Your blog is an essential part of your website’s SEO, but it has the potential to be much more. Providing well written content that your audience values earns authority for your brand both online and “IRL.”
Blogging for SEO
You may already be aware of the importance of blogging for search engine optimization (SEO). For your company’s website to appear prominently in results pages, it must seem to the search engine to contain information that is relevant to its users’ queries; the best way to do this is to produce a steady stream of written content that addresses questions that your ideal customers will likely be asking online. Your blog is the perfect place to do this. Strategic placement of keywords cues the search engines that your content addresses particular topics, so they know that your website is a potential match for related searches.
Blogging for Brand Authority
More important than the quantity of content you produce and your keywording tactics, however, is what you say on your blog and how you say it. While your website may climb to the first page of Google results for desirable keywords (which is key for online visibility), what happens after the user clicks the link to your site is critical. If the reader scans the page and then quickly clicks away to something else, you’re little better off than if it hadn’t been found at all. If what the reader finds on the page gives a negative impression of your brand, you may be even worse off. Your blog is an important part of your company’s voice; it should convey your brand identity and communicate with your audience in ways they will value.
When your business is a source of valuable information, you gain authority and set your brand apart as a leader in your industry. You give your readers reason to share your content with others, which can widen your audience exponentially. By also promoting your blog through your social media platforms, you amplify your message even further. When you gain a significant audience that appreciates what you have to say, you gain brand authority that can endure beyond fluctuations in search engine rankings.
Writing Content Your Readers Will Value
When thinking about what to write for your blog, think about the unique perspective you have to offer. This is an essential part of your brand, and it’s what readers will connect with and remember. This can include professional insight you have to offer as well as stories that connect with readers on a more personal level. For example, you might write articles on topics such as
- A history of your company
- “How-to” guides
- Insights into changes in your industry
- Staff profiles
- Answers to questions that you’re often asked in the course of your business
- New things that you’ve learned
- What is different about how your company does things
- “Common mistakes to avoid” in your field
- Commentary on topics that are trending in your industry
This is by no means an exhaustive list. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. The key questions to ask yourself are, “What interests my ideal customers?” and “What special insight do I offer?”
If you don’t have the time to devote to creating a high quality blog, outsourcing this work can be a good alternative. Just make sure that whoever is doing your writing represents your brand in a positive way that is consistent with your other marketing efforts. Blue Frog’s professional writers have backgrounds in communications, journalism, language arts education, and even law. Click below if you’d like to discuss how we can assist your company with its blog or any other content creation project. With offices in Des Moines and Denver, we serve clients throughout the U.S. and in Canada.
