The purpose of blogging weekly is to keep Google happy and attract new visitors to your website who will convert to leads or clients. It also helps build trust and credibility, as well as establish you as an expert in your field or industry.
What does Google want?
Google wants fresh, helpful, relevant, quality content written for the human reader in natural language. Read: What is Google’s E-E-A-T?
What do your potential customers want?
They want answers to their problems, information, advice, or to be entertained – and they want it now!
The last thing Google or a potential customer wants to see is that your last blog post was written in March 2020. OK, you may not be that bad. But even a month old is too old. Plus, Google will think your website is stagnant and ignore it.
If you’re not blogging weekly? How are people finding you?
First, if you haven’t updated your website in years, it won’t come up on Google search. Over 83% of searchers are on a mobile device. If your site is not mobile-friendly and responsive, and it takes too long to load, you absolutely won’t come up. Basically, the only traffic you may be getting is from someone who clicked on the link on one of the social media networks. More than likely, they already know you or have your business card. Too few, I bet. Or they Googled your business name exactly. Most businesses will come up for their name. But if there’s another business — a competitor — with a similar name, and their content is more recent or relevant, they’ll come up first. Not good.
Now, let’s look at it from the potential customer’s point of view...
Let’s say it’s an entrepreneur looking for a contractor in a specific city because she’s opening a new business. She goes on LinkedIn and searches for “commercial contractor my city”. She sees that the 2 folks who come up are not in her network. But, they have links to their respective websites. The searcher clicks on the links and goes to the websites. Contractor 1 has a website that looks dated — old fashioned. She clicks on About Us to read about the company, who they are, how long they’ve been in business, etc. Then she clicks on Blog. The last article was in 2020 just text, long paragraphs, and no pictures or videos. Under Portfolio, there are pictures with no descriptions. Clearly, she couldn’t tell where the projects were, and how long it took to build if it was under budget.
Doing it Right…
Over at Contractor 2’s site, there are high-quality graphics with their last 3 projects on the home page. Each is linked to a blog post describing each project in detail. At the bottom are tags and categories with links to similar blog posts by type of project. Moreover, the person seeking will look for articles about projects like what she’s planning to build. She thinks, “This company has experience doing projects like the one I’m planning. I’m calling them.”
Also on their site are testimonial videos showcasing recent projects from start to finish with the happy camper client opening the door of their redone place. Yes, like the “reveal” on those home improvement shows. Ah, but before the entrepreneur makes the call, she’s going to check their Facebook page and Google to see if there are any reviews and updates. (The first company didn’t even have a Facebook page. Oh, my!) There she finds 5, 5-star reviews and recommendations. She’s sold.
Wow! That took maybe an hour. Which is how long it should take you to write a blog post.
Blogging regularly builds trust and credibility. People buy from whom they know and trust.
What should you blog about?
- Tell Stories – people like to identify with people in stories; use pictures of people like your target audience.
- Don’t let this happen to you! Hypothetical situations
- FAQs – anticipate what a potential customer will be asking. Use Quora to find out what your target is asking.
- Industry news – careful with the industry jargon, though. Remember your audience is not the expert. You are. Write for an 11-year-old — unless, of course, your target is high-tech experts.
- Offer tips, advice, and useful information
- Blog about what you know
- Embed videos — introduce the video, then summarize it with keywords in bullet points.
What about using AI? Read this: The Pros and Cons of Using Artificial Intelligence for Content Marketing
Blogging 3x a Week helps Increase Traffic to your Website. Here’s proof!
Ideally, you should blog 3 times a week — especially if you have a new website so that Google will notice you. In that case, blog 3-5 times a week for the first 2 weeks, then 2-3 times for the next 2 weeks. After that, you can go once a week. Check your analytics at the end of each month. Consequently, if it’s showing that your website traffic is falling because you’re not blogging as often as you were, then that means you have to increase the frequency of your blog posts.
Additionally, do your SEO keyword research and check out what your main competition is doing.
If you’re not sure what to do? Let’s do a free 15-minute consult. Click here to schedule.
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