Inbound Marketing Blog

Blogging has a critical role in digital marketing. First and foremost being; attract new users and increase traffic to your website engaging and interesting content. This means creating new and consistent content around trending topics and relevant information. 

Even though there have been countless studies and online statistics praising this technique; why are so many large companies hesitant to insert this into the digital marketing strategy? Could it be because they don’t believe blogging is important or maybe they are too lazy to keep their blog updated?

"Search engines love content." We have made that comment over and over throughout the years. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing use your content to connect it to people who are searching for you or your service. The more quality content you have on your website, the greater the chance your site will be indexed by the three major search engines. 

Having quality content on your site is only the first step. Your content must always be evolving. 

Why?

People evolve. Their habits evolve, and their needs evolve. 

I consult with clients all day long in matters of website and digital marketing tactics. Often the topic of how, when and even if blogging is really that important comes up. The reactions I get from people range from blank stares, glasses down on nose look, and my favorite, eye rolling.

It's quite easy folks, content is search driven. Ever try to search google without words? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Sometimes, people may think that good writing simply involves proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and so on. Certainly, that's a big part of it; you might have written the Great American Novel, but it probably won't seem that way if your book reads like an I Can Has Cheezburger meme.

However, truly effective writing--indeed, effective communication in general--goes a step further: It takes the person who will read the content (the blog, the webpage, the article, etc.) into consideration. Simply put, a good writer knows his or her audience.

There is a long, long, long list of do’s and don’ts of professional blogging. Writing in a blog is not very complex, but there are a few guidelines which should be respected as much as possible.

Interactivity

Create events to bring interactivity to your blog. You could for instance organize contests asking your readers to write posts and submit them to you so that you would give them an ability to be published on your blog. You could also ask your readers to vote for some of your articles. Contests like this would generate visits an increase reader loyalty.  

If you’re a small fish in a big pond, getting noticed (ranked) by search engines is never easy. Common businesses such as car dealerships, real estate agents, lawyers, restaurants or doctors have a hard time showing up in search engine rankings. This is because you’re not only competing with hundreds of other businesses just like yours, but when it comes to link building, each business is trying to optimize for the same keywords.

Unique, well-written content will attract natural links that can help balance out low quality directory links, blog comments, and spammy article marketing. But where do you start and how do you make your business stand out?

The world only needs so many mortgage or car payment calculators. I'd like to offer a few tactics to get you moving (and thinking) in the right direction.

If you have done any research on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) then you have heard over and over again that fresh, relevant content is the way to go. But most business owners are not writers nor proficient in blogging, and the thought of asking those business owners to write a weekly blog is like asking them to cut off their own pinky toe.  However, writing a blog is not at all complex. Below are a few guidelines that should be respected as much as possible.

Whether you're writing for print or the web, Strunk and White's The Elements of Style has plenty of good rules and principles you should follow. Point 17, "Omit needless words," is one of the best--you might not have a word limit on your blog or webpage, but no one will want to read 1,000 words when 300 words could get the message across as well or better. Point 2--which advocates the use of the "serial comma" or "Oxford comma"--is more flexible, but you'll appease the grammar Nazis if you follow it. (If you don't know what a serial comma is, consult your local grammar Nazi--they'll probably be more than happy to tell you.)

If you’re ready to enter the world of blogging, you may still be a little confused on how to execute a proper plan. Blogging for those who aren’t familiar with the practice can be a little daunting and making sure you’re covering the right topics can certainly be overwhelming. Finding your voice in the blogosphere definitely takes a little bit of time, however, once you’ve found it, you will know how to run with it.

In the modern age of Internet marketing, content truly is king. However, not all businesses truly understand what goes into creating great content. There are a number of mistakes that businesses make when they want to jump into the exciting world of blogging. While breaking one of these rules from time to time doesn’t mean that your blog is going to fail, breaking multiple rules on a consistent basis may be holding you back from reaching your true potential as a blogger for your brand.