August 16, 2014 at 01:47We need a blog
This article arose in the course of work on the previous one . Michael puzzled us by naming the 1,500-word number as the necessary minimum of content on the page. In the course of considering options for implementing this requirement, one of the most logical options for solving the problem without sacrificing website design is a blog.
We decided to consider what other benefits blogging provides, including for online stores and other commercial projects. It turned out that in the context of modern SEO, a blog has a number of advantages, which, at least, are not advisable to refuse.
Blog and SEO:
If your audience is small, you may have the idea that creating a blog does not make any sense, since no one will read it. This is absolutely not the case, the lack of a blog is one of the reasons why your audience remains small.
Blogs, even if you do not write anything fundamentally new there, can greatly help you in terms of SEO. The most obvious advantage of the blog is that it is an inexhaustible source of unique content, the presence of which greatly contributes to the promotion of your site in the rank of search engines.
Other blog benefits:
Firstly, blogs are a great and probably the most effective way to increase the number of pages on your site. Each such page will link to the main page, which positively affects its ranking in search engines. On your blog, you can also link to pages that represent your products.
image source
Naturally, do not forget about the quality of publications. Internal links are effective, but links from other sites are much more important. When your article is referenced or shared on social networks, you get the desired profit. The more such links you can achieve, the more successful your promotion in the ranking will be.
Speaking of social networks: the effectiveness of the blog will be much higher if you combine it with promotion on social networks. We are not talking about social marketing and VKontakte as a means of advertising, we are talking about the fact that banal three articles a week are more than a dozen links to you from VKontakte, Twitter, Facebook and Google +, while the effectiveness of this tool is limited only by your activity or activity your SEO team.
Secondly, maintaining a regular blog also signals that your site is constantly being updated. Search engines track these changes. Each new page is a sign that your site is active, and this is rewarded with a higher ranking on Google.
Thirdly, blogs are a great opportunity to use keywords that have no place on the main page. The relative freedom of choice of topics, the absence of restrictions in volumes and wording allows you to perfectly beat one or another key word. But do not forget about your main goal - to sell the goods, and if a user came to the page with your article looking for "the best electric razors", give him a link to your page that sells them.
Blog and Trust
A blog allows you to tell your story, and history is what helps build trust.
Personalizing your site is one of the most reliable ways to make your visitors empathize with you. The basis of this relationship begins with the About Us page. One study showed that people who visited the About Us page, which described the history of the online store and its creators, were more likely to become buyers than visitors who were not interested in this page (the difference was about 30%).
This is probably one of the coolest implementations of the About Us page we have ever seen.
Using a blog, you can develop this venture and create a strong bond between you and your customers. A striking example of such blogs on Habré is Mosigra .
In addition, the blog will help you demonstrate your competence in the field in which you work. If you are a manufacturer of the products that you sell, for you this is just a great chance to earn the title of expert.
If you are just an intermediary, you still should not give up this field. From the point of view of visitors, if you have access to a huge amount of goods, suppose equipment, you have the material base in order to understand it well. Reviews, test drives and other information related to your products and their application are perfect for you. Just do not abuse the position, be extremely honest with the reader, do not try to “give” him the stale X product using the article “How the X Product Got the Game”.
What to write about in a blog
Naturally, a blog should correspond to the theme of your site. But this absolutely does not limit you in choosing topics. In fact, any interesting information about you or your product is a great topic for an article.
A small list of what you can write about:
- Tops, digests and all in that spirit. A selection of interesting materials covering your area of activity will not only show readers that you are following the latest trends, but with a good presentation it can become a source of a huge number of external links to social networks. networks.
- Highlight issues that relate to your industry. One of the most famous success stories of articles in online commerce is the article “ How much does my pool really cost ” by Marcus Sheridan. Then (in 2009), his success was so overwhelming that the interviewwas published with him in the New York Times and entitled "A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy: Answers to Buyers' Questions." By Marcus’s own admission, on the day of publication, visitors who went to the order page from the blog made purchases of $ 1.7 million (of course, if you look closely at the cost specified in the article, you understand that there were not so many) .
- The history and faces of your project.
- Information about new products and planned receipts. Firstly, you create interest multiplied by expectation, and secondly, you can get feedback in the form of comments that will show you how warmly your customers will accept the new batch.
- Manuals.
