Ask anyone who’s involved in online marketing about how to get great rankings, and they’ll recommend you start a blog.
Does that mean you’ll only rank if you have a blog?
No.
But before you start dancing around the office, here’s a cautionary word or two.
It is possible to rank well and get good levels of traffic to your website without blogging.
A well-designed website, professional content, cast iron coding, and a strong SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy will help your website rank. For a boost, you can also invest in a Google AdWords campaign, which is great news.
I appreciate blogging isn’t for everyone and not every business has the budget needed for getting a professional copywriter on board, so this is probably music to your ears.
But there are a lot of benefits to blogging you’ll be missing out on.
Benefits of blogging
Long tail keywords
Your SEO strategy is probably only targeting your primary keywords, which tend to be very competitive in nature. The beauty of blogging is that it allows you to create content that targets long tail keywords. These are highly specific to your products and services and therefore draw in traffic that is super focused, which will help you reduce your bounce rate.
Fresh content
Google and the other search engines love fresh, high-quality content. Running a blog will ensure a constant stream of rich content fodder is fed to the search giants. This will show them your site is current and regularly updated helping your organic rankings no end.
Become an expert
Everyone wants to be placed on a pedestal and seen as an expert in their field. Becoming the go-to person in your industry will raise your profile and encourage people to come to you. It can also open up lucrative speaking opportunities that will help raise your brand’s profile.
Better customer service
Building a library of great content will also help your clients. They will learn from your knowledge and will be more likely to do business with you. To them, you’ll be an expert and seen as a generous company that’s happy to chat and enrich their lives.
Evergreen content
When working with a professional copywriter, they will be able to create highly valuable evergreen content. This is stuff that never gets old; it’s information that stands the test of time and will continue to draw in traffic year after year.
Are you ready to blog?
If, after reading that, you’ve decided the added benefits of blogging are worthwhile here’s a word of caution.
Whether you decide to blog yourself, or you bring in a professional writer, you must add content regularly. There’s nothing worse for a potential customer than to land on a website to find a blog that hasn’t been updated for months. So if you’re going to do it make sure you’re committed to it.
Sally Ormond is a professional copywriter and blogger. To have a chat about how she can help you improve your rankings, get in touch