Blogging: The Ultimate Weapon for Local SEO

Posted on November 14, 2012 in SEO, Social Media

Rankings, what every business is trying to strive for when getting their business out on the web. Your business has already done all the obvious things like optimizing your site, maybe getting some links out there on the web, updating your Google Place listing, gotten customer reviews, etc. But how is this any different from any other business you could be competing with, they’re doing the same exact things and you’re battling for the same rankings week-to-week.

How to change the endless cycle? Blogging. Blogging provides advantages over other SEO methods, which provide your company with a lead in rankings.

Benefits of Blogging

  • Allows your audience to interact with you. With user interaction, Google’s local algorithms will score your site higher. Users SearchPro Systems helping your Social Media Marketing in Bostoncould subscribe to your blog and make your site seem more open and friendly.
  • This will allow your site to rank in Blog Search as well as regular keyword search results which means more exposure of your site and promotional efforts.
  • You’ll be able to interact with other bloggers with opinions and other pieces on your blog.
  • If there’s something in the news relating to your industry, you can use your blog to address those issues.
  • If someone negatively mentions your company online, you can use your blog as your voice for the company. A blog is perfect for online reputation management.
  • A blog is the basis for your social media presence. You can send content to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other social media sites from your blog. Place it on your blog and it show up on other sites simultaneously, saving you the work.

 

Setting up your Blog

Everything about a blog sounds great for your company so far, but how do you set one up? Follow these simple guidelines, and you’ll be blogging up rankings in no time.

  • Easy to use Blog Site: One word: WordPress. Simple to use with a ton of options and search engine optimization tools already built into it. It’s always helpful to get a pro to assist you in making decisions about your blog though.
  • Place your Blog on your Site: A blog on a separate page from your company site isn’t going to help you at all. Make sure to place the blog on your site as a dedicated subdirectory or it could be a sub domain of your site.
  • Have Author Pages: Incorporate employee written pages on your site. Use Staff pages that are already set up or have them write directly to the blog. Google likes blog posts with an actual author tag on them which creates greater visibility in search results. This will make posts more trustworthy to your customers and better looking listings equal higher clickthrough rates.
  • Optimize for SEO: Knowing what those target keywords are will help your blog show up on the search results that you’re aiming for. Create page titles and matching keyworded URL’s to emphasize these terms.
  • Post Often: You want to aim for posting at least once a week, more if you feel comfortable with the blogging and depending on your industry.
  • Write Different types of Blog Posts: Write about different topics, or you and your reader will get bored with the content after awhile. For example, for an electrician, writing about certain wires or electrician techniques will get old. You have to mix it up a little bit with mentioning things that happen in the news that relate to your industry, especially if it’s interesting or something a little crazy.
  • Engage other Blogs: You see a blog from another company in your industry that you feel strongly about and you decide to respond to it. This is a good thing as this creates a different kind of blog post and you’ve started a conversation with another blogger! With linking back to each other’s blogs, your reader’s can follow the conversation, which will generate interest and search engine algorithms will consider your site more viable with more human interaction.
  • Be one with the Community: On top of writing things about your company and engaging other blogs about your industry, it’s also important to post things that will interest your local community. What’s going on in the community, recommendations for businesses in the area, local events, are all things you could talk about. By writing about local topics, your site will improve search results for locational relevancy with local search engines.
  • Short Posts are Best: Internet readers prefer content that’s short and to the point. Try to avoid lengthy posts or your readers won’t stick around. There’s also the chance of you not blogging consistently if you write long posts that you’ll burn out on.

After seeing the advantages of having a blog and how easy it is to start one and write for it, your company can only benefit from having one as it will increase your web presence and provide you with a way to connect with your customer base online. This will also give you the boost you need over your competitors in SEO and search rankings.