- A story about your participation in an event related to your field of activity. Participation in conferences, seminars, exhibitions, etc. is not only interesting, but also creates the image of an expert.
We decided to consider what other benefits blogging provides, including for online stores and other commercial projects. It turned out that in the context of modern SEO, a blog has a number of advantages, which, at least, are not advisable to refuse.
Blog and SEO:
If your audience is small, you may have the idea that creating a blog does not make any sense, since no one will read it. This is absolutely not the case, the lack of a blog is one of the reasons why your audience remains small.
Blogs, even if you do not write anything fundamentally new there, can greatly help you in terms of SEO. The most obvious advantage of the blog is that it is an inexhaustible source of unique content, the presence of which greatly contributes to the promotion of your site in the rank of search engines.
Other blog benefits:
Firstly, blogs are a great and probably the most effective way to increase the number of pages on your site. Each such page will link to the main page, which positively affects its ranking in search engines. On your blog, you can also link to pages that represent your products.
image source
Naturally, do not forget about the quality of publications. Internal links are effective, but links from other sites are much more important. When your article is referenced or shared on social networks, you get the desired profit. The more such links you can achieve, the more successful your promotion in the ranking will be.
Speaking of social networks: the effectiveness of the blog will be much higher if you combine it with promotion on social networks. We are not talking about social marketing and VKontakte as a means of advertising, we are talking about the fact that banal three articles a week are more than a dozen links to you from VKontakte, Twitter, Facebook and Google +, while the effectiveness of this tool is limited only by your activity or activity your SEO team.
Secondly, maintaining a regular blog also signals that your site is constantly being updated. Search engines track these changes. Each new page is a sign that your site is active, and this is rewarded with a higher ranking on Google.
Thirdly, blogs are a great opportunity to use keywords that have no place on the main page. The relative freedom of choice of topics, the absence of restrictions in volumes and wording allows you to perfectly beat one or another key word. But do not forget about your main goal - to sell the goods, and if a user came to the page with your article looking for "the best electric razors", give him a link to your page that sells them.
Blog and Trust
A blog allows you to tell your story, and history is what helps build trust.
Personalizing your site is one of the most reliable ways to make your visitors empathize with you. The basis of this relationship begins with the About Us page. One study showed that people who visited the About Us page, which described the history of the online store and its creators, were more likely to become buyers than visitors who were not interested in this page (the difference was about 30%).
This is probably one of the coolest implementations of the About Us page we have ever seen.
Using a blog, you can develop this venture and create a strong bond between you and your customers. A striking example of such blogs on Habré is Mosigra .
In addition, the blog will help you demonstrate your competence in the field in which you work. If you are a manufacturer of the products that you sell, for you this is just a great chance to earn the title of expert.
If you are just an intermediary, you still should not give up this field. From the point of view of visitors, if you have access to a huge amount of goods, suppose equipment, you have the material base in order to understand it well. Reviews, test drives and other information related to your products and their application are perfect for you. Just do not abuse the position, be extremely honest with the reader, do not try to “give” him the stale X product using the article “How the X Product Got the Game”.
What to write about in a blog
Naturally, a blog should correspond to the theme of your site. But this absolutely does not limit you in choosing topics. In fact, any interesting information about you or your product is a great topic for an article.
A small list of what you can write about:
- Tops, digests and all in that spirit. A selection of interesting materials covering your area of activity will not only show readers that you are following the latest trends, but with a good presentation it can become a source of a huge number of external links to social networks. networks.
- Highlight issues that relate to your industry. One of the most famous success stories of articles in online commerce is the article “ How much does my pool really cost ” by Marcus Sheridan. Then (in 2009), his success was so overwhelming that the interviewwas published with him in the New York Times and entitled "A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy: Answers to Buyers' Questions." By Marcus’s own admission, on the day of publication, visitors who went to the order page from the blog made purchases of $ 1.7 million (of course, if you look closely at the cost specified in the article, you understand that there were not so many) .
- The history and faces of your project.
- Information about new products and planned receipts. Firstly, you create interest multiplied by expectation, and secondly, you can get feedback in the form of comments that will show you how warmly your customers will accept the new batch.
- Manuals.
- A story about your participation in an event related to your field of activity. Participation in conferences, seminars, exhibitions, etc. is not only interesting, but also creates the image of an expert.