Whenever I design a new website for a company this is one of the first questions I ask – whether they want to include a Blog or News section. WordPress was originally designed for just that purpose and so it is easy and straight-forwards to include for any new small business website.
But the general reasons that companies don’t want to include one is that they won’t have the time to keep it up to date and they don’t know what to write. You’re reading this so they do work! But it does require some commitment and a plan and so is only worth undertaking on that basis. There’s nothing worse than arriving at a website with a Blog that hasn’t been updated for years!
So here are some of the reasons why they are worth the time and effort.
- To drive traffic to your website – by having more content with specific page titles (which is what Blog posts are) you increase the chances of people finding your website when searching for specific keywords. A website with a Blog is more likely to get a higher level of traffic than a website without one. And hopefully visitors will spend more time on your website reading as well.
- Provide new content – Blogs give you the opportunity to write fresh new content and a platform to do this. Its hard to regularly update an ‘About’ or ‘Services’ page so using a Blog gives you this forum to do so easily. And as one of the factors in search engine rankings, Google rewards websites that have ever changing content with higher listings as well.
- Demonstrate knowledge – Blogs allow you to write case studies about specific projects or work, allow you to highlight testimonials, update customers with new legislation and show your working knowledge of topics relevant to your industry. This will build visitor confidence in your company and show your working knowledge of your industry and environment.
- Building trust – Having a Blog allows your customers to see what makes you different from your competitors and can allow your company a less formal way to highlight its ethos and style. You can come across as more relatable to visitors and by showing your commitment to your website, it’s an indicator of your commitment in your relationships with customers.
- Its free! – Use a Blog as a great marketing tool for your business, share the new posts on social media and the only cost is your time to write and share the post. If you don’t have the time to prepare the content then consider using a copywriter to keep things up to date for you.
So I hope that has sold you to the reasons to have a Blog on your website. WordPress is an ideal tool for this so contact me if you’d like to find out more.
