Increase Website Traffic with A Smart Blogging strategy

More business’s are experiencing the benefits of actively using a blog on their website. Benefits from having an active blog with well-written content include:

	More website visitors More visitors mean more chances to convert leads into customers. If your blog is well accepted, viewers will share your articles with others – meaning free promotion for your website!
	More backlinks When people share your articles or create links to them it works like a vote of trust to your website. This will improve your websites search engine ranking.
	More indexed pages Each blog post works as a separate page giving you more chances to be found online. Google likes large website with lots of unique content.
	More content with a wide range of keywords Each blog post can cover different topics, giving you chances to target specific keywords. This means your website will rank well for more keywords – not just the keywords on your ‘normal’ website pages.

What’s the right way to blog?

 A smart blogging strategy will look different depending on your business and target audience, blogging may not suit every business, but in most cases using a blog the right way will yield positive results.

The most important thing to remember when starting a business blog is to think about what you viewers want to read. Think about what problems they are facing? What they want to know, any tips they will find useful. To use a blog for lead generation you need to focus on what your market wants to know. New readers are not interested in your company or the brands you stock, they are not interested in your favorite colour or what you did on the weekend. New readers want to know how you can help them, how can you fix a problem they are having? What advice do you have to make their lives easier?

Address the problems your market is facing. 

People like to do their own research before making a decision. However people search the keywords of their questions or problems, not the keywords of the solutions to problems. An example of this would be a generic plumbers website. The content you would expect to see would be a list of services, information about the company, history, maybe some staff profiles and contact information. This is all great content and will rank well when people search for keywords such as “Plumber, Gas fitting” etc. however there is opportunity to get leads from many other search terms and keywords by thinking about what the target market is looking for. People searching for “why is my tap leaking? How to fix a blocked pipe? Why is my shower cold?“ People are usually researching their problems, not the solutions.

To apply this to your business – Do you have a product or service that deals with problems your customers are having? If the content on your website is always talking about your product, but not what your product does or how it can be used to solve specific problems then chances are you are missing out many leads from people who need your product or service – they just don’t that it is you who has the solution they need. Think about how someone would find you if they didn’t know what you did or sold. Think backwards.

Think from the perspective of a general user not an expert, as you will be with your products and industry. Chances are most of you reading this will not be an expert in freshwater aquariums. If you had a problem with green slime appearing in your fish tank you probably wouldn’t know you needed a product called “Algaefix” all you would know is you have a problem with green slime. Optimising your websites for keywords relating to the questions or problems people are having gives you the opportunity to position yourself to people who do not know you, but want what you are offering. These are very high quality leads as you have what they need. After all what’s the point in focusing your efforts optimising your website for a product name or brand name – those who are familiar with it already know you. Focus on those who don’t know you, but have problems that you can help with.

People are looking for your help – are you positioned in a way they can find you?