Have you established a company blog? A blog is an effective marketing tool for small business owners as it allows you to have a voice in your industry. You can finally keep customers informed about new products, conferences and events, job openings, and other news. Blogs help to reinforce branding with the customers by building trust and credibility. However, without the right SEO techniques, your blog may end up hurting your website ranking. Here are some things to avoid when blogging so you don’t end up destroying your reputation.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

One common mistake people make when blogging is keyword stuffing. Keywords are a great way to help the search engines find your blog, but keyword stuffing can kill your blog. The content on your blog needs to be readable to gain the right attention. A great way to find keywords that are useful is by signing up for a Google Adwords account. This will help you narrow down the list of popular keywords for your market. One tip to remember with keywords is to select a few localized keywords to reach your local audience. Adding the city name, state, and zip code to your website can boost local rankings, and will help you reach out to the targeted customers. To maintain a balance of keywords, select a few and use them for your posts. Start by adding the keyword in the title, within the first paragraph, and last paragraph of the blog post to assist in boosting rankings. You might find that the keyword naturally integrates itself into the content with you actually adding it in there. This is the best practice for SEO success as you want the content to be natural, original, and engaging.

Create Original Content

The search engines have started to crack down on duplicate content. If you are not creating unique, original blog posts, your blog will suffer. Take the time to create new blog posts that are different from all the recycled content on the internet. You need to express your point of view on different trends related to your industry. This can get the customers to leave comments and really start a discussion trend. When you start showing customers you have a voice, it will distinguish your company from others in the industry. Create goals for your blog so your customers will have a desire to read it weekly. Remain active with your posting and place new content on the blog 2-4 times a week to show the search engines it is an active blog.

Effective Marketing

It is common to see companies spend too much time trying to market a blog, and failing to market their website. A blog is a marketing tool that will boost interest in your company, but your main goal is to point people to your website where they can purchase products. Use the blog as a way to get people to sign-up for email lists and other promotional offers. Use social media sites to help build trust and credibility with the customers. A blog will assist in reinforcing branding that you have already set in motion. You must be accurate and honest with the information posted on the blog and social media accounts to effectively market to the customers.

Hire Professional Writers

One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to write content they do not understand. We have seen a lot of people outsource content to freelancers, some without any experience in their industry. Hiring a professional team of professional writers is the best way to ensure the information you are posting on your blog relates to your audience. Contact Performance Driven Marketing to discuss your blog and content marketing needs!