Denver Web Design & Denver SEO - The Katz Web Design Blog

I’ve been working with the WordPress platform for a little while now, and I’ve been a regular blogger since January (though I had been promoting blogging for years earlier, and had my first blog in 2000 [yes, I'm a bit insecure about my blogging creds]).  I’ve created many sites with blogging capabilities, some of them based on Blogger.com integration, and others WordPress.

I’ve explained the benefits of blogging many times to my clients, made nagging phone calls reminding them to blog — all to little avail.  I even wrote an article about the importance of blogging to help explain myself. But still, the blogs remain silent.

What I tell my clients about the benefits of blogging

If my clients already know what a blog is, then I can dive into why it’s so important (other than people KNOW that it’s important).  I tell them the following:

Blogging is a great way to reach people who may not be searching for what you want them to be searching for. Let’s say you have a service for “healing touch,” but it’s not “therapeutic touch.”  With a normal website, you would not be able to rank well for the other key phrase. If you write an article on the differences between therapeutic touch and healing touch, you then will be able to rank for both phrases, even if your business only focuses on one service.

The more you write about what you know, the larger your online sphere of influence grows. By writing consistenly about topics important to you, you’re able to rank better in Google and other search engines, build a community of people who follow what you write, and become an authority on your topic.

There’s no other marketing medium like blogging where all you need to invest is your time, and you’ll get direct benefits. Fliers, radio, tv, newspaper, business chambers — they all take money.  Blogging is free to set up, and free to use.  You will get out of it what you put into it.

That’s the jist of what I tell people about blogging.  They generally get very excited, get a blog, and post a few times. One month later, cobwebs form on their admin login form.

Maybe try a professional blogging service?

One thing I’ve considered is writing the articles myself.  I’m no copywriting expert (I’m a Denver web designer), but I do know my clients’ business well.  If they don’t have the time or commitment to write their own articles, they should find someone to do it for them. There are many professional blog writing services out there, maybe I should start recommending them?

Does anyone have any experience using a professional blog writing service?

Today, a business associate asked me “I know about blogging, and it seems like a waste of time. Why is blogging worth the time?” I was able to reply with some very convincing arguments — and in a way, I reminded myself about the value of blogging.

1. Blogging establishes you as an expert in your field
2. Search engine traffic dramatically increases
3. Blogging is basically free marketing for your business: the only cost is your time.
4. Blogging forces you to write about your life and your business

Oh, you’re amazing? I had no idea.

If you don’t have a blog, and all you have is a website, then you may or may not know what you’re talking about. Your website could have good content, great images, convincing arguments for action, and simple navigation. Your website may be amazing, but in the end, without a blog, who knows if you are amazing?

If you don’t share your experience, it’s as if you have none. Blogging about a broad array of topics gives you authority on a subject; it shows that you know what you’re talking about. You can even write about not knowing something and be an authority!

Search engine traffic, anyone?

It’s called SEO, and if you don’t have a blog, you’re not doing too much of it! The reason why blogs are great for search optimization because they are written a natural way on a broad variety of subjects. The more you write in a blog, the broader your website’s relevance. By writing helpful content — and writing often — your website becomes a much larger presence in searches, across a wide spectrum of keywords. Blogging = traffic, it’s that simple.

Hello, my name is Mr. Free Exposure. I’m a friend of Blogging.

Yeah, blogging is free. The F word. And, if you look above, it brings in traffic. Traffic means potential leads/users/clients/sales. So, if you’re following the logic, you get free business.

The person I was speaking with looked skeptical. Time isn’t free, right? Well, I know that I don’t work every second of the 8 9 hour day. I do some browsing here, some slacking there. It’s only natural! While you’re not working, you might as well be blogging about working. You get to take a break from work, AND you build your business at the same time.

Explain yourself.

It’s often helpful to write about your business. Writing allows you to elaborate on various aspects of your life and business. It’s contemplative. When you share with others, you learn about yourself and your own process. The more you write about who you are and what you do, the better you know yourself.

Some topics you can blog about that make you think:

• What do you do?
  • Are there ways to do it better?
  • Who else is exploring how to improve your industry?
  • What do you like about your job?
  • What is the most challenging aspect of your business?
  • Do you have any funny stories about your job?
• Who are you?
  • How do you spend your free time?
  • How do your hobbies reflect on your life?
  • Have you read any good books recently?
  • Any books about your industry?
  • What’s your favorite local restaurant?
  • What do you want to achieve this year?
  • Have you traveled recently?

I stumbled upon the website BlogFlux today and found myself reading a blog titled Jehzlau Concepts. I found one of the articles very interesting about how to increase rank on your blog even if you don’t post often. You should check out the article.

The article says that a great way to get traffic is by riding many small, short waves of web popularity by using the cool tool, Google Trends, that shows you what people are searching for NOW. Not 10 minutes ago, but what is hot right now. For instance, today Google Trends shows that J-Lo had twins, a teacher sent illicit pics to students, the Philadelphia airport has delays, and there’s a Star Trek collection tour.

The post is very interesting, and the concept is intreaguing. Yes, it’s a great way to get some quick traffic to your blog, and depending on what you’re trying to achieve with your website, it might be right for you. I can see it working for a website whose revenue is based on quanitity, not quality of leads.

For some specialized industry, using Google Trends for industry news is great, but posting for the traffic alone, without any real interest, I believe it is unethical and a waste of time. That is, unless you’re a Star Trek fan…