Every so often a new buzz word comes along. Some arrive then quickly disappear, but blogging is one that began to gain momentum at the end of the 90’s and has continued to grow ever since. Surprisingly though, there are still many people who are unfamiliar with the term and not taking advantage of the benefits it can bring to your business.

What does blog actually mean?
The name blog is actually short for Web Log and in the early days was used by writers and travellers as a form of an online diary that they could share with a wide audience.

Today though, there are many reasons for including a blog as part of your online marketing strategy which include, improved search engine positions, increased traffic to your web site, loyalty from your readers, ease of use and low costs. But to make it work there are a few things to remember.

Improve search engine positions
Blogging will help with search engine optimisation, as Google likes to see regularly changing content. This can be difficult to maintain purely with your company web site, but blogging software enables you to very easily post new content online about your area of expertise. Keep your articles relevant, interesting and include keywords wherever possible.

What to write
To be an effective marketing tool for your business it is very important to write articles that are going to be interesting to your target audience. The idea is that your articles will be ‘spidered’ by search engines and read by potential customers. Your articles should then demonstrate your expertise on the specific subject you are writing about and link to your company web site.

If your articles are interesting your blog will be bookmarked and regularly visited for new articles, hence increasing traffic to your site. You will also find that other web sites will link to your articles which all drive traffic to your site.

Which software to use
Blogging is very easy to get started and software is freely available, the most popular of which is almost certainly Wordpress (www.wordpress.org). This software is easy to use and widely supported through an online community.

Don’t be concerned that you won’t have time to write articles. The advantage is that you have the freedom to add an article at any time. So you can comment on relevant topical subjects, post articles about company news or developments within your industry. And don’t be concerned that you have to write long articles. In fact, keep them short and concise which will make them easily readable by your busy target audience.

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