Is it time you started posting on your website?
The answer is yes.
A Blog/News section is excellent for SEO and worth having on your website for many reasons. Maybe you’ve steered clear of having one due to time constraints or lack of content. Below I’ve listed five solid reasons a blog is a significant investment worth considering. It may not be as much of a burden as you think.
1. A blog keeps your website content fresh and up to date.
Most small/medium business websites don’t get updated very often. The nature of their pages means there’s no need to make any content changes for some time. Fresh content only appears when new services are added or significant changes occur to the business.
A blog allows you to easily add new content whenever you want or need it. If you have a ‘latest posts’ section on your homepage, it also keeps your home page fresh. Google loves fresh content as it signals to them that the site is still alive and keeps them returning for regular indexing.
If your website rarely updates and your competitor’s websites do, Google may be more inclined to serve up their websites to users looking for results.
“But I don’t have time” You don’t have to post weekly. Once a month is better than never at all. Any chance to get new relevant content on your site shouldn’t be overlooked. Although the longer, the better, a new post needs only two or three well-written paragraphs as a minimum.
2. A blog allows you to add niche and long-tail keywords to your website.
This is where you can start dissecting your services. Your service pages likely have lots of info as to what you do. Blog posts allow you to expand on why your users need your services.
For example, maybe you sell Electric Blinds, a well-written article about how child-friendly they are due to the lack of cords, the ease of use for the elderly… lots of angles to explore. There are a lot of global posts you can create, too, such as ‘how much does insert service here cost’. This is where you can get the longer, more sentence-based keywords into your site.
It’s an opportunity to get more location-based keywords onto the site too. Maybe an update on your latest project in Hampshire, for example.
Each post allows you to have a dedicated URL on your site, which is tailored to that topic with many keywords. Great for Google indexing and valuable information for your users.
3. A blog can improve users’ time on the page and internal linking.
Google likes to know that the page it has served up for a user is helpful, so the longer a user stays on the page/site, the better. So if they read a post on your site for a few minutes and then click another page for more, this is very positive for SEO. Simples.
4. A blog lets you show off your industry knowledge.
Every company that also provides your services will likely say the same thing or similar on their website as you. So having a way to differentiate yourself is critical. A blog allows you to write about your opinions, thoughts and views on the industry. Show off how much of a guru you are.
This will help drive more traffic to the site and show your users that you are to be taken seriously, especially if they read the post to gather info and may not even be in the market at that time for your service. The fact you were a source of knowledge will bode well when they are in the market.
5. Your competitors likely have one!
If you were the only company providing your service, SEO would be complete, right? Anyone searching for that service, and boom, there you are.
Unfortunately, that’s very rarely the case. If you approach your SEO with the intent of improving on your competitors, that’s a great attitude to have. So, if they have a helpful blog, chances are you’ll need one to compete.
