According to blogging gurus, fashion, food and travel are the top searched for blogs. Great news if your business falls into that category. Dog groomer? Wonderful, everyone loves animals and content tends to do really well. Cake Maker? Fantastic, your pictures will sell your business for sure. But what if your business is a little less colourful, consultancy or accountancy perhaps? How do you dress this up and is it worth even attempting blogs for your business?
The answer is YES. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is definitely something you need to know about, if you don’t already. Assuming you have at least some presence on the internet, it’s the most readily free marketing tool available to you and your business. In the most basic terms, it’s how easy it is for your target market to find you on the internet.
Blogging is an easy way for you to create content that aligns with your business. Much more so, than say a news article, because the best thing about blogging, is there are really no rules. You can make them as personable as you like, structure them how you like and promote wherever you wish. Blogging is an excuse for you to be creative with your business, which means it shouldn’t matter if your business falls short of what’s considered cool.
Step number 1, create your blog. Most people get by with setting one up for free, it’s only when blogs start doing well and include sponsored advertising that people choose to pay to upgrade for more features. With lots of advice and guidance on the internet, there’s really no reason why you couldn’t start blogging today on even the most basic level. Here’s one useful site which compares blogging platforms, click here. WordPress is the most commonly used platform, with 76.5 million blogs on it!
So you start posting, but how do you get people to notice it? The big search engines such as Google and Bing provide guidance on ways you can better your chances of appearing in their searches. In summary:
- Do use keywords that are relatable to your business, try to weave these in to your content regularly.
- Provide quality links, don’t link to bad quality or unrelated websites.
- Think about your domain name and URL structure, make it as clear as possible and try to let the name reflect what your business is actually about. This will make more sense when you come to actually set up your blog! People who have had their domain name for long period of time are classed as more trustworthy by Google.
- Make sure the structure of your blog site makes sense, clear headings for different pages with links provided. Make it easy to navigate! No one can be bothered staying on a blog that looks confused.
Still not entirely convinced about blogging?
If you’d like to learn more about blogging, and SEO, why not attend one of The Women’s Organisation’s half or full day digital marketing courses. Content Marketing, Blogging and Understanding SEO for Business, check our Eventbrite page to find the next date for this course [full day costs £90, half day costs £50]. Call or email The Women’s Organisation if you’d like more details 0151 706 8111 / hello@thewo.org.uk.
