Why is Blogging Valuable For My Business's Online Presence?
At CDS we are oftentimes approached with several questions about blogging. Here are a few of the most common questions:
Is blogging valuable for my online presence?
Does it really help boost my SEO?
How often should I be blogging?
Are you sure blogging isn’t dead?
What to say to theorists:
There have been several sides to the blog theory over the last few years. Some specialists would rather focus on social media content itself rather than blogs, and others put more energy into blogs than social content.
That said, we have a firm belief that blogging is valuable for your online presence, but only if you do it correctly. What do we mean by that? As a business, you want to be viewed as an industry expert. If your clientele can’t turn to your website for knowledgeable resources, they will more than likely turn to someone else.
Okay, so what tactics do I use...
Last week we learned all about the E-A-T tactic for SEO purposes, and it is something that you’ll want to implement when developing your blog content. To recap, E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. These three-elements are CRITICAL when it comes to developing readable content that your target audience will rally around. If you take a look at any popular online influencer, they are implementing these three elements into every blog, comment, and post. If you position yourself the right way, blogging will be exponentially beneficial for your online presence.
Another tactic that you will want to think about when developing blogs is your overall call to action. You might be thinking, “how the heck do I develop a call to action if I am writing about random topics?!”
It’s simple really. The way we like to think about blog CTA's is by combining objectives. Your blog is not singular. In fact, it is actually working towards the goals you have set for your business. One of the most common business goals is to increase sales. So if you are writing blogs that relate to one of your services, then you will want to feel relatable and authoritative enough for people to purchase your service after reading your blog. And folks, there’s your call to action.
I get it, I need to be writing blogs. How long do they have to be and how often do I have to write them?
The length of blogs is also often debated by SEO specialists. That said, the one thing we can all agree on is the minimum length a blog needs to be to boost your SEO score, even if it’s just a little. If you are a content creator, your blogs should be at LEAST 300 words.
That said, if you really want to start ranking for topics in a search, your blogs should be around 1,600-words. Say WHAT?!
First off, don’t panic with that number. If you really know your stuff, it’ll be super easy to hit 1,600 words. Another really cool thing about the 1,600-word rule? It pushes for less content to be published on a regular basis, and for more quality content to be pushed out to your audience. Remember our E-A-T tactic? We just wanted to highlight (again) that this is going to be huge for the longer blogs.
Don’t be like that recipe blog that you hate. You know the ones we are talking about. Where the author tells you their dog’s life story followed by how they almost got ran over by a mob at last year’s Black Friday deal, and THEN after scrolling for an hour and learning so much about their dog - They present the recipe at the very bottom. Ick. Let’s stick to being experts.
You still haven’t told me how many blogs I need to post:
Set some realistic goals for yourself - You obviously aren’t going to be pumping out 1,600-word blogs weekly. That is like, a whole staffed position (but can we introduce ourselves, we literally have this as a service so you don’t even have to think about it)!
We encourage our clients to aim for two 1,600 word blogs per month. Think every other week. This allows shorter posts between 300-500 words to be published in between.
Before I get started writing all these blogs, are you sure blogging isn’t dead? My friend Becky said it is…
While you might’ve heard that blogging is on the out, we have a strong argument that it is indeed very alive. (We have the same theory about Michael Jackson, we definitely think he is hiding out at his Neverland Ranch on retirement).
Back in the day, bloggers could get away with less verbiage and backlinks. Why? Because the market back then was a lot smaller. Today, the internet is chock-full of bloggers who are experts in every topic you can dream of. Since the market is overly saturated, you really have to make sure you stand out. This means sitting down and really putting thought into your content. We can’t emphasize this enough.
Fun statistic for you: in 2018 there was a survey showing that over 70% of B2B buyers consumed blog content from where they purchased services, throughout their buying journey. How cool and reassuring is that?!
Also, think of it this way, you are reading this blog now. That in and of itself proves that blogging isn’t dead. Just simply reinvented.
Once my blogs are published, how do I get people to read them?
This one is a bit trickier. You can’t really publish a blog and expect people to magically read it without sharing it anywhere. Once your blog has been published on your site, we highly encourage you to share it with your social media pages. Heck, throw that sucker into an email blast and send it to your whole contact list.
Whew. That was a lot of information at once, right? We encourage you to read through this a couple of times to digest it. Share it with your entrepreneur friends. Chat about it over coffee. And last but not least, give us a call to see how you can integrate blogging into your monthly marketing strategy.
Seriously people. A 30-Minute Discovery Session with us is completely FREE. Not like an Amazon free trial where we take your credit card information either. It’s no strings attached. Contact us today to book your time slot!
