I’m posting this blog today at the risk of sounding like a bit of a hypocrite…however a comment on my blog recently has prompted me to add some more content to my somewhat stale website…and to explain why blogging is really awesome for businesses.

I’m no web expert but I do know a little about websites from a marketing perspective, particularly how the content on your website can improve your marketing strategy. When you think about how you find what you are looking for (i.e. services/products/information), the first port of call for most people is the Internet. Therefore, it’s important that you rank well on search engines – so that people can find you/your business quickly.

To do this, you need good content on your website. One way you can easily increase the content on your website, in a fairly organic manner is to incorporate a blog into your website.

A well written blog will be full of relevant keywords which get the robots at Google very excited in terms of your search engine ranking. A few other factors do come into play, but basically, the more relevant keywords, the higher the ranking.

Matt Kennedy from onepm.com.au who is a bit of an expert on such things said that “sending a website “live” is like giving birth to a creature. Just like any other creature, without food, water, and exercise, the website will grow weak, and be too tired to appear on Google… But with regular updates, revising of content, blogging, new images being added into the website is training for your website, keeping it fit, sharp, up to date and informed. Resulting in it being invited to attend more and more Google events”.

Blogging is just one way of feeding the beast and keeping the site fresh and ‘alive’ on search engines.

Here’s case in point. Several months ago, my colleague and I started blogging for a company in an attempt to increase the search engine ranking of their website. Originally, the company appeared on page 6 of Google for the terms they wanted to rank for – which is not a very good place to be. Actually, it was almost the same as if the company didn’t have a website at all. Have you ever clicked through six pages of results before clicking on a link? (Well I have once or twice, but that was only when I was stalking someone.)

After a few months of steady blog entries, as well as various other tweaks, the company ranked at spot 5 (of the non-paid results) on the first page for the same keywords. This means that the company is much easier to locate on Google and other search engines, and therefore people are clicking through (and hopefully making contact) much more frequently.

However writing may not be your forte and you may prefer to give the task of blogging for your company to somebody else. This is often a good solution, as maintaining a blog requires some level of commitment, and is probably best left to those who enjoy writing. They should also be good at it, and of course know how to use spell-checker. “Its impotent to pay attention to detale” is not something you ever want to see on your blog. Yes, I have seen it!

I don’t recommend getting someone to ghost-write a blog on your behalf without any supervision at all. Obviously, trust is a major issue – the content of your blog could potentially bring your company to its knees if the writer is not sensitive to your public relations and communications strategies. But also, I think it’s really important that whoever writes your blog has good knowledge of the inner workings of your company. I’ve been working with the people whose blogs I write for a couple of years now, and have had time to soak up the ‘voice’ of the individuals and the companies they represent, and the overall tone and values that they are trying to convey.

Make sure you read your own blog if you are not writing it! Or at least be kept in the loop – as it could be embarrassing if someone brings up your blog and you have no idea what you’ve been writing about. I am often asked “so what did I write about today?” by a company director I blog for. “Your penchant for cross-dressing” is my standard response.