Unless you are a large corporate who has a large amount of resources, it takes valuable time and money to build an online presence. There are several ways you can do this, however the most favoured way is by consistently adding original quality content to your website in the form of a blog or other thought leadership insights.
By regularly posting content that is relevant, insightful and educational you are essentially building a virtual bank of knowledge. I have found the main benefits of having a blog for our business are:
- you are building a reputation as an influencer and thought leader within your industries
- it provides you with content to post on your social media channels
- it gives you credibility
- search engines favour you as you people want to find quality content
- your website will rank higher organically when people search for key words
- potential clients can see the substance and quality of information and knowledge you share in a public forum and can align with your approach
- it gives you the opportunity to educate your current and potential clients, rather than having to do the hard sell
When we first made the decision to start a blog back in March 2012, I looked at blog writing as just another task to add to my list. Most of us understand the importance of consistently adding quality content to your website in order to increase your search optimisation online and to build credibility as influencers within your industries but it is hard to free up valuable time to commit to it. Blog writing does take time, but for us blogging has become a highly valuable use of our time in building the credibility of our businesses online and offline.
For me personally, I have completely changed the way I perceive and approach blogging as I have also found blog writing quite therapeutic. It gives you the opportunity to reflect, look at things differently and sometimes even vent! Blogging allows you to educate others who are interested in what you have to say and to learn something new, on their terms. What I love most about blogging is that it allows you to have an opinion. Right or wrong, you can share your thoughts and knowledge with others to stimulate and challenge their thinking.
If you haven’t taken the plunge and started contributing to your own blog, pick a topic and have a go. If you don’t think you have the time to write and maintain your own blog, find some partnering organisations with similar values who you would like to be associated with and offer to write a guest blog. It may not be building the information and content on your own website, but this will still give you knowledge to share on your social media channels and the opportunity to build your brand through the networks of these partnering organisations.
Hopefully you too will learn to love blogging and not look upon blog writing as being just another task on your ‘to do’ list!
And….if you enjoy reading our easyconsult blog, why not take a look at our other blogs for BRS and easygovernment, which we also update with a new blog weekly!
