What’s the business value of a blog? Google will love you more. Drive more sales leads to your site.

March 31, 2012

Five reasons why blogging is a great sales tool

By Maureen McCabe

Every business owner I’ve met says they never have enough time. Like you they are busy running their business each day, evenings, and some weekends. You likely never have enough time or energy left for marketing and business development. So it’s not surprising to think you don’t have time for what I call “Blogging for Business.” Learn how blogging can drive more sales leads and generate more profits for your business.

1. First page on Google

Blogging can improve your site’s search engine ranking? Your site will come up higher when you have great new content. A blog is a fantastic tool to help you get the visibility your business needs. The higher you appear organically means – more traffic to your site and more sales leads. Blogging can impact the bottom line – Generate More Profits – for your business.

Please note that I used the word “great” not just any content. Write about a topic that interests your customers and use keyword phrases – both will help boost you to page one.

TIP 1:  Use twitter to see trending topics for content ideas. Continue reading this blog to get five content ideas for your blog.

Keywords – One Do and Two Don’ts

DO: use keyword phrases a couple of times in your article. You must avoid “keyword stuffing” which means using the phrase 4x, 5x or more! Why? Google’s algorithms continuously change – don’t be caught and put in the penalty box with a lower ranking.

DON’T: force your keywords into the copy Toronto Marketing Companies is an important keyword phrase for me but it’s difficult to use. Why? I’m a Toronto Marketing Company and the plural ‘companies’ does not fit. (This example was used for illustrative purposes only, although it may help a wee bit with my SEO!)

DON’T: use a headline or subheadline (H1, H2 tags) inappropriately. For example – Toronto Marketing Companies – not only does the bolding look unnatural, the headline is in the middle of a sentence. Got it?

2. Move over newsletters and e-newsletters

Stop sending one-way communications. A blog is a great way to interact with customers and prospective customers. Send a teaser email about the article to drive readers to your website or blog. Why? When your site is popular (visited often) you impress Google. Get rewarded with a higher ranking.

Your customers can provide their comments on your blog and/or their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media accounts. Again, the more people talking about your business and sharing the blog with their friends and colleagues – the more Google will like you. Don’t you want to be loved and ranked more highly?

Bottom-line more traffic to your website means more prospects contacting you to buy your product or service, request a quotation, or free marketing consultation with yours truly!

3. Thought Leadership

You are good at what you do, you are a professional – but are you regularly interviewed on TV or quoted in the newspaper? By sharing your expertise – you can become an online authority. Few of your peers and competitors are blogging. They are likely spending time twittering and using Facebook with a modicum of success because everyone feels they have to do it but don’t really know how to do it effectively. (This will be a topic for a future blog.)

Blog about what you know – you’ll be pleasantly surprised about how much content you can write. More importantly, writing won’t be drudgery like it was with your school assignments. To be honest, I have been surprised by the number of prospective clients who found me online through a blog that was shared by a colleague. There are SEO benefits for blogging but bottom line, I do it to be a thought leader although I’ll be the first to admit it does help generate sales leads and generate more profits.

TIP 2:  Have someone proofread your blog before it’s posted. You can’t count on spellcheck to pick up all of the errors.

4. Blogging is Social Media

I continue to be surprised by the number of business owners who think that social media is only Facebook, YouTube, and twitter. Blogging is one of the most effective social media options because you already communicate with your customers – now you are soliciting their input and inviting them to visit your blog to make comments instead of or in addition to sending you an email. By engaging them more you will see more repeat sales and new customers. Why? Blogging is a great way to stay “top of mind” and referrals will come more naturally from your customers.

Five ideas for your blog content – (i) ask your staff to track frequently asked questions and customer issues, (ii) highlight your solutions, (iii) comment on recent news stories or surveys, (iv) ask your customers for ideas – everyone likes to be asked for an opinion, and (v) reference a customer testimonial that has been recently added to your website. (I will dedicate one or two blogs to testimonials from how to ask for one to how to leverage it with social media.)

5. Recycling isn’t just for your garbage

You will be surprised at the amount of existing content that you can re-purpose or reuse. In this blog I used content from one of my videos and a report: Eight Money Burning Marketing Mistakes that Reduce Profits. Learn how to avoid the top 8 marketing errors that small and mid-sized business owners and organizations have made and shared with McCabe Marketing. Request your free report now.

Drive a steady stream of visitors to your website by blogging regularly. A steady stream of articles or blog posts will keep your company top of mind. Don’t be frightened by the writing process – it doesn’t have to be time consuming.

TIP 3:  To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, “The blogger who fails to develop a plan is planning to fail.” Or simply put – you won’t succeed without setting goals and following through.

TIP 4:  Block two recurring times in your calendar (for example the 2nd and 4th Thursday at 10am) to write or edit existing material for your blog. Turn off your phone and don’t check your email. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish in less than one hour. By making a plan and commitment to follow through you will have a content to post biweekly.

Ask your proofreading friend or staff member to send you a reminder on Wednesday that they’re expecting to see your content on Thursday afternoon! We all work to deadlines.

I look forward to connecting with you – virtually or in person! I’m here to help – please book your free marketing consultation today.

Check out these posts about blogging:

Five ways to create blog titles. Ideas inspired by Donald Trump.

What’s the Business Value of a Blog? Google will love you more.

Is it possible to get a first-page Google ranking?

Five ways to create blog titles. Ideas inspired by Donald Trump.
Is it possible to get a first-page Google ranking?

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