Posts Tagged ‘blogging for business’
Do you own your Business Blog Traffic or does someone else
During a recent call with a new client, we were discussing her online foundations, web presence and the setup of all parts. When we got to the blog part – she said, “Yes I do have a Blog.”
Well… yes she did, but not one that was working for her. Her ‘Blog’ was in fact a blog hosted on blogspot not directly on her website and once there, it had no way of directing a visitor back to her own website.
This is one of the biggest misunderstandings about blogging. “Who owns your Blog?”
- When you have a blog hosted directly on your website visitors get to it by clicking a link similar to this: www.mysite. com/ blog or www.blog.mywebsite. com .
- When using one of the free blogging platforms, your blog link will be something similar to this: www.myblogname.blogspot. com or www.myblogname.wordpress. com
In example 1, your website has the blog as a part (and pages) of your domain name and the url link – your online real estate. You own it.
In example 2, guess who owns these web links? Exactly – Blogspot or WordPress because the link contains their domain name.
In many cases, the blog on the free hosting platform also is not set up in a way that people can even find or get back to your website, as my client’s case. A big mistake if you are looking to use your blog to bring in more traffic. You are investing time (ultimately money) into creating the blog, you want to make it have a positive effect on your online marketing and work for you not against. People should be able to click and see your about page, contact page, services, products – everything you have on your website.
This is not to say that using the free platforms cannot be helpful, for many businesses starting out this is how we started blogging (I did!). However, when you are ready to go bigger and also to move to the social media world and use those channels to bring traffic and visitors to your website – don’t have people clicking on links to a free site that essentially you do not own. That’s not your online real estate, it belongs to wordpress or blogspot. Get your blog installed right on your website and have these links bringing people to YOUR website with all the different pages about your business, including your blog.
Most hosting platforms allow for a simple install of wordpress onto your site – but it may mean changes in the backend that require help of someone who understand how to do this properly. Some hosting sites are not yet ready for these blogging platforms so you will need to do some homework or get some help before jumping into a change to your site. Time on Task does offer this service and if you would like to book a free consult, please get in touch with me.
The main takeaway here is to look at your blog setup and see if you have one that is working for you or against you! If it’s against, what kind of effort are you investing in something that is not helping you? If you aren’t sure, then post a note on my Facebook Page with a link to your blog and I will let you know.
Blogging Topics to help you Write
Blog Commenting can increase your Website Traffic
Everyone wants to bring in more traffic to their website. A simple way is though other blogs - making comments on other blogs, especially those in your niche.
How does this work?
Commenting gives you backlinks to your site. Backlinks are incoming links to a website or web page. Most blogsites have you enter your name, email and website link to post a comment, this allows other readers to click on your name and link and they will be directed to your website. Backlinks can also help your own SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Your ranking in search engines is increased with the more backlinks to your site. Better rankings, means better chances of being found in an internet search.
Making these comments also allows you to showcase your expertise on the topic to others reading the blog and comments. It offers and opportunity to get exposed you to an audience you may not otherwise have a connection to.
Choose wisely when picking what blogs to comment on. Go for a niche connected to your type of business and choose well ranked and respected sites. Making comments on sites like this means your name and backlink will also be published within another high ranking website. This helps your own online visibility. Finding blogs can be as easy as following main ones in your niche or setting up Google alerts for specific terms and watching for good blogs to comment on from these alert results.
In most cases the first person to comment will get the most clicks to their site. People tend to follow on the first few then the most valuable… so make it a good comment and one that people will remember.
For your own blog you should encourage readers to engage and post comments on your posts, and when they do; reply and acknowledge that they took the time to:
- Read your post
- Make a comment
Their comments are also an opportunity for you to go deeper when providing an answer – help them out by providing links to your services or products. Take what you posted in the blog and based on what their comment is, go into more detail to help them. Taking the time to do this will build your reputation and someone who is willing top lend a hand and go one step further when people ask questions. This helps build that KLT factor – Know, Like and Trust – so that people can visibly see why people do business with you and want to do the same.
Always have the option for blog readers to get blog updates via email or an RSS reader. If they can sign up it means they get an email every time you publish a new blog post, creating an opportunity for them to directly read your blog and make a comment.
How often do you look for other blogs to comment on? Is it a regular task you schedule in your weekly work – or simply a chance happening?
Here’s a challenge:
- Do a Google search on your name and see how many results are online.
- Setup a blog commenting time regularly over the next month.
- After the month is up, check your name search again and look at the results. Is there an increase in hits on your name?
I started this practice in late 2008, at that time there were about 1400 search results for my name (and they tend to all be me *benefits of a unique last name*). If I do a search today there are over 32,000 results. Yes all the social media content I do helps, but the blog commenting does as well.
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