Granted, there are a lot of mistakes that can be made when it comes to a website. But from a search engine optimization perspective, failing to update your blog can have the most impact on search engine ranking. For anyone who hopes to land their website on the first page of Google for keywords of their choice, updating their website with fresh and original content on a regular basis is a strategy that is easy and effective.
Most SEO experts recommend blogging at least weekly to garner favor with the search engines, if not daily until desired search engine position is achieved. For many website owners, this is much easier said than done. Inhibitions about writing skill combined with a lack of inspiration and time are the most popular excuses for non-bloggers. Here are the top three ways to make writing and updating your blog part of your marketing habits.
1. Carry a notebook: There are daily experiences that will serve you well for blogging ideas. For instance, just the other day while driving to pick up my daughters from camp I saw the Michigan Humane Society RV, which had their tagline printed on their vehicle, “Somebody Here Needs You”. I wrote that down in my notebook as a possible blog post idea about creating an effective tag line. Yet, here I’m using it for this blog post which just goes to show you, you don’t need to know exactly how you’re going to use an idea, just write it down, and then use it!
2. Get someone to write for you: This can be a slippery slope as you don’t want your blog to be written completely by a ghost writer. Your readers will usually pick up on a lack of transparency or authenticity. You can however occasionally host guest bloggers which your readers will appreciate and it’s an effective way to create or strengthen joint venture partnerships.
3. Reuse content: Many business owners write weekly or monthly newsletters, and content can be recycled from those types of marketing materials. Be cautious not to reuse content which appears elsewhere on the internet. Google won’t regard content that isn’t original favorably, so if SEO is your goal, duplicating will be a waste of time.
If you decide to buy articles and materials, be sure to completely rewrite and reword them into something original. Writers who sell content almost always sell to a multitude of buyers to maximize their profits. Because of the expense, work and effort that goes into rewriting such content, many bloggers find it easier to write something from scratch to begin with.
Carve out an hour of time each week to write and update your blog posts. The benefits of having a website which is consistently updated with fresh and unique content is a marketing strategy that will reward you in more ways than one.
What is your excuse for not blogging this week? I’d love to know! Please leave me a comment below.