Blog

Most people hear the term blogging and they instantly think of a tech nerd in college or a young middle school girl talking about Justin Bieber. What most people don't know is that having a great blog, can increase awareness of your company and can help grow your  brand.

Now it's important to keep in mind that as I discuss how your blog can help your business grow, it's very important to know that your company blog should not be a direct marketing ploy, and it should not be 'corporate'. Your blog should help educate people, should provoke interaction with visitors, and should deepen the company/customer relationship, among other benefits.

Having said that, let's discuss how this blog can help your business:

Now they're here - John Doe might've came to your website to read an article that they heard about from a friend, Google, or social media website, but now they're here on your website. Once they're done reading the article, they have two options; 1) Leave the website. 2) IF some component of your website catches their eye, perhaps they start looking around. Now you have a new set of eyes looking at the services you offer, because an article topic they were interested in, you blogged about! A big key to converting your blog visitors into customers is how well your website is laid out and how much it catches their eye.

Another back-link - One of Google's highest components for how a site ranks is the number of back-links it has. A back-link is just what it sounds like -- a link back to your website from another website. You can dramatically increase the number of these by posting blog articles frequently. Not only is each blog a back-link, but if you have a one paragraph conclusion with a few back-links to some common/popular pages on your website, now you have 3-4 back-links PER  BLOG post. That can add up very quickly, and is an easy way to save money on Search Engine Optimization.

Traffic - It's not rocket science to understand that the more traffic a website can produce, the higher the odds are that your product/services will convert into sales. Gaining a blog audience can turn into a steady traffic flow which simply means repeat visitors. This is when having a lead-converting, web 2.0 website design comes into play, and when the marketing verbiage on your website is truly tested. Like stated earlier, the blog itself should not be a direct marketing ploy, but your website should be geared to convert any visitor into a customer.

Gaining Awareness/Attention - The key to corporate blogging is gaining awareness and attention pertaining to different aspects of your industry. For example, we are a website design and website development company, and this article is about blogging. Their is a direct correlation. Using industry tie-ins can help boost the desire to have a certain service or aspect somebody might not of wanted before. Blogging gives you a good opportunity to focus in on a niche product/service. Not every blog article has to tie-in directly, but their should never be a drought pertaining to blog topics.

You DO know what you're talking about - In this economy, people want to make sure they spend their money smartly. Doing extra research on a company you're going to spend money with is a necessity. Having a blog allows prospects to go through and read about industry tie-ins and the thoughts and views of some of your staff members, like we talked about above, and can help show them just how much you're aware of everything in your industry, and can also help them gain a feel for just how passionate you are. For example, after you are finished reading this article, you should know, websites  is our passion, and we love it! (If you don't, go read some more of our blog articles!)

Blogging brings a lot to the table when you do it right. I definitely recommend getting some advice on what to blog about, to help make sure you're targeting the right crowd. Having great blog content is also only as good as the website will allow it to be. You can have the best blog article ever written, but if your website is not geared to capture the eye of the reader and trap that lead until they learn more about the company that's blogging, it becomes useless. Make sure you're website is blog-ready and traffic-ready. That might mean -- yes -- it's time for a new website!

It's important to remember, a blog should not be all about marketing, but the good ones end up doing just that!

Basch Solutions, LLC – a Rochester Website Design and Website Development company, has been building lead-converting blogs for their clients in almost every industry since 1999. Have a look at their portfolio to see some of the many success stories they boast @ www.baschsolutions.com/portfolio