We are contemplating whether to put a blog on our site.
-
The reasons we want to put one up is obviously for SEO reasons but since we are a small business with limited resources the higher ups are worried that we will start strong but slack off. Some feel that it's worse to start and not keep up the blog as it gives an unprofessional vibe to google and other users.
I maintain that I will try to keep it up to the best of my abilities and that it's better to have something than nothing.
What do you feel and do you have any experiences in this?
-
Hey Stephen,
I don't really agree with you here. It's quite easy to make a calculable difference with a blog for a small business owner. Not everyone needs to be OK Cupid. Not everyone needs a following of people who read the blog daily or come back to the blog often. Some businesses, such as small (local) businesses, only need a few posts on their blog to make a difference. If there is worry about it not getting updated perhaps they can simply make more content pages on their site rather than a full-blown blog effort. Content creation doesn't always mean blog. Perhaps they can do some keyword research and look for long-tails to write blog posts about. Perhaps they could target a local keyword. These evergreen posts will continue to provide benefits for their business for years.... if the keyword research is done correctly.
-
What Franck says is correct, it creates user engagement and can help with the SEO. And David has also mentioned outsourcing to elance and Odesk as well as not using the dates. Also a good start.
Another thing you should do is just write a bunch of content before hand and just keep them as drafts, that way the writing won't hold you up except for maybe once a month. In addition, you have other sites like fiverr.com which is hit or miss on how good the content is but only costs 5 dollars.
But if you want a writing service that is backed by actual people and don't want to be worried about whether they speak actual english or whatever language you are looking for, there is also professionalwritingservices.biz/ and I think they cost like $10.
However, back to your original question. It can't hurt you to start a blog. It promotes engagement and makes your site dynamic, instead of static. With the addition of a blog to your site you are providing your customers an insight into your business and an opportunity for them to engage you.
If you choose to go ahead with the blog, make sure that they are socially enabled, meaning people can like it on facebook, share it on twitter, and post it on Google + (good for SEO) so that you are getting the maximum outreach with each post. I hope this helps.
-
I suggest you read this http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/12/10/how-important-was-blogging-to-okcupids-success/
I (and many other in the industry) have admired the brilliance and marketing effectiveness of the OKcupid blog for many years. That article reveals how much work something of that effectiveness takes to create!
"The posts each took four to eight weeks of full-time work for him to write. Plus another two to four weeks of dedicated programming time from someone else on the team. It’s easy to look at an OkTrends post, with all its simple graphs and casual writing style and think someone just threw it together, but it probably had fifty serious revisions. And we threw out a lot of research that didn’t turn into good posts. "
People often have high hopes for a blog: "if OKCupid can knock it out of the park, why cant we?"
What is your success criteria? Can you put in enough time to actually hit it?
99% of people don't hit it and waste their time. You have to be pretty determined to be part of the 1% that make a calculable difference from their blog
-
If you're worried about it not getting updated you can always remove the dates on the posts. That way, people won't know you haven't been updating it.
Also, you can find writers on Elance and Odesk who will write great content for you for about $50-$100. Good way to keep the writing going for a cheap cost.
-
Hi
In my experience a corporate or product blog is always useful because it provides content for users and for Ecommerce websites it can be a place to answer users inquieries or to announce events, or to keep in touch with bloggers ans the community, etc
But you must have a content plan and try to post new posts on a regular basis. Don't put the focus on Google but on users. You can easily capture new visitors if your content is relevant.
In my experience (Ecommerce websites) blog traffic represents 5 to 12% of global visits with good engagement rate.
Hope this will help you and your team
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Dr. location website and blog
I use Moz Local to sync my Endocrinology medical clinic website to search engines and directories and it has helped me a lot. However, I want to start a blog that deep dives into Endocrine based issues like diseases and conditions. The issue is I am not sure if I should just add the blog to my Endocrinology Medical Clinic website or Start the blog off on a completely new domain because one day I might want to sell my Endocrinology Medical Clinic but keep my Endocrine based blog. What do you suggest? Also do any of your services help submit blogs without a physical address to search engines and directories like Moz Local?
Content Development | | Viewpoint-Endocrinology0 -
Which blog is best
We use Bigcommerce, at the moment we use wordpress for our blogs, bigcommerce has its own blog. Is it better to use the Bigcommerce blog or Wordpress.
Content Development | | CostumeD0 -
Guest Blogging
If I am looking to guest blog for back links, do I need to reciprocate and provide guest blogging opportunities for them on my site? OR is it better to ask other site's to link to articles on my client's page with the understanding I will link to their page (if they are not competition)? I am trying to do some link building for a bankruptcy lawyer and I am considering possibly searching out guest blogging in different cities/states. Bankruptcy is primarily a federal matter, so reaching out to neighboring states. Not sure the client will be interested in this or not, but it's something I am considering. A lot of law firms have contact information Thanks everyone!
Content Development | | DigitalEnvy0 -
Should I move my blog to my other domain ?
i have 2 ecommerce sites with 2 separate blogs, I m planning to redirect-301 one of the sites to the other. I want to move the blog content from the older site to the other site. Can just copy the content to the new site and combine with the existing blog content.? I would appreciate any suggestions on this topic. thank you nick
Content Development | | orion680 -
Looking for a voice to put on my website
hi i have a voice on my website http://www.clairehegarty.co.uk but i am looking for a new better one that are based in the UK. can anyone please let me know if they use voice widgets on their site and if so which company they use. I am looking for a better one in the UK which offers a better service as well as being vat registered. any help would be great
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Mobile Sites / Useragent detection
I've got a question about how search engines declare that they're mobile browsers... Our website is based on wordpress, and uses the caching plugin W3TC to send a different site template to mobile useragents - i believe from the HTTP useragent string; (the same content is served on every page whether it's a desktop or mobile - just different themes). After having this mobile site online for a few months, we're a little confused as to why google still shows the instant preview of the desktop version for mobile users, and it doesn't show the little mobile phone icon in our SERPs for mobile devices (it's as if it doesn't realise the mobile site exists). I was reading today that the "old" method of serving different content based on the browser is to use the HTTP useragent string; and there's a "new" object checking method which is more robust (although I can't find a lot of information about it). Can anyone explain the "new" method? Would this be the reason that google is so far ignorant of our mobile site?
Content Development | | AlecPR0