Blogging. Some people love it. Some people hate it. It doesn’t have to be a drag, though. And it has tremendous benefits. Here’s why…
Positioning
The primary reason I blog is to establish who I am and what I know.
I now blog once a week on topics relating to the business I run. Of course, it’ll be different for you.
However, there’s always scope to blog about something to position yourself as an expert in your field.
You’re going to need a plan, of course, so you need to build a content calendar and work out what you’re going to post about.
And then you stick with it. Keep publishing new and engaging content. Don’t let up. You have to ensure you’re consistent and keep it going. Once you’ve built a following, you need to nurture it.
SEO
Each time you add a new post to your blog, you’re building a wonderful collection of keyword-rich articles that bolster your visibility.
Search engines like Google like to see fresh, new content. It needs to be high quality, engaging, and regular. That way, when the crawler comes along and sees something new, it knows your site is still there, still alive, and this boosts your ranking.
The important thing is to remember to use keywords in your text, so that your copy is indexed and recognised for that content.
Social Media
If you’ve set up your digital ecosystem properly, you’ll be able to automatically share your blog posts directly to your social channels. This has the added benefit of driving traffic back to your website, as well as growing your social following.
Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn all support syndication of blog posts and it’s a great way of establishing your credentials as a thought leader or authority in your particular field.
Remember, though, that each time your post is shared to your social channels, you’ll need to monitor and respond to comments on it. You wouldn’t want to appear unresponsive.
Sales
I’ll bet this isn’t one you’ve thought of: sales.
Yes, if you’ve set things up well (it all goes back to that digital ecosystem I mentioned), you’ll have put in a call to action on each and every one of your blog posts, allowing readers to discover more fascinating insights in your lead magnet in exchange for their name and email address.
Now every single blog post acts as an entry point into a sales funnel, because your email marketing automation is set up to deliver your lead magnet and drive incoming leads to you, so your website starts to work for you.
Frankly, if you’re not doing this, you’re missing a trick. And it’s so simple in theory and practice and it just works. Look out for the call to action in this blog post. You’ll find one and it’ll be something relevant to the topic of the post, too.
Summary
If you’re not blogging regularly, you’re missing out on vital things like SEO ranking, social followers, and incoming leads. It’s easy to do and if you don’t fancy the job yourself, you can always outsource.
Edward Solomon has over 30 years’ experience in project management, technical education, computer networking, web design and development and is a Digital Business Consultant for PENNInk Productions Ltd.
