Blogs are the emerging as one of the most popular and influential varieties of news media in an increasingly internet oriented world of information delivery. Social media marketing experts noted with keen interest that even the BBC’s coverage of the recent UK election was informed by bloggers. This election, for the first time, experts and pundits where actually introduced to the nation on radio as ‘Conservative Blogger’ or ‘Labour Party Blogger’. These people clearly have the respect and the ear of the global media.
The reasons behind the rising star of news blogging are many- hugely increased numbers of people choosing to get their news online is one of the strongest drivers and the more social nature of the modern internet is another- but instead of analysing the changing nature of news media, let’s focus on how SEO and blogs go together. The blogs we’re talking about aren’t restricted to SEO news sources- any website can include a blog, and the best and most common content management systems making the rounds today will allow you to add one quickly and easily.
Adding a blog to your website is a really good idea, and here’s why: blogging is the perfect way of keeping a constant stream of fresh content appearing on your site. As we’ve said elsewhere in our own collection of SEO blogs and articles, content is all-important if you want to rank well for any keywords of useful strength. Once all the static pages on your website are filled in with the right keyword-optimised content and all your products have a short, unique description, a blog provides a great way of adding new content. Not only will the search engines take note of the steady, continued action on your site, but the build up of relevant content will also do you plenty of favours in the rankings.
So, what goes in blogs on small commercial websites? Take our SEO blog section as an example on www.searchengineoptimisation.com. We use it as an opportunity to discuss SEO news that our customers might be interested in. It’s a great way to give advice and target minor, long-tail keywords that might not get much attention elsewhere on site. The blogs both add value to our site for customers and show the search engines that we’ve got the content to warrant a good ranking, and they can do the same for yours.
Use it to report news that’s relevant to your industry, or to promote events. If your company is going to have a presence at a trade show or a festival, say so on your blog and invite readers to come and visit. They are also the perfect place to report on new products. Changes in season mean changes in demand for many businesses. Talk about what there is on your site that customers might find helpful this summer, for example. If there is anything you’re excited by, write a quick blog post about it and show that you have the enthusiasm and the expertise customers want.