Running a small business and juggling all the different aspects of your company often means that blogging is forgotten about or moved down the priority list, but blogging is one of the easiest marketing tools out there, and guess what...it's completely free!
Coming up with a content plan for your blog is easy you'll just need to set aside an hour to have a good think about your business, what your existing customers would want to know and what potential customers might be searching for. You can also look at shopping trends to see which blogs will be most beneficial at different times of the year.
Below we list why blogging is important for your business...
Search engine optimisation
If a customer searches a phrase or a question which links to your brand or product you wan't to be found right? To do this you need to have the relevant keywords on your website that link to the question your customers might be searching for. The easy way to do this and keep relevant is by blogging. Do some research on the top relevant keywords that your customers are searching and create a content plan around those keywords.
Not only will blogging have an effect on the amount of people organically finding your website through keywords but it will also increase your Google ranking. The more relevant Google ranks your website to what people are searching, the higher you will appear on their listings. Publishing blogs regularly also shows Google that your site is active and being updated.
Brand personality and engagement
Having a blog on your website shows your customers that there is a face behind the business. This not only increases trust but people love seeing 'behind the scenes'. Tell your customers about your brand story and where it all began, share your latest amazing products, and show that you're a human behind the screen.
If you find your customers are regularly asking a question to your customer service team then blog about it. Not only will this please your current customers but it's highly likely more people are searching Google for the same question. Blog about it and increase your chances of being found.
If you're blogging interesting or helpful content, people are more likely to share this on their social media which is an easy way to get your brand out there. It also gives you content for your social media to keep it fresh and engaging.
Back links
Back links are where another website writes about your business and links directly back to you. When done right this increases your search engine ranking but also gets your brand shared to people who may already like what you do.
It is important here to form relevant back link partnerships and not go for quantity over quality. Think about similar businesses or brands that you would like to be associated with and who won't be in direct competition to you. For example if you're a clothing brand consider partnering with a makeup brand or a footwear brand that will share your customer demographics.
Contact them and see if they would like to form a back link partnership. This could be a one off or you could regularly blog for each other and share each others content. More often than not this is completely free as it will benefit both businesses.
Guest blogs
This is a great way to get easy content for your blog which will also add credibility to your website. Guest blogs could include a product review from one of your customers, information from an industry expert, or a blog from one of your members of staff who don't usually contribute to the blog.
If you would like some help in coming up with a content plan or with regular blog posts please email hello@tamazi.co.uk