By Alisha Morrissey & Lesley Raymond, Rogue Penguin
Blog. It’s kind of an icky word, but one we’re constantly talking about as we market businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador and around the world.
Blogging, at its core, is pretty simple. You write a short article about a topic related to your business and post it online so people can find out more about what you do or why you do it. But it’s also kind of complicated, since every blog should be entertaining, tell a great story, and be packed with keywords about your industry. It’s a lot of work, so why should you even bother?
Does it really make a difference? Does anyone really read this stuff?
Back It Up!
Here are a few stats to answer those questions:
"Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website. (Hubspot, 2015)
Over 409 million people visit WordPress blogs each month, viewing over 20 billion pages. (WordPress, 2018)
47% of buyers view three to five blog posts or other pieces of content before starting the buying process. (Demand Gen Report, 2016)
The big answer
Business owners who blog are setting themselves up as experts or influencers and often use their blogs as teaching tools. By becoming a trusted expert, you’re more credible than the next guy, and people use credibility to decide who to buy from.
That’s great and all, but the big business benefit is that—when done properly—blogging increases SEO (we’ll get to this in a sec) and can even make your keywords cheaper in Google AdWords. This is a huge benefit when you’re placing ads on Google, since each keyword is sold auction-style.
Wait, what’s SEO?
Search Engine Optimization—shortened to SEO ’cause marketers looove acronyms—happens when you improve your website by following certain guidelines to appear higher and higher in the list of search results when people Google words related to your business.
Featuring a blog as a key part of your website will give you a 434% better chance of being ranked highly on search engines. (Tech Client)
Visualize Google (or any search engine) as a person sitting in the corner, going through every website in the world to find you the one you’re looking for. This person is using specific filters—more than 300 of them—to find you the best results. They’re looking through headlines, the content on your site, trustability in the information you provide, specific words your website includes, and sooooo much more.
Reason enough?
Have we given you enough reasons to get back in front of the keyboard? Maybe. But now you need to know how to do it right. In the next edition of The Advisor, we’ll give you tips to create blogs that work in your favour. And remember, 45% of marketers outsource content creation, so if you need help with your latest series of blog posts, Rogue Penguin has got you covered.
By Alisha Morrissey & Lesley Raymond, Rogue Penguin
We are Rogue Penguins—artists and collaborators—with more than 30 years of marketing experience. But we’re not your average agency. Just like our namesake, we’re compact, efficient, powerful, and not to be underestimated. We’re the most agile and versatile creatures you’ll encounter.
Plus, we look great in black and white.