How to Start a blog

Start a blog to update your website content and make a difference to your readers and Google!

No matter what business you are in, it helps to be found easily on Google, and the key to this is content…

Whether you like it or not Google is the new Yellow Pages.

It’s where customers go to search for businesses. It is also where they go to check out the credibility of a business. If you cannot be found on Google, then customers simply go elsewhere. They might think your business is less credible than your competitors.

They might even think you have stopped trading if your website is out of date.

Starting a Blog

The terms blog and blogging are shortened terms taken from the words Web Logging, a phrase used originally to describe an online journal or log. Some years ago these were fairly rare pseudo-journalistic accounts mostly of a personal nature.

These days a blog is more properly defined as: “A regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style”.

The upsurge in the popularity of the blogging genre is due to the insatiable need that people have for information and the fact that the easiest way to keep Google interested in your site is to keep it regularly updated with useful content.

What is a responsive blog post?

What’s a responsive blog post? well, it’s one that answers a question for your readers – with a title that offers ‘how-to’ information in the title for example.

My understanding is that the ideal length for a responsive blog post is in the order of 350 to 75000 words – that’s about the length of this article by the way.

How to get a blog started

Many modern websites will have the software needed to create fresh content already built-in – Those built on the WordPress platform, in particular, will be blogging ready – and it should be simple enough for your web design firm to activate this facility. In other scenarios, it may be that your existing website is not suitable for the process, in which case you can set up a stand-alone blog using WordPress.com or blogger.com Don’t forget to link back to your website if you are using one of these platforms!

The process of starting your blog is simple, once your platform has been set up – it’s a question of logging in and starting to write – most blogging software uses an interface that’s very much like a basic word processor.

If you don’t want to get involved with the mechanics of the process, an alternative might be to supply your web design firm with the content and let them upload it for, they may charge you for this service.

The main problem with blogging.

Adding content and updating information for small business website owners, can easily be done by starting a blog, and whilst it is an effective and cost-effective method the main drawbacks for most people will be the time it takes and the actual writing process itself.

Once started, content management needs to be, well, managed – And that can be a problem especially where the website owner is otherwise engaged with other aspects of the business. You see, having a site that is clearly not updated regularly and contains outdated information is not helpful, either to surfers looking for answers, or Google looking to provide search results.

As with most things digital, however, help is just a mouse-click away for the pencil shy business owner.

Outsourcing Blogging

It is often asked why anyone would want to buy in blogging as a service. Indeed, it’s common for businesses to outsource website management and graphic design without even thinking about the content that visitors will be reading when they get there. There are a few obvious advantages to outsourcing your content:

• Professionalism – Someone who writes for a living knows how to write content that will leap from the page, and can structure it in a way that readers will love. We’re not all expert wordsmiths, so why not let an expert help you out? There is nothing that turns off a reader like spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Consistency – Instead of the approach most of us take, which is to only write blogs when we remember (or when we can be bothered), buying in content helps to keep everything current and keep Google interested in your site.
• Time is money – Your time is valuable, and you will want to spend it working on your business. By sending a list of ideas to your blogger you can let them get on with generating content while you do what you do best.

It’s important to be aware of the dangers of outsourcing your website content ‘on the cheap’

Whilst articles at ￡5 each from an overseas outsourcer may sound like a cheap and effective solution there are two things that can go horribly wrong.

• Firstly the content and the grammar tend to be very poor, the reader can tell straight away that the text has been bought in and is not genuine – this doesn’t help your credibility.
• Secondly, content at the cheap end of the market may have been hacked and plagiarized. Meaning that you can’t be sure it hasn’t already been sold to other site owners many times over, resulting in duplicate pages across the internet – a situation that may penalise you in Google

If you are interested in creating a managed blog service contact ThriftySites today and see how we can help your customers – and Google – stay interested in what you have to say, by setting up a blog on your site and advising you about content.

 We also recommend Jo Watson-Davies for her copy writing and blogging services. She is a regular contributor to our clients’ pages.