The Small Business Guide to Online Marketing. Lola Bailey
people perform keyword searches through search engines, for the purpose of finding images and pictures online. By labelling the images that you use in your blog post, being consistent with relevant keywords searches, you can drive some of that image-search traffic to your blog.
5. Links and Trackbacks
Your blog posts should contain links within your content. The purpose of these links are: firstly, to add value, or an extra dimension or depth to your information, by referring to sources of additional information; and secondly, to provide a way of letting bloggers (whose material you have referred to) know that you have done so in the form of a ‘trackback’. A trackback generates a link on the other blogger’s blog; it actually acts as an additional pathway for traffic to your blog, since readers on the referenced blog are likely to click on the trackback link and find your blog.
6. Blog comments
If your business is a full-time one, it is very important to enable comments on your blog. Comments are where your readers are given the opportunity to feedback and join in the conversation. By responding to comments left by your readers, you are demonstrating your commitment to them and this in turn will be rewarded by their loyalty to you. A word of caution however is that ‘spammers’ (people who send unwanted content, usually in large volumes) are rife on the internet. What this means is that you are likely to get comments that have no bearing whatsoever on your content. This is the reason why some bloggers turn comments off. However, if your business is a full-time one, comments are important. Plus, you can take a number of steps, through plug-ins for instance, to reduce the number of unwanted comments.
Plug-ins
A plug-in is a piece of software code that allows a programme to do something it is not able to do by itself. A good example of a plug-in is the commonly used Adobe Flash Player. Without Flash Player you wouldn’t, for example, be able to view BBC News bulletins that are embedded into web pages.
There are many different types of plug-ins, accomplishing many different things. There are plug-ins for optimising your Google rankings, such as the ‘All-in-one-SEO’ plug-in, plug-ins for social media networking, plug-ins to prevent unwanted comments on your websites, and many more.
In fact, an abundance of plug-ins exist. Email programmes will use privacy plug-ins for security. Media players might need a plug-in to play a specific type of media. And so on. (Have a look in the Useful Resources at the back of the book for a comprehensive listing of plug-ins.)
Benefits your business can gain from blogging
Search engines love blogs. By posting high quality content and posting frequently, you will soon acquire a large amount of content that is rich in keywords. As a result, you will find your site becoming more prominent in online searches.
It encourages dialogue. Blogs are unlike standard websites, press releases or product brochures, in that they allow people to publicly respond. If you find some content on another blog particularly useful, for example, you will be able to leave a comment to that effect and usually with a link back to your own site. If your customers leave some feedback on your blog, you will have an opportunity to demonstrate your responsiveness to them, and establish a deeper connection.
Blogs allow you to continually showcase your expertise. Whatever it is that your small business does, you can blog about it passionately and often, demonstrating your authority in the field at the same time. This can allow your customers and potential customers to see you as something of an expert.
It can help you get media coverage. Journalists increasingly use blogs as a source of news stories. If you post sufficient high-quality content often enough, sooner or later you will come into the radar of a journalist looking for your opinion or comment on an issue.
It sharpens your thinking and helps you stay informed. The pressure to produce content often, and of a consistently high quality, will lead you towards thinking more deeply about your topics, and educating yourself further on those topics. To write well you have to read extensively – and allowing yourself to become out of date is not an option!
It gives you a dynamic platform to convey information about your company. Let’s be honest – the traditional press release is, well, traditional. Do people still read press releases? We are now living in ‘Generation Internet’, a generation that wants to interact, share, be responded to, and be entertained.
It is a versatile medium. Your blog can be used to convey news, information, recall products, demonstrate a product, run a survey or poll, and much more.
Writing tips
According to Jakob Nielsen’s seminal web usability study, people rarely read web pages word for word. The study found that 79% of users always scanned any new pages they came across. As a result, web pages have to employ scannable text using the following guidelines:
Highlighted keywords
Relevant sub-headings – not “clever” ones
Bulleted lists
One idea per paragraph
The inverted pyramid style of writing; starting with the conclusion then supporting it with sentences that follow
Half the word count – or less – than the ‘control condition’.
The study also found that credibility in content can be increased by “high quality graphics, good writing and the use of outbound hypertext links”. In addition, the study found that links to other sites “show that other authors have done their homework and are not afraid to let readers visit other sites”. For more information on the study visit www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html.
Blogging expert interview: Thoroughly Modern Milly
Milly Kenny-Ryder
Milly Kenny-Ryder is a singer, fashionista, foodie, arts enthusiast, writer and blogger, living in London “excitedly making the most of this dynamic city”. She began her blog, Thoroughly Modern Milly, in April 2010 and she also writes as a guest blogger for Visit London, Coupobox and as a special columnist for On The Fringe.
What made you decide to set up a blog?
I left university, moved home and realised pretty quickly how difficult it would be for me to get a job in the arts. So I accepted a well-paid administration job in a property company, promising myself that I would continue simultaneously a life in the arts; a blog seemed like a good way to keep that promise.
What are you trying to achieve with the blog? What sorts of things do you blog about?
It began as a creative outlet for me to share my enthusiasms, a diary for everything I am interested in and I hope will interest others. Thoroughly Modern Milly is a blog about music, theatre, art, food, fashion and lifestyle – mostly in London, but sometimes venturing further afield.
Who are your readers? What do think they get out of your blog?
Anyone and everyone. I have readers all over the world, some who I know of, others who are entirely anonymous. Some followers check in regularly, commenting and interacting, others stop by only once. I hope they are inspired and interested by my writing and, most of all, encouraged to go out and experience the things I write about.