Alice Elliott
© jun.skywalker, Shop window, via Flickr
The main thing I tell a small business, especially a start-up one, is that you should have a blog rather than a website.
Because, believe it or not, a blog with added static pages becomes a website. It’s that easy.
And you have the added benefits of the blogging application behind it to give it a lot more clout to attract the search engines.
Let me explain why
A blog isn’t just an online diary any more. It is a sophisticated system to create an online presence that can attract a lot of visitors – if you use it in a business capacity and set up the right kind of applications to help you.
Forget all those personal bloggers, what I’m talking about is writing content to help promote your small business and gain the trust of potential customers.
Blogs use something called a Content Management System (CMS), which means with a username and password you can access your blog/website from any computer anywhere in the world.
Also blogs, especially those that use WordPress, have lots of free applications, called plugins, that you can add to your blog/website (let’s call it a blogsite to make it easier) to make it perform however you want.
You don’t need to be a techie
That’s the beauty of WordPress. Basically if you know how to use Word, you can use WordPress. (And no, they are not connected.)
There are two versions of WordPress. The first is hosted by WordPress itself, and is therefore free to use. The second is self-hosted; this means you have to buy a domain name and hosting account, but it means you have complete control over everything you do on it.
You can find out more about the different WordPresses here, so you can make up your own mind which one is best for you and your small business.
It’s very straight-forward to edit or add content to your WordPress blogsite; everything is very intuitive, or can easily be learned. Of course I do WordPress training, so can offer bespoke 1:1 help or in a group/workshop environment. Contact me to find out more.
And there are plenty of web-developers who work with WordPress if you need any really technical changes or add necessary facilities to your blogsite.
How do I make a blog business-like?
A very good question. It’s all about using digital marketing.
Now if this brings you out in hives, there’s no need to worry. Mostly this consists of making your small business blogsite attractive to both your visitors/customers and the search engines, such as Google.
Here’s some things you can do with a blogsite:
- Create a separate homepage from your blog post listing page
- Regularly write informational, beneficial and conversational blog posts with your visitors/readers to educate them about your small business
- Have somewhere all your content is automatically archived with easy access
- Collect interested visitors’ email details into a database list for future communications
- Write content that is attractive to Google and other search engines, which is more likely to match your blogsite with a search request
- Provide an opportunity for your visitors/readers to comment on your posts so you can get feedback
- Show links to social media platforms where visitors can learn more about you and engage with you there, and encourage them back to your blogsite to read your blog posts
- Provide a subscription service for your readers
- Set up e-commerce pages to sell your products or services
- Contain a membership section to deliver information and content to your special customers
- Fully accessible via mobile phones, tablets and other handheld devices
Now that’s a lot of beneficial facilities.
How many you will use will depend on where your small business is at the moment, but it’s good to know that these, and possibly more, are available from your WordPress blogsite.
Why are business blogs better than websites?
Another good question. It’s all about constantly providing new content to keep the search engines happy.
And your visitors too. They will expect to be able to find new information easily and quickly, and websites that haven’t been updated recently will give a bad impression of your small business.
There are no restrictions to the number of pages you can create, the CMS automatically updates the navigation systems, and the design is uniform throughout the blogsite.
And adding new content, in the form of blog posts or new pages, has been made as simple as possible so that it can be accomplished on a regular basis.
It doesn’t have to be every day, but it has to be consistent. Create an editorial calendar and spread the workload across several authors. Set a regular posting day when new content can be published.
A blogsite will only continue to be better than a website as long as you keep adding new content. A neglected blog is no better than a static website, as the search engines won’t bother to index it and your visitors will go elsewhere.
How does a blogsite make a small business competitive?
It’s important to keep on top of how your small business is perceived by your potential customers. Having a slick and modern website that provides information easily and quickly, has plenty of new content to read, and regularly appears in search results, will certainly give a good impression.
Your blogsite, and certainly the blog part, can easily connect with social media, create engagement through comments, provide a focus for information or conversation, and make if possible for your customers to know, like and trust you.
You can use your blogsite to collect email addresses of potential customers, so you can communicate with them regularly via a newsletter. This is also part of getting them to know, like and trust you, and is an alternative to the ‘hard sell’ that puts so many customers off.
It isn’t difficult to optimise your blog posts and page content for the search engines. There are some simple tricks via valuable applications that can make this effortless and effective. Certainly if you’re doing this, and your competitors aren’t, your small business will have the advantage.
And having a clear, informative ‘online shop window’ for your small business that provides everything your potential customer needs to know, delivered in a welcoming and empathetic manner, will certainly set you up in good stead.
And now for the call to action
Every good post should have one of these! A call to action is one of the special features in a blog post that can help your small business thrive.
If you want to know more, contact me. If you have any questions, leave them in the comment box below. This is so I can provide public answers that benefit other readers as well.
And if you want to receive my newsletter, sign up, and learn about all the exciting things I am doing to help small businesses with their blogsites.
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