Blogging Blunders
Blogging Blunders
In the world of blogging, what could go wrong, right? You type a weekly / monthly article and submit it to your viewers. To the viewers of this, you know who you are. ;-) Well, here are some good examples of what can happen to help you be aware of so you can sidestep these blunders. Here we go.
Companies Without a Blog
This is a no-brainer but some companies don't or are not aware of the benefits of keeping up with a blog. These companies are truly missing out and here's why. Companies that don't blog miss-out compared to companies that do blog, here are the numbers:
55% more website visitors
97% more inbound links
434% more indexed pages
Source: Pamela Vaughan / HubSpot
My professional opinion: get a blog. :-)
Poor Content
Just Products / Services
Companies who publish too much content geared towards their products / services. If you want your business to be seen as the leader in your industry you need to educate your viewers with your knowledge that shows you are the best. Otherwise it can be a bit of a turnoff to some. Now, if it's a product / service blog then by all means go ahead and blog all day about them. Just make sure you choose and stick to your guns.
Rushing It
It might seem obvious but don't rush your content. A late blog post reads better than a bad blog post any day. Thought needs to be put into it as to does it make sense? Is it engaging enough? Is it on topic? Is the topic header worth the click to read? It's best to have a late blog one week rather than a bad blog which lingers. Don't worry too much about having a consistent post every week at the exact same day. Make sure you're content is good enough first.
No Variety
If you're blog is dull, white background with black text you might want to think about sprucing it up a little with fonts, colors and multimedia. Use a blend of interesting color and importantly a mix of media such as text, graphics and video. This is something I have plans to add to this blog in the near future. :-)
Not Outsourcing Content
You're a busy business owner / professional, if you struggle to have the time to write your blog and publish is with decent frequency or consistency, outsource to a professional writer to interview you weekly instead. Need one? Let me know (info (at) dunsendesign.com) and I will help you get in contact with one. This is a great way to look good and save your time for more important tasks.
SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) can be applied to your blog like any other. Make sure you add a description to your blog post as well as add only relevant keywords to your keyword meta. I also recommend to set your index meta to "no index, no follow" for your main blog. In the eyes of a Google Bot, you're blog will consist of multiple entries making it hard to index your blog page since it will seem to be a mix of many topics. Use the "no index, no follow" tag disallow bots to index this page. Do use a XML site map instead for the indexing of individual blog pages. This way it will be clear to the bot as to what the topic is and how to index the individual blog page.
Attaching Your Blog to Your Site
Another blunder is not attaching your blog to your companies website. If you are using a CMS like Joomla! or WordPress for example, they come with blogging built-in, use these built-in blogs to your advantage. Search engines will see your blog as a part of your site as a whole and if optimized correctly can lead to more traffic on your site. If you are using a separate blogging software but it is hosted on your same server, make sure you connect the two through your DNS as well by sub-domain for example (www.blog.company-name.com). This will help search engines see the two as part of a whole. If you are using a blog away from your site it might be worth it to integrate either to a built-in blog or sub-domain blog.
Expecting Overnight Success
A successful blog can take months to years to build successfully so don't feel down if you're not getting the results you are wanting in the first month. Stick with it, over time you'll see it happen as with many successful blogs out there.
Conclusion
I could go on and on with more information on how companies can blunder their blogs. Some of the topics I would love to discuss in future blogs on the topic: the design of the blog, how to successfully promote, lead generation and testing with analytic feedback. You're takeaway from this posting should be to first, have a blog. Second, create quality content. Third is to implement SEO and forth, set your expectations right. Hope you found this post helpful and until next week, take care.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Sunden
Founder
Dunsen Design of Lafayette, Indiana
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