An article came up on Marketingprof’s today about the impact of blogging and the resulting website traffic.  Take a look at the graph below and you’ll see what I mean.  According to HubSpot (via MarketingProf’s):

On average, companies that publish 15 or more blog articles per month generate five times more Web traffic than companies that don’t blog at all, and those that blog 9-15 times per month generate three times more traffic than companies that don’t blog:

Now that’s a huge difference and might be the answer for you to drive more people to your website.  The article also shows some interesting statistics about social media:

  • Companies gain a 185% lift in Web traffic after achieving 1,000 Facebook likes.
  • Companies with 51 to 100 Twitter followers generate 106% more traffic than those with 25 or fewer followers.

Now that’s some very interesting stats.  Of course, these results don’t happen over night.  You and your business need to be patient and know the payoff will come in the future.  Unless you’re planning on going out of business in the next year you should have the time to gain the momentum you need.

While the thought of creating 15 blog posts a month might make you cringe, it doesn’t (necessarily) mean that your business calls for it.  I try to recommend that people include a blog on their website.  As per usual, you have to be smart about it and, as importantly, know what you’re capable of.

Get Creative With Your Blog Content!

The thought of creating 15 blog posts will be time consuming, but there’s also the thought of, “What the hell am I going to write about!?”  There are some sources where you can pay for search-engine-rich-content for your blog.  If you don’t have that kind of cash laying around then it’s up to you!  But remember, and I’ve said it before, you’re the master of your business.  You should know more about your business then anyone else (that’s what should set you apart from the pack.)  If you don’t, then you should at least have access to the answers…and I’m pretty sure if I followed you around for a week I could point out at least a dozen subjects that would be perfect blog posts!  Therefore, you are a valuable tool to your customers and a great selling point to potential customers.  I even seperated part of this blog post.  Need inspiration and ideas for your next blog post?  Read the highlights below or check out the full article:

  • What’s Common To You Isn’t Common To Everyone
  • Your Opinions Matter
  • Customer Service On Your Blog
  • History Matters
  • The Resources You Respect
  • Be Selfish
  • Picture Perfect!
  • New! New! New!

You Actually Have To Use Your Blog!

Now I’ve given you some great ‘getting started’ blog ideas.  Just like you count out your drawers at the end of the day or check your emails in the morning, it’s important that you keep up with your blog posts.  You can do it on your couch when you get home or you can set aside some time to focus on your blog posts.  Remember that you’re building your business and that it’s up to you to make time to do that.  I usually find that once I get going I can’t stop…this post being a perfect example.

Don’t be a negligent Nancy!
If your blog posts go unchecked and get neglected it can have very negative effect on your web traffic and organic search results.  Think about it…if you were to go to a website and the last update was 3 months ago your initial reaction might be that they don’t know what they’re doing…and worst case…that they’re out of business.  Don’t fall into these traps!  Search Engine Robots check your blog for updates and if they don’t find any then they will ‘check your page’ with less frequency.

Don’t forget that with many blogs you can schedule posts!
That means if you’re really on a roll writing a blog post or updating people about products or services you can set a date for that post to appear.  Many times I will cut a blog post in two (given there’s enough content) and schedule the other post for a week or two down the road.  It can save time and energy, especially if you know you’re going on a vacation or are going to get swamped in the upcoming weeks.

You can write a blog post with anything.
Simply open up an E-mail, Apple Pages or Microsoft Word and start writing a post that you can ‘copy and paste’ later. My point is you don’t have to be in front of your computer to write a blog post.  You can even have a scratch piece of paper on your desk that you can write the ideas or titles of blog posts you’d like to write in the future.  The piece of paper on my desk is full of chicken scratch like, “blog: SEO tips in blog,” and “blog: master of your domain.” It’s simple, easy and effective next time I decide I need a new blog post.

Social Media Benefits…
WordPress can help you feed your social media sites.  With WordPress Plugin’s you can have your blog posts automatically feed Facebook and Twitter.   So while you’re creating rich content for your clients you can also keep up to date on your social media.  We can even help you out with it.

 

Quantity Of Blog Posts Also Depends On Your Industry (and Time)!

Let’s be realistic.  If you’re a small business and it takes you between 30 minutes and an hour to write a blog post, that means you’d be dedicating nearly a half of a week (a month) to updating your blog.  That’s a lot of time that I’m sure you’re thinking you don’t have.  While part of me wants to tell you to make time, the other part understands that there are more pressing issues with your business.  So be realistic with your ‘projected’ blog posts…and make sure you stick with it!

While I’ve given you a number of tips of what to write about I understand that every business industry is not as exciting as the World Wide Web.  If you’re in a doctors office or are a ‘crating & shipping service,’ you may not have all that much to talk about.  With some industries I believe that content is more valuable then quantity.  For other industries quantity is more important.  The important thing is to make the content relevant to your customers and potential customers.  Don’t just post for the sake of posting, people will get bored of it.  Be realistic, but always push yourself because you know it’s going to pay off.

When I talk to a new or potential client I usually talk to them about how many blog posts I think they should post per month.  This always changes depending on the industry and the client.  I then ask them what they think they can do per month and I make sure they know the importance of maintaining it.

 

In Conclusion

Be good to your blog and it’ll pay you back in a big way.