You’ve heard about blogging. In fact, you’re reading a blog entry right now. Still not sure what blogging is all about?
For starters, the word blog comes from Weblog. A blog is typically a series of entries on a Website, and often a commentary on something important to the author and/or the author’s customers (if the blog is associated with a business). Blogs can cover any and every type of subject including: information on a specific topic, market, product, service, or group of people; a daily diary of someone’s life; the progress of a project; the blogger’s stream of consciousness; a commentary on social, political, or other issues or viewpoints; or any other manner of topic. Generally updated with regular (often daily or weekly) entries, blogs can be located on a specific section of an author’s Web site, or be the sole point of the site.
So why should you blog? In a word: connection. Blogging helps us stay in touch with our readers, and readers have come to expect it. What better way to get in touch with your readers on a personal basis, and keep them informed in a friendly, up-to-date, and informal way? Establishing yourself and your personality in a blog opens the door to easier communication. (In fact for businesses in particular, social media is being considered as part of current customer service.)
What’s more, blogging keeps your content fresh. As we discussed in our blog entry, Fresh Content for Discerning Palates (November 21st, 2008): Web visitors and search engines…prefer to visit sites that have fresh, new, rotating content. Web search engines… look for the signs that a site is dynamic—and that is largely governed by how often your content is updated.
So blogging is the easy and perfect way to ensure you have up-to-date, fresh information on your site. Some key components to keep in mind:
- Make sure your blogging is relevant to your site/services/business
- Be real, honest, and consistent
- Make sure your content is keyword-rich words—in other words, it contains words and phrases that are important to what you do. Search engines will love you, and will pick up your site more readily.
- Be sure to add good enough content, and add it often enough, so your readers want to keep coming back
Follow these simple guidelines, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how fun it is—and your readers will appreciate it.
Need help getting started? Check out these do-it-yourself blogging sites—and have fun!
