Do you really have time for a blog? Running a company is enough to keep you busy, and then some. Let’s get outside of the company for a minute, and think of what at least some portion of your customers are looking for. They want transparency, to see what the company is really like, to make sure you are real, and make sure you aren’t a stagnant rock. A company blog performs all these functions, and simultaneously serves your SEO strategy by increasing content on your site (more breadth, more entrance pages).
Blogs and Company Transparency
You’re still a customer, don’t get back into your warm company seat just yet. You are looking for X services or X product. You have your choice of companies to deal with, as your search results just pulled up 10 million + pages, along with 30 google ads for your search term. Where do I start? Which company is real? Call it luck, but they get to your site. The customer wants to (quickly) know a few things, more than likely: 1) Do they have what I need? 2) Can I trust this company? 3) How much for the product/service X?
Optimization of your site will handle #1 and #3, but #2 is hard to get out of a product description, or “features” page. Even your “about us” page will struggle at answering #2. But a blog, that’s a lot different than any of your articles, content pages, FAQ, or even help section. A blog has flavor, it has a sense of “down-to-earthness”, particularly a CEO’s or other executive’s blog.
You can easily integrate a blog into your site, just put up a Blog link somewhere accessible. Then start writing. Write about your industry, some thoughts you had on the way to work this morning about something related to what you do. Write about an employee that has done an exceptional job at something. Be yourself (if you fake it, they’ll know it). Talk your company up, when you have a new feature, new event, new product line. Even if your site stats tell you that no one is reading them, keep at it.
Blogs and Company Activity
Your customer not only wants to know that you are real, but to know that you are not stagnant, sitting in the same pool that you were in 5, 10, 15 years ago when you started. You should be up on the latest blogs that are in your field, and you should link to them (except direct competitors…). Don’t be afraid to point to someone else on a topic because you were enlightened by it. Chances are your customers will gain your trust because they know you are out there and watching what else is going on in the industry, and you will be able to provide tip top services/products, even if the customer conversion does not occur for days, weeks, or months in the future.
If you’re not harnessing the power of a blog on your site and for your SEO strategy, get over what is holding you back and get a blog. You’ll be glad you did. While you’re thinking about a blog, visit randfish’s blog post on 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic.
