Probably the best way to get better rankings for your website and get more traffic is to add more content to it.
The phrase "content is king" has held true from the early days of the Internet because people get on the web to search for something. If you have what they're looking for and Google thinks your website is an authority, then you'll get traffic. Other websites and blogs will naturally link to you if your content is good. So post good content.
One fantastic way to add content to your website is with a blog. A blog is an informal way to easily add new content to your website. The latest posts show first and the rest get archived. Right now, you're reading my blog. If you like to write, then a blog will be a great tool for you. If you're not a good writer, then hire someone to help you. It's not too expensive.
Good question... I'm glad I asked! There are several things you can write blog posts about:
1. Blog about business stuff. This isn't Facebook or your personal blog. Every post should be about your industry. Don't try to sell something with every post - that's not the point. The blog is on your website and your website should have links on the page already to your products and services. What you want to do is provide valuable information. Make it quality information that people will want to know about. Don't just have a single point but give at least three great points and good information that has value. Great content gets you great content.
There are plenty of ways to get ideas about blog posts:
You also want to set up a blog calendar. This is a calendar for internal purposes where you center on certain topics at certain times of the year. Blog on purpose and you'll reap the benefits.
2. Make it personal. If you got a good referral from a client, blog about it. Do you have a star employee that has done exceptionally well? Give them credit for it. Maybe a particular client is doing something really good with your products or services. Don't be afraid to name names and make your blog personal.
3. Write what you know. You are an expert at something. You are. You know more about some things than other people do. Blog about those things. Pretent you're talking to someone who knows nothing about those things and start from square one.
4. Be controversial. Comment about certain hot topics in your industry. Pick a topic that has two, clear sides and then be brave and choose a side. Give your thoughts and encourage comments. When you get a group of people going back and forth with comments, they are writing your content for you and that's what you want.
5. Keep it relevant and trendy. Stay updated on what's going on in your industry and provide extra insight about those topics.
First, it should be easy for people to post comments. Make it so they don't have to register if at all possible. Just moderate the comments that come in. You should have comments post immediately and you should receive an email when a new comment comes in. From there, you can decide if you want to remove it or not.
There are more ideas about how to make your blog posts popular here:
Top 9 Ways of Being a Link Magnet (searchenginewatch.com)
Here's an article I got delivered to my inbox today (via an e-newsletter) that discusses how to find topics to blog about:
Where to Get Inspiration for Blog Posts (searchenginewatch.com)
I write several blog posts every month -- most of which appear on my own site and here on Search Engine Watch. Most of the time I have no trouble coming up with a topic. After all, I read so much that something usually grabs my attention.
But some days I'm desperately looking for a topic to blog about. At these times, I might just walk away from the computer and do other things until an idea pops up.
But on other days the Internet is the solution. Here are some of the places you can go to get inspiration for your blog posts.
He brings up some really good sources like Google Trends. He also mentions your own analytics. I use this a lot. I'll look at what we're ranking for in Google Webmaster Tools and then write a supporting article about it and then link that keyword to the post that needs a boost. It's a great way to boost rankings and it's definitely low hanging fruit.
Another great source I use is Yahoo! Answers. Type in your keyword and you'll find all kinds of questions that people are asking. Remember, they are putting those exact questions into search engines like Google and Yahoo!, so make that the title of your blog post and then provide tons of good info. Once that's done, go into Yahoo! Answers again and answer someone's question. You get to list a source, so reference your website or the post you just made.
And then what I've been doing for a few clients is giving them the exact posts to put into their site. They write them up and time them to post every day or two. It works great because you can spend an afternoon setting up posts for a few weeks and they release automatically. Review your analytics every 2-3 weeks to find out what the next things are to blog about. This is just fine tuning your website and working on what's already starting to work.
If you work this strategy for 3-6 months, you'll see big improvements. The problem is, not everyone is a writer. I get that. You can always hire it out, so there's really no excuse. Quit reading this and go make a blog post!
These are just the basics about blogging. There are also ways to purposely do what I call "SEO blog" where you're crafting specific blog entries for powerful SEO (search engine optimization) benefits and that's when your blog becomes even more powerful. We're doing that with a few clients right now. Contact Webstix for more information on that or just know that for now, you just need to be blogging. Don't over think it but just do it.
-Tony
