to posting engaging content that will make your business seen.

 

Author Bio

Samantha Rupp holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She is the managing editor for 365businesstips.com as well as runs a personal blog, sjruppy.com. She lives in San Diego, California and enjoys spending time on the beach, reading up on current industry trends, and traveling.

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