Blogging can be traced back to the 1990s and still to this day is a very common and very effective activity. Here we divulge the effectiveness and the staying power of the humble blog post.
Blogs first began back in the ’90s as a bitesize and relatively swift way to add new news and information to a website. Instead of trawling through the back end to create a new page, devise a layout, and then add content and images; a simple framework where users could log in and add their desired blog content into a premade interface was seen as a boon – especially for those who were not particularly computer literate. Due to their ease of use, blogging quickly became popular, and moving into the ’00s, it was safe to say that most of the ‘bigger’ websites had an active blog. Filling the void that would soon be filled by social media in the early ’00s, short and snappy blogs were great to provide news and updates to customers and website visitors.
However, with the dramatic rise in social media, the blog was in danger of being neglected for the likes of the user-friendly and flashy MySpaces, Facebooks, and Twitters of the world. Due to this; blogs adapted by showcasing their versatility and ability to thrive even with the social media behemoths on the scene. Blogs are now looked at as entities that have a unique USP to this day – they keep your website alive. How do they do this you might wonder?
Blogs show your customers the real you
As a blog post is connected to your individual website, you are not constricted to a particular layout (such as on Facebook) or word length (like on Twitter). Due to this, you can unleash your creativity and get across the real you (unfiltered) to your customers. Looking at a blog post as a mini-web page, for example, you have the freedom to integrate image carousels, video content, links, and more within your website blog postings.
Blogs show Google signs of life
Google habitually scans websites to determine many factors such as safety and mobile responsiveness and uses the outcomes of these measures to position your website among the millions of others that exist. A particular attribute that they look to detect signs of life – this means regular and recent content updates and website activity. This shows Google that it is worth their while to direct users to your website as in doing so they are not directing online browsers to an old website with possible outdated and therefore incorrect information. Strange as it may sound, Google has a reputation to uphold as they are a business like any other and they rely on customer/user loyalty to stay in business. Your simple blog is a key player as one of the many small cogs that power the internet.
Blogs help to increase your search engine rankings
The more times that your company name (via your website domain name and URL) appears online alongside your planned keywords, phrases, and tags, the better you are positioning your website and your business in terms of SEO. Instead of churning out new web pages with custom URLs, parents, slugs, links, etc. the humble blog posting comes to the rescue again. By keeping to a respectable length (minimum of 300 words), including some images with alternative text and a heavy dose of tagging; blogs can become artillery to infiltrate and influence search engines in your favor. You can have a full salvo of these scheduled and ready to go to buttress any new products/services that you are launching or simply just to stay afloat and stay alive.
Talk to the experts at Ireland Website Design today to discuss your digital strategy, veritable blog content, and SEO goals. Our team is versed in the modern principles of internet applications and website design and works with you to see your reach your aims for your website and online marketing dreams.
