Originally, blogging started as a way to share personal opinions online, logging them on a diary-style web page. Blogs have developed over time, and blog pages are now sophisticated aspects of most websites.
Online articles and blogs are a great way to share your knowledge and opinions on endless topics. Writing a well-informed blog post can help people to find you through a google search and position you as an expert in that field.
Users are often searching for questions to help find a solution to the problem. If your blog post is their answer, they will trust your company knows what it’s talking about on that topic. The sharing of time-relevant news and events can also be done through blogs, much like the original format; however, this is becoming less common.
The term ‘evergreen’ is used in content marketing to refer to blog posts that are useful for a long time. See the definition below from the Digital Marketing Institue
“Evergreen content is search-optimized content that is continually relevant and stays “fresh” for readers over a long period of time – as the name implies. You may think that all online content is sustainable; after all, a blog post doesn’t just disappear after you publish it. But evergreen content is different. It continues to be relevant long past its publication date, with search traffic growing over time.”
Search engines and blogs
There are many search engine platforms – Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. As Google is the most widely used and recognised, I will focus my efforts here.
If your blog post from 3 years ago is still the most trusted and relevant solution to the problem, it will show high in the Google search results. Their ranking is not only based on keyword use but trust and relevance. Showing that you are adding value to the reader for a wide range of topics allows Google to trust you, rewarding you by ranking higher.
“Sharing expertise that adds value” is the best way to look at how to use blogs to your advantage.
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How does blogging increase sales?
Blogs are an extension of your website that can be constantly updated without affecting the rest of your site. The limits are endless as to how many blogs you can add to your site.
Having a strategic blog plan can also mean that the pillar content of your web always has many other blog pages pointing back towards it. This makes the structure of your site much easier to navigate and get back to the services pages.
An important aspect of having blogs is to give a certain level of information to the reader before they follow up further. This is great for tentative readers who feel they need to build confidence to approach your company. They can get answers and read about you before having to do that. Some people are shy, and don’t want to ring a company up to ask what they feel will be a ‘stupid question’.
Try to answer your frequently asked questions for them so they can understand without having to actually ask.
If you are a luxury brand or a high-end service, this especially applies to you. The buying process will be much riskier and more expensive.
Use your website blog as an opportunity to take that risk away from the buying decision. You can also express your personality, going into different topics you care about, which helps to build the know, like, and trust factor with your audience.
Different types of blogs
Blog posts come in all shapes and sizes. Some are as few as 300 words, others are more like an online whitepaper at 5000 words. The important thing to remember when blogging is to make it useful and relevant to your reader.
The size and length are less important than answering the question. The content is always the key aspect. Ask yourself – what does my reader want to know about this topic?
It’s not useful to bulk out blogs with irrelevant information just to make it longer, likewise, it wouldn’t benefit you to create lots of 300-word blog posts that don’t really explain anything.
Quality over quantity – create authority through blog posts
Consistent, quality blog posts will always have good performance compared to quantity.
Google’s Helpful Content Update literally explains that Google “aims to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.”
Some people think that having 3 x 400-word blogs a week is a great strategy to get content out there. Consider what value they bring to your prospective customers?
Taking the time to write good content is a huge factor in the success of your blog.
Having 1 really good blog post a month is much better than various thrown-together pieces. If you focus your resources on creating this 1 well-informed, value-adding beauty of a blog, you will reap the rewards. You will be seen as an authority within your industry.
People will trust you if you create authoritative blog content that shares your expertise and knowledge in a way that’s helpful to your reader.
Use the blog content to create a relevant call to action
Having a well-written, interesting blog post is the perfect opportunity to add a call to action to carry on the conversation with your company.
Whether that’s to –
- ask them to get in touch (add your contact details)
- show them another resource relevant to the topic (written by you)
- add a link to your service/products (how you can help them on this topic)
It’s another way to get them to trust you. This will help to lead the decision to buy from your company, not your competitors.
Interested in getting blog posts that increase sales?
Of course, anyone can write a blog. But not everyone can write a GOOD blog.
There’s also the matter of your never-ending to-do list that this will inevitably end up on the bottom of…
Save yourself the hassle, hire me. I offer SEO content plans and written blog posts on retainer agreements for regular clients from £750 per month. Get in touch to arrange a chat about your business and how I can help you reach your goals.
